‘Aerosol Artists’ Are Hitting the Wall--Legally : The law: One month after Huntington Beach set aside a graffiti zone, the city has issued 70 permits and seen a decrease in the illegal variety.

Now that Ricardo Cofinco has a place to create “aerosol art” legally, he’s pretty much lost interest in the outlaw lifestyle.

“To me, it’s not a thrill no more,” said the Cerritos man, who concedes having done unauthorized spray painting in the past.

Sure, age has had a lot to do with it. At 23, he has more to lose now than when he was a teen-ager should he be caught illegally wielding a spray can. These days Cofinco is majoring in graphic design at Cal State Fullerton and working two part-time jobs.

But Huntington Beach’s new program allowing such work helped change his attitude, he said.

“I’d rather do (legal) murals and have other people enjoy them than do illegal bombing,” he said.

Just one month into the program, Huntington Beach art coordinators are pleased too. So far, more than 70 people have been issued free permits allowing “aerosol art” or other painting on a mile-long seaside retaining wall. As city officials hoped, unwanted graffiti on the wall have decreased, according to Naida Osline, Huntington Beach’s cultural services supervisor.

“Two weeks can go by and there won’t be any tagging” on the wall, said Osline, referring to those who repeatedly scrawl their names in crude, simple strokes on any available surface. Nearby staircases that used to be targets for taggers have remained spray-paint free since the program began, she added.

Police in Los Angeles said this week that word about the wall has spread beyond Orange County and that they have spoken to taggers who say they want to tag the wall. But a spokesman for the Huntington Beach police confirmed Osline’s report, saying the department has not “experienced any problems with tagging on the wall since they started the program.”

“I’m really optimistic,” Osline said. “Hopefully, we are providing (legal) options for people” who like to paint with spray cans “as well as a place for an outdoor gallery” for the whole community.

The concrete retaining wall, built to support the bluffs off Pacific Coast Highway, stretches from Golden West Street to 11th Street. During the 1980s, more traditional brush-painted murals and other images adorned the wall. But more recently, it became a favorite spot for tagging and other graffiti, some of which police have said may be gang-related.

Much of the wall is now covered by people’s names, rendered in boldly colored rounded or angular letters, and fanciful images such as Cofinco’s comical underwater showdown between a “drug smuggler” in flippers and a “cop” in the form of a toothy, yellow-and-black striped shark.

Ironically, a few brush-painted murals have also appeared, but Osline said she advised people doing such work to hold off until signs are put up delineating certain sections of the wall for “non-aerosol art” use.

The fine for painting on the wall without a permit is $100. Osline said no one has been caught doing so since Jan. 1, the date the program was launched. The plan was approved by the City Council in November.

Originally, in proposing the program, the city Community Services Department asked for a trial period. But now, Osline said, “we’re just going ahead with the program. If it doesn’t work, that will be evident. But it appears to be working.”

The city even may scrap plans for community volunteers to clean unwanted graffiti periodically because there has been “so little tagging,” Osline said. She believes such defacement has abated because respect for the wall as an art space has been generated “in a grass-roots way” by those using it legally.

Cofinco said he has been telling friends about the program and helping city officials distribute permit applications. “Lots of people have been respecting it more. It’s where you can show your art, rather than show your tag,” Cofinco said.

Response from the community has been mostly positive too, Osline said. Although one resident sent a disapproving letter, most have been supportive, and Osline has often seen artists chatting with neighborhood residents strolling along the beach near the seawall.

“I think that kind of dialogue is really great,” Osline said.