Cardiff Kook facts for kids
Magic Carpet Ride is the official name of a 6-foot (1.8 m) high bronze sculpture (2007) of a surfer by Matthew Antichevich, an artist and sculpture instructor at Mt. San Jacinto College. The sculpture is mounted on a 6-foot high granite base with poetry inscription by Robert Nanninga, and is in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, Encinitas, California, United States. Locals have nicknamed Magic Carpet Ride as The Cardiff Kook, a pejorative name popularized by the local surfing community.
History
The sculpture was commissioned by the Cardiff Botanical Society at a cost of approximately $120,000. It was installed in 2007 at the entrances to the San Elijo State Beach campground on Coast Highway 101. The $92,000 construction cost was raised by the Botanical Society, with the $30,000 installation funded by the city of Encinitas.
The sculpture was intended to depict a surfer performing a "(backside) floater", but the Botanical Society's budget could not cover the cost of an additional water/wave component. Antichevich was chosen from more than 50 bidders on the commission. His original design was for a female surfer on a breaking wave, which also exceeded the budget, and the Botanical Society chose an image of a male surfer on a granite plinth that halved the amount of required bronze. Other proposed designs were discussed with the Botanical Society, including the figure of professional surfer Rob Machado and a surfer on a longboard. According to Antichevich and to Michael Ames Clark (then-chairman of the Botanical Society's selection committee), the sculpture represented the joy and awkwardness of a young boy learning how to surf, in acknowledgement of the area's attraction to novice surfers.
