Save That Monster!

By C.J. Hirschfield

When William Penn Mott Jr. was head of Oakland’s Parks Department in the 1950s, he got things done. Crazy, cool things. Like helping create Children’s Fairyland. And like commissioning a well-known jeweler to design a wildly modernist play structure on the beach in Lakeside Park.

Fairyland has been revived and now thrives. The sculpture? After years of being in a sad state of disrepair, help seems to be on the way, as a group of committed community members works toward making the “Mid-Century Monster” once again a delightful play experience.

Sly, the Family Stone, and the Mid-Century Monster (1968)

The sculpture, which was featured on the cover of a 1968 Sly and the Family Stone album cover, was designed by Bob Winston, who by all accounts was quite a character. His biography on the website of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which owns some of his work, says he “wore a sign around his neck attached to a walrus skull with his jewelry store’s name on it.” He also “would spontaneously make jewelry before a crowd of people and dressed like a hippie before there was such a thing.” 

In the 1940s, Winston revived the lost-wax casting technique used in ancient Egypt. He is recognized for his imaginative designs and innovative use of materials; at about the time that Mott contacted him, he was teaching at California College of Arts and Crafts (now California College to the Arts).

A drawing of the Mid-Century Monster, presumed to be created by Bob Winston. (From City of Oakland archives)

I have to admit that I’d been unaware of the tradition of having jewelers or artists design play structures. Oakland’s public art coordinator Kristen Zaremba helped educate me.

“The connection between jewelry and large-scale sculpture design, or between metal, glass, wood, or ceramic design and large-scale sculpture, including public art, is very strong,” she told. “Another linkage is the mid-century tradition of playground equipment designed by sculptors.” Some of Kristin’s favorite sculptors, including Henry Moore and Isamu Noguchi, dabbled in this trend.

The Mid-Century Monster now

I learned from the writing of Alan Hess, an architect who has published 19 books about Mid-Century Modern architecture and urbanism, and who for years was the architecture critic of the San Jose Mercury News, that the spread of Modernism after World War II included the effort to bring Modern design to all aspects of everyday life: furniture, household appliances, tableware, fashion, autos, architecture – and children’s playground equipment. By combining the abstract forms of Modern art with the tactile play experiences of climbing, sliding, jumping and (most important) imagining, these sculptures made art a fun, functional and creative part of daily life. At one time such structures were widespread throughout California, but few remain today.

The Mid-Century Monster in the 1960s

That’s why Hess wrote in support of restoring a Mid-Century Monster sister sculpture in Modesto – nearly identical to ours – which most experts agree was also designed by Bob Winston eight years after Oakland’s came to be. Noting that he himself played on Oakland’s “Monster” when he was a kid, Hess encouraged Modesto to retain and restore its own structure.

A dedicated group of Oaklanders, including members of the Lake Merritt Breafkast Club and the Lake Merritt Mid-Century Monster Fan Club, has been working with the City of Oakland to advance the process of restoring our Monster. (You can check out the Fan Club on Facebook.) 

They’d like you to join them in raising funds for the Monster by attending a screening of Walt Disney’s animated Pinocchio (1940) at 10 a.m. on Oct. 28 at the Grand Lake Theater. Club T-shirts will be sold at the event – which will be co-hosted by the Grand Lake, Disney and The Lake Merritt Breakfast Club – and all proceeds will support “our beloved icon.”

Mid-Century Monster Fan Club T-shirt

I think William Penn Mott, who went on to run the U.S National Park Service, would be pleased that two of his early inspired visions will continue to delight kids. 

And you never know what children’s play may inspire. As Alan Hess puts it: “I played on Winston’s Lake Merritt sculpture as a kid –  and it probably started my awareness of Modern design!”

__

C.J. Hirschfield has served for 16 years as the executive director of Children’s Fairyland, where she is charged with the overall operation of the nation’s oldest storybook theme park.