A Wish for Peace : Plumber Hopes His Front-Yard Waterfall Will Bring a Wellspring of Inspiration

It is not the type of public works project that is going to solve the problems of inner-city Los Angeles. But the hot pink contraption in Curtis Gray’s front yard may not be a pile of junk either.

A plumber by trade, Gray turned a bathtub, two laundry basins, a sink and some old pipes into what he calls a “wishing well for peace,” a whimsical creation with running water that is drawing interest in a riot-torn South Los Angeles neighborhood.

Cars slow down to get a look at the odd assemblage in Gray’s front yard at 131 W. 109th Place, and neighborhood children--many of whom helped with the construction--hurl pennies toward it, calling out their wishes.

“I want to be a songwriter,” said Ronnie Lewis, 14, who is working on a rap song about the riots. “This well reminds me of that. It makes me feel like I’m in the woods. Sometimes I want to climb in the tub and swim around.”

Conceived while the jury was still deliberating in the Rodney G. King beating case, the wishing well was assembled on the day the not guilty verdicts were handed down and violence erupted across the city. Gray, a 47-year-old father of three, sees it as a homespun sculpture aimed at a community in need of inspiration.

“Close your eyes for a minute--you’ll think you’re in Yosemite,” Gray said as he sprawled on a bench a few feet from the well. “There was a lot of tension in the air around here and it was getting unbearable. I had this idea--to make a waterfall in the front yard to inspire the kids.”

Not everyone, however, sees the natural beauty.

“I think it’s a pile of junk,” grumbled one neighbor, who did not want to be named. “I’ve had guests who come over and say, ‘What is that?’ They laugh out loud.”

But Gray, an avid musician, reasoned that every artistic creation is open to interpretation. After all, there were critics as well when Sam Rodia set out in the 1920s to build the Watts Towers a couple miles away.

To understand the well, Gray said, one must first understand the neighborhood. Several Crip gangs have claimed the area. Evenings are regularly interrupted by gunfire and the roar of police helicopters. Several stores down the street were burned and looted during the riots.

“All of our wishes are in this well,” he said. “Right now the kids are afraid to go to school, afraid to wear colors, afraid of everything. I tell them one day things will be peaceful if they just wish.”

Coins have been piling up steadily in the bottom of the tub and Gray said he’s deciding on a creative, community project for the funds, which he estimated are in the $5 range.