A Fork In The Road in Pasadena

One can now see the proverbial “fork in the road” in Pasadena, CA. As a 75th birthday surprise for Bob Stane, several friends erected a huge fork in an area where the road splits, or forks. His friends donned fake Caltrans uniforms and hard hats, cemented the fork in place and surprised Stanes with a “fork-in-the-road party” complete with birthday cake.

After reading about it in the Saturday LA Times, I of course had to see it first hand and took several photos. It is huge as well as fun and whimsical.

Made of wood, it is painted silver with a black steel skeleton and held in place with over 2 feet of concrete. If the fork is deemed safe and secure following an inspection this week, the city is considering keeping it up for a while as in impromptu piece of street art.

“To my knowledge, there hasn’t been a mystery piece of public art just popping up in the city,” Stephanie DeWolf, deputy director of Planning and Development told the LA Times. “We’ve heard from a lot of people and they are enjoying it,” she continued.

The huge fork has become a celebrity of sorts, making news on radio and TV stations as well as newspapers. There is apparently a blog with a YouTube video to be on soon.

I for one hope the city decides to keep it. A little whimsy now and then doesn’t hurt. The triangle of land where the fork resides is just dirt and somewhat dismal. Perhaps it could become a home for rotating public art pieces. In the meantime, people in the Pasadena area are enjoying their own fork in the road!

Cheri Cabot

Cheri is a freelance writer living in Southern California.  She has two grown children and is the proud grandmother of three.

You can find Cheri’s home page at www.ccabot.gather.com

Her weekly political column “Personal About Politics”, can be found at www.personalpolitics.gather.com as well as “The Obama Watch”

at www.theobamawatch.gather.com.