Bride for Irving Awaits; So Does Canyon March

The sighting was momentary, but Irving evidently lives. He was spotted outside the Swallows Inn, a rowdy San Juan Capistrano watering hole, reports elated artist Mark Chamberlain, who received the news from an anonymous source.

“He didn’t go in, apparently,” Chamberlain said. “He slipped away before he could be apprehended.”

Irving is (or was?) a manikin that, until last month, sat at the wheel of Toyotasaurus Tyrrannicus, the ’77 Toyota that artist Chamberlain half-buried in May in a dirt parking lot next to “The Tell,” a 600-foot-long photomural off Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Canyon.

Chamberlain, who organized the mural project with Jerry Burchfield, embedded his auto as part of the project’s anti-development statement. Cars would be a “major culprit” in the environmental destruction that Chamberlain said would result from developments proposed for Laguna Canyon and environs.

The Toyota was recently junked after Laguna Beach had it towed; the city had given Chamberlain permission to create a mural but not to bury a car.

Since just before the towing, Irving’s whereabouts, until the recent sighting, have been a painful mystery to Chamberlain. But hope springs eternal, and Chamberlain has a plan: “We’re preparing a bride to offer to Irving if he ever comes home.”

The prospective bride--a gas-masked, plaster sculpture by Los Angeles artist Orell Anderson--is not the most comely of creatures, said Chamberlain, who expressed doubt about whether the sculpture will in fact lure Irving home. “In fact, a 7-year-old did dub her ‘The Donkey Woman.’ ”

But Irving has his own problems, Chamberlain added quickly, noting that the manikin--last seen in a three-piece, pin-striped suit--has no legs.

Still, Irving’s bride will be waiting for him at Saturday’s 9 a.m. “Save Our Canyon” walk through Laguna Canyon. It is sponsored by the Laguna Canyon Conservancy to show support for local environment.

“We’re hoping that if Irving has indeed grown legs, he will join the walk,” Chamberlain said.