“And they’re all made out of ticky tacky, and they all look just the same” – “Little Boxes,” Malvina Reynolds
Few statements on bland suburban conformity hit the nail on the head quite like Reynolds’ musical rallying cry against postwar American mediocrity. “There’s a green one, and a pink one, and a blue one and a yellow one,” Reynolds checks off prior to detailing the wasted lives of the doctors, lawyers and business executives of the unnamed hinterland hell (it was actually Daly City, she’d later say).
If Reynolds were singing about 2015-era Boyes Hot Springs, however, it’d be more like:
“There’s a beige one, and a grey one and an electric purple one and a lemon chartreuse one…”
As Bill Hoban’s story details on today’s front page, the colorful close-knit Springs community this month has refracted quicker than white light through a prism. The divisive issue? That artist/painter Rico Martin, of Sebastopol (an outsider!), is jazzing up some of the roadside businesses along Highway 12, turning their cracked, sunbleached, coffee-stained-teeth paint schemes into bright, pastel-laden eye candy. As with any new designs in the public purview, some will like it, some won’t. But, much like the décor in the Springs these days, the issue is far from black or white.
When local social networking sites went Valley-viral over Martin’s paint job earlier this month, it seemed a genuine grassroots backlash against the flowery designs was stirring faster than a Thomas Kinkade palette knife. But following a Springs community meeting attended by nearly 300 people, the majority of whom supported the vibrant new look (call it a rainbow coalition, if you will) some are saying the whole “controversy” was mustered as a political move to paint 1st District Supervisor Susan Gorin in a corner – for not protecting… wait for it… community character – in an approaching election year. That’s a pretty cynical take on an important issue – an issue we’d like to dub, “Boyes n the Hue.”
Afterall, not everyone likes such audacious colors as, let’s see, orange and purple – and certainly not next to each other. As they say, not all colors of the spectrum are created equal. Just ask Magenta.
Yet while some say the art critics in the Springs should confine their aesthetic preferences to their own white picket fences, voices deserve to be heard when it comes to the general “look” of a neighborhood – as long as folks keep in mind that the final call comes down to the building owners.
But just as any new project only requires an environmental impact report if there may be a negative impact with its development, paint schemes deserve a lot of leeway before county officials like Gorin should have their hand on the color wheel. Besides, the buildings Martin has painted out there look great. The La Michoacana/Plain Jane’s purple-pink-cantaloupe color combo is a trip (a perfect fit for a smoothie shop); Tienda Iniguez deli has a delightful orange-yellow floral pattern; and even Armando’s Auto Center – bearer of the most criticism for its blood-orange palms – draws the eye.
The businesses will also draw customers. They look cleaner, fresher, and more, well, successful with the designs – other drab beige buildings along Highway 12 only become drabber and beiger in comparison. Building and business owners should be lining up to be next on Martin’s to-do list.
Little boxes looking all the same, take heed.
Email Jason at jason.walsh@sonomanews.com.
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