Our supporters over at Red Pony Media have done an amazing job of interviewing Sal and capturing on video his enthusiasm and devotion to this Pacifica II Statue Project.

Sal begins by describing his experience auditioning for the Billy Rose Aquacade back in 1939.  Can you spot the young and handsome Sal at the top of the group picture?  And again when he’s in the water with the other swimmers? HINT: He’s in the first row of guys, second from the right!

As you watch the 3-minute video, you can feel the dazzle and excitement that Sal felt as he visited Treasure Island and the Golden Gate Int’l Expo during his stint with the Aquacade.  And you can hear the determination in his voice when he made the commitment 20 years ago to rebuild the Pacifica Statue.

It’s kinda cute, too, how he refers to the original Pacifica as his ‘girlfriend’!

You can see the video right on our page about Sal DeGuarda.  Included is an email address for Sal so folks can express their support, or ask him a question.

Let us know what you think!

P.S. A special thank you to James over at Red Pony Media.  We’re very appreciative, especially since Red Pony has done work for some of the biggest names in media – Pixar, Apple, Disney, Oprah’s Network and 20th Century Fox just to name a few.  Thank You!

The Bliss Dance sculpture of a dancing woman, she represents a celebration in the beauty of humanity. She stands 40 feet tall, weighs 7000 pounds and is ingeniously constructed of triangulated geodesic struts. By day, the dancer’s ‘skin’, made of stainless steal mesh, shimmers in the sun. By night, it alights brilliantly with a complex array of 1000 slowly changing l.e.d. colored lights. Viewers may interact with and manipulate the lighting effects with an iphone application. The dancer’s delicate, graceful form precariously balances on one foot, adding to the astonishing impression of imminent movement and lifelike presence. Currently she is residing at the Great Lawn on Treasure Island near San Francisco, the sculpture originally debuted at Burning Man 2010 festival.

SF before the 1906 quake

Before the devastating earthquake and subsequent fire in San Francisco in 1906, the city hustled and bustled in old-timey fashion, complete with an army of cable cars, old Cadillacs and Buffum Roadsters and classy Edwardian fashion era ladies and gents.  In 1905, perhaps only months away from catastrophe, someone attached a camera to the front of their cable car as it moseyed up Market St, the Ferry building in plain view ahead.  Here it is for your viewing pleasure, a reminder of the endurance and evolution of this wonderful city Pacifica will call home.

Human Be-In Poster

When people think of the 60′s, they almost assuredly picture long-haired men and women, adorned in flowers, giving the peace symbol as they lay out on a field of grass. They think of a culture of protest, alternatively peaceful and aggressive, where the youth stood up collectively and said “no” to a culture predominated by political paranoia and overly assertive conservatism.

And, when people think of the 60′s and the counterculture that surrounded it, people think of San Francisco, California, where the nascent hippie population congregated in the Haight, while politically active hipsters and beatniks started stemming in from educational institutions like Berkeley and Stanford.

On January 14, 1967, it was in San Francisco that one of the largest demonstrations of collective public art took place as the first ever Human Be-In, a watershed event hosted by late artist Michael Bowen that touted the values of cultural and political decentralization, communal living, higher consciousness and personal empowerment. Performance artists, speakers and musicians, and up to 30,000 people congregated in Golden Gate Park, making national headlines and bringing San Francisco’s counterculture into the general psyche of the United States.

It was the prelude to the Summer of Love. As a collective artistic event, it encouraged self-expression through music, chanting, dancing, and thoughtful living. It changed mainstream America and gave San Francisco the powerful reputation it has today of being a hub of progressive creativity and a birthplace of social change.

Similar events continue to this day around the San Francisco area, with the pervasive presence of the Burning Man tribes hosting near weekly events that encourage the same ideals as the Human Be-In, with even more of a focus on interactive art and intellectual, emotional and spiritual expansion.

Below is a video of some of the goings on of the Human Be-In. In just four minutes, one can feel the good vibes and free love that was celebrated at this historic peaceful gathering. Enjoy.

Colossus of Rhodes

As the buzz continues to grow about our plans to rebuild the Pacifica Statue and install her on Treasure Island, we were intrigued to come across news about another statue project that caught the world’s attention about 2 ½ years ago.

In 2008, the UK Guardian announced that plans were afoot to recreate the epic Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World.  Built between 292 and 280 BC on the Greek island of Rhodes, the impressive monument was estimated to be 107 ft tall, and allegedly straddled the harbor. Depicting the sun god Helios, it only lasted 56 years before its untimely demise as a large earthquake leveled most of the island and forced the giant icon to collapse.

Unfortunately, we haven’t found any further information related to this ambitious undertaking.  However, we want to applaud the vision and the inspiration of a community to resurrect a grand statue that symbolizes peace, bridges the gap of history, and brings collective awareness to our shared ancestry and heritage on this planet, something we know a great deal about as our project pushes forward.