Encinitas, California: Surfing Madonna
Glass mosaic of the Virgin de Guadalupe surfing, installed clandestinely in 2011 by artist Mark Patterson, has a permanent home on an outside wall of the Surfy Surfy surf shop.Surfy Surfy
- Address:
- 972 N. Coast Hwy, Encinitas, CA
- Directions:
- On the west side of N. Coast Hwy 101, just north of Jasper St.
- Admission:
- Free
- RA Rates:
- Worth a Detour
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Artist Mark Patterson created a colorful 9x15 ft. glass mosaic of the Virgin de Guadalupe surfing, titled it "Save the Ocean," and installed it clandestinely on Good Friday 2011 on a railroad underpass wall in Encinitas, California. Town leaders flew into a tizzy. Was it graffiti? Illegal? Religious? Ultimately they decided it was all three and forced Patterson to remove it. But the public loved the artwork, christened it "Surfing Madonna," and demanded its return. After a year of rejections, Patterson finally found a permanent home: the outside wall of a surf shop named Surfy Surfy, about a mile north of its original location.
[RoadsideAmerica.com Team, 06/29/2012]Nearby Offbeat Places
- Boat Houses, Encinitas, CA - 2 mi.
- Swamis - Self-Realization Fellowship, Encinitas, CA - 2 mi.
- Cardiff Kook Surfer Statue, Cardiff-by-the-Sea, CA - 3 mi.
- In the region: Suspension Bridge, San Diego, CA - 24 mi.
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