Original surfer statue’s head stolen

The stolen head of the fiberglass statue is a twin for this bronze recasting that now graces the pier. Photo

Someone has stolen the head of the original fiberglass surfer statue that stood at the city pier for four decades, until a twin version was cast in bronze to replace it six years ago.

The fiberglass original, a life-size depiction of the late lifeguard Tim Kelly riding a wave, sat in pieces in a storage area above the Hermosa Beach Historical Museum ever since it was cut up to aid in the bronze recasting. Then about a week ago Rick Koenig, president of the Hermosa Beach Historical Society, discovered the head had gone missing.

“Tim Kelly’s head has been stolen,” he said.

The theft was discovered when the storage area was being cleaned out to make way for a new emergency operations facility in the sprawling Community Center on Pier Avenue that also houses the museum.

Koenig speculated that the theft occurred while the storage area was left unlocked at some point within the past month.

“I saw his head probably a month ago,” where it lay among the limbs and torso pieces, Koenig said.

The Historical Society has planned to put the fiberglass Kelly statue back together again, but as things stand now they couldn’t do it with all the king’s horses and all the king’s men. The society’s plans called for displaying the reassembled statue possibly within the museum or just outside of it.

Koenig said the nine-pound head, like the rest of the original statue, was made “like a surfboard,” with fiberglass over foam.

Koenig did not file a police report, deciding instead to go to the press with an unspecified reward for the return of the head, no questions asked. Anyone wanting to contact Koenig about the matter can call 310-318-1403.

Comments:

comments so far. Comments posted to EasyReaderNews.com may be reprinted in the Easy Reader print edition, which is published each Thursday.