Giant Ladderback Chair

Sebastopol, California

A huge wooden chair pokes up from a small parking lot entrance on Gravenstein Highway, south of Sebastopol. It's a ladderback chair, reminiscent of the giant ladderback chairs in Vermont and Massachusetts.

The chair was built in 2005 by artist and peace activist Lars Speyer, who apparently also had a whimsical sense of humor. The big ladderback originally resided on a hill overlooking Aptos, a town south of Santa Cruz along the Pacific coast. In 2016 it was was disassembled and moved to Sebastopol.

Elevated on four six-ft. tall poles, the chair is protected by a chainlink fence. Some reports claim the height to be 27-ft., but even including the poles that seems like a stretch.

We'll have to return with a tape measure.