Statue

Within the medieval ramparts of Avignon in the south of France, Westlake Village reader Robert Pisapia photographed this "statue" who came alive with the clink of spare change. "He remained perfectly still until a coin was put into the cylinder at his feet," writes Pisapia, who visited in May on a nine-week tour of Italy and France with wife Annemarie. The mime rewarded one young tipper with a greeting in slow motion and a stream of bubbles.

A replica of the Chinese students' "Goddess of Democracy" statue looming over the Los Angeles Civic Center from a pedestrian bridge will be moved to City Hall by Friday, officials said. The city's Board of Public Works, which for two weeks overlooked the fact that the 23-foot-high statue was placed in the middle of the Temple Street bridge without a permit, plans to meet with the statue's creator and have the 1,500-pound goddess moved, board spokesman Tony Harris said Monday. The statue, a replica of one destroyed by Chinese troops advancing on thousands of students demonstrating in Beijing's Tian An Men Square, was designed and built of wood and plastic foam by Santa Monica artist Tom Van Sant.

Re Mayor Bradley's idea for a Statue of Liberty West: 1--Many years ago I heard an even better idea on radio. I think it was Bishop Fulton J. Sheen who said, "Just as we have a Statue of Liberty on the East Coast to remind us of our privileges, so we should have a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast to remind us of our accompanying responsibilities. 2--It seems to me that the ideal location for such a monument would be on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay. 3--Perhaps institutes or studies of liberty and responsibility could be established in appropriate locations, including on a number of university campuses.

A powerful federal arts commission is urging that the sculpture of Martin Luther King Jr. proposed for a memorial on the Tidal Basin be reworked because it is too "confrontational" and reminiscent of political art in totalitarian states. The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts thinks "the colossal scale and Social Realist style of the proposed statue recalls a genre of political sculpture that has recently been pulled down in other countries," commission secretary Thomas Luebke said in a letter in April.

The rain ended just in time, perhaps knowing it could never stop Chick Hearn in his days as a Lakers broadcaster, so why cause an issue at the unveiling of his bronze statue Tuesday outside Staples Center. The man who once called 3,338 consecutive Lakers games — getting there every time despite rain, snow or otherwise — is shown sitting at a table while wearing a headset, looking like he's midsentence while calling a game. A chair next to him remains open, allowing fans to take photographs in it. Hearn's widow, Marge, was the first to sit in the chair after the 45-minute ceremony in front of a crowd of about 500. She kissed her right hand and then placed it gently on the cheek of her husband's statue.

For Rosono Rachmat, every memento marking a personal tie to Barack Obama is a precious thing. Rachmat, who goes by the nickname Nono, cherishes, for example, an elementary school class picture of himself standing with the wide-eyed boy who grew up to become the president of the United States. He wouldn't part with that photo for any amount of money, he says. So Rachmat is baffled by a controversy over a statue erected in a park to commemorate the four years Obama spent here in Indonesia's capital, where he lived until age 10 and was referred to as Barry.

Fittingly, if belatedly, Jerry West's statue will be unveiled outside Staples Center next week alongside Wayne Gretzky's (2002), Magic Johnson's (2004), Oscar De La Hoya's (2008) and Chick Hearn's (2010).... Even if they're drawing names out of a hat to determine the order. Star Plaza has only five greats, compared to the Hollywood Walk of Fame's 2,431 movie stars ... and theater owners, costume designers, makeup artists and cartoon characters Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Shrek and the Simpsons.

A man who was not allowed to ascend the stairs inside the Statue of Liberty climbed onto a wall at the famous landmark and fell to his death, authorities said. Elhajo Malick Dieye of New York either slipped or jumped Saturday from a 3-foot-high wall on the huge concrete and granite base of the statue and fell 100 feet to the ground, officials said. Dieye apparently had insisted on going to the crown of the statue, which is reached by stairs inside the 152-foot-tall structure.

A statue of V. I. Lenin was set on fire in Bucharest in an apparent protest against Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu, Western diplomats in the Romanian capital reported Sunday. Tires soaked in gasoline were placed around the 50-foot-tall statue of the founder of the Soviet Union and set on fire during the night attack about a week ago, a diplomat told Reuters news agency by telephone. The statue, outside the headquarters of Romania's official media, was not seriously damaged.