The Controversial Kook
By Lauren Kapp
CARDIFF-BY-THE-SEA, CALIF. — There is one surfer who never leaves the beach. This surfer happens to be a bronze statue that towers over the small beach town of Cardiff-By-The-Sea in Southern California. The Magic Carpet Ride, better known as the Cardiff Kook, has caused quite the controversy over the years.
The public initially criticized the statue after it was unveiled in 2007. Locals began calling the statue a Kook, who’s a person that doesn’t know how to surf. The name stuck.
Since then, the community has slowly begun to accept the Kook as a part of Cardiff.
The small beach town of Cardiff is home to roughly 12,000 people. Cardiff prides itself on its epic surf spots, such as Pipes Beach. With professional surfers Rob Machado and Zach Keenan local to the area, surfing is taken seriously. The community’s deep connection to surf culture caused an immediate — and almost expected — backlash against the Cardiff Kook statue.
But some residents have learned to appreciate the Kook for what it is.
Ralph Chaney, a surfer who moved to Cardiff in 1986, does not have a negative opinion of the Kook. Many surfers were bothered by the statue’s hand and feet positioning. The novice and awkward stance that outraged some surfers was not offensive to Chaney.
Located off Pacific Coast Highway, beachgoers and surfers walk by the Kook as they make their way to the beach. Chaney considers the Kook to be a point of passing, that should not have a large impact on residents.
Although Chaney is fond of the Kook, he understands the resentment from others.
“It might even be more inviting for Kooks to come,” Chaney said.
Over time, community members and visitors alike started the tradition of dressing the Kook up for celebrations, anniversaries, holidays, and social movements. Decorators come in the middle of the night to deck the Kook out, leaving the community surprised in the morning.
The community has become so accustomed to seeing the Kook dressed up, that it is almost rare to see the statue bare.
“I honestly didn’t know what the statue was since it was dressed up in so many things. It took me a couple of months to even recognize that it was a surfing statue,” David Sosnow, a surfer who recently moved to Cardiff, said.
Although Sosnow was not living in Cardiff when the statue was installed, he believes that a sport centered around skill and localism would only lead to criticism of the Kook.
“I take it as a community trying to accept surf culture but doesn’t actually know what it is,” Sosnow said.
Julee Keenan-Rivers agrees. Keenan-Rivers grew up in Cardiff and did not have a strong opinion of the Kook until she heard what others had to say. She is the sister of the professional surfer, Zachary Keenan, and remembers how much her brother disliked the statue. But like many residents, Keenan-Rivers has embraced the Kook for what it is.
“The Kook has almost become a joke… Cardiff has such a funky vibe to it that the statue just adds to.”