But San Clemente Can’t Picture Murals : Surf Shops Hang Tough

San Clemente, home to some of the world’s great surfing, has met with an identity crisis over its best-known pastime.

Two surf shops want to put up huge murals glorifying the pursuit of the perfect wave. But the city has thrown cold water on the proposals, saying that surf murals adorning the outside of surf shops constitute an advertisement and would leave the mistaken impression that San Clemente cares only about that one sport.

Not only that, some city officials are concerned that approval of the murals could set a dangerous precedent, resulting in an explosion of murals on businesses all across town.

“If it’s a grocery store, they might paint bananas on the wall, or if it’s a barber shop, they might put up hair clippers,” said city Planning Commissioner Hal Joseph, whose panel voted 3 to 2 last week to reject one of the proposals.

That proposal was made by Bruce Best, retail manager for the Rip Curl Surf Center. Best said he merely wanted to liven up an otherwise drab neighborhood surrounding the business by adorning one outside wall with a mural of two-time world champion surfer Tom Curren.

Best said the mural was not intended as an advertisement for his business but to draw attention to the sport of surfing in general.

“I just wanted to put up a mural showing surfing as a clean and healthy sport,” Best said.

Bill Stewart, who runs the rival Stewart Sports, said he just wanted to put up a mural to beautify a rusting tin building that served as an abandoned clay factory until he and a partner moved their surf business in three years ago.

Stewart bristled at the suggestion that he, too, was trying to put up a giant advertisement.

“I’m not trying to pull a scam,” Stewart said. “I’m just trying to make it (the building) as interesting as possible.”

About a year ago, Stewart obtained initial approval from the city to proceed with a simple mural depicting a sunset atop his roof and a surfer riding a wave on the wall below.

The city ordered him to stop the work when an inspector discovered that Stewart had expanded on his original concept by making it three-dimensional.

Stewart, a professional airbrusher who designs his own surfboards, had taken coils of chicken wire and matted them in place to form a huge wave running across a length of the wall which faces the street. Then, inside an opening of the chicken wire, he installed a steel support for a surfboard.

When finished, Stewart said, “an 80-year-old tourist with fluorescent shorts” could climb a hidden stairway to the board, stand at its edge and have his picture taken against a wild ocean backdrop.

Entitled “The Wave,” Stewart envisioned the mural as a big tourist attraction.

“You’ve got to figure that’s what this town is famous for; it’s a famous surfing town from way back,” Stewart said.

Before he could apply any paint to the wall, the city told Stewart to stop the work because he had not obtained a permit for a three-dimensional piece of sculpture.

Stewart said he plans to apply, but he added that his hopes for approval by the Planning Commission have dimmed since the commission rejected Best’s request for a mural.

Planning Commissioner Candy Haggard said she would probably vote against Stewart’s project, since she believes that it also amounts to an advertisement.

“A surfing picture on a surf shop is an ad,” Haggard said.

Joseph added that he does not consider it wise to affix the city’s identity to one sport.

“The city is growing quite rapidly and surfing is not the only sport which is popular,” Joseph said, citing golf and tennis as two popular sports in San Clemente.

Commissioner Edward Kweskin disagreed.

“I could play tennis at Whittier. I could also play golf anywhere else,” Kweskin said. “But San Clemente is one of the world-renowned surf spots.”

Kweskin also disagreed that the murals would contain any advertising, since their plans don’t call for them mentioning a product.

“Secondly,” he added, “there are a variety of murals all over Southern California. What are we going to say, that Olympic murals are advertisements for sports wear because they show people running? My claim is that it’s a generic illustration of an activity that is indigenous to the community.”

Both Best and Stewart said they plan to appeal their case to the City Council, which holds veto power over the Planning Commission. They are scheduled to appear before the council on July 15, at which time Stewart said he will present a “Save the Wave” petition he has begun.