Caltrans scrubs Pasadena's giant fork

If there’s a place in Pasadena where two roads diverge and is easily accessible to the public, Bob Stane would like to stick a fork in it.

The 18-foot fork has stood at South St. John and Pasadena avenues since Halloween, when Stane’s friends erected it as a surprise for his 75th birthday. The unusual monument caused a stir with residents and city officials overwhelmingly in favor of the tongue-in-cheek art.

The fork is rooted in land owned by Caltrans and leased to Pasadena strictly for landscaping use, Caltrans spokeswoman Maria Raptis said. In November, Caltrans agreed to allow the fork to stay for six months. Although that deadline has passed, Raptis said Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard recently sent a letter to a Caltrans director asking that the fork be allowed to stay. A discussion on the fork’s location is forthcoming, she said.

But Stane, who co-owns an Altadena coffee gallery and showroom with the fork’s creator, Ken Marshall, said he spoke to a Caltrans official who gave him until the first week of June to find a new plot for the fork.

“They think it’s dangerous, that it might fall over, and they’re afraid people will run across the street to be photographed with the fork and be run over,” Stane said.

Stane has spent the last month scouting places where the fork could be relocated. He envisions a spot where it can serve as a landmark for large crowds. Although Stane and his friends once hosted a canned food drive at the fork, a planned Valentine's Day celebration was canceled by the city due to possible traffic issues.

Stane's ideal location? “Where Colorado Boulevard hits Orange Grove. It’s got a great big lawn, and that’s where the Rose Parade starts. It would be great if the parade came and turned right at the fork on the road.”

-- Corina Knoll

Photo: "The Fork in the Road," at South Pasadena and St. John avenues.  Credit: Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Patrick]

Of all the problems Caltrans has, this is the smallest of the small. Leave the fork alone!

There are thousands of more important issues these guys can attend to first. For example, how about reinforcing the Hyperion Street Bridge across the L.A. River before the next earthquake drops it into the riverbed?

[Susie]

Please let the fork stay!!! It's all in good humor and brings smiles to those who see it. Pasadena needs at least one display of quirk because everything else just so ... prim and proper.

[Art Fern]

Save the fork in the road!

Art Fern
c/o Tea Time Movie
Beautiful Downtown Burbank, CA

[J in Pasadena]

Did you see how they closed the 710 spur entrance for weeks to install some needless hardscape landscaping on a piece of freeway that will be torn down someday? They had Pasadena avenue backed up for 20 minutes and three giant blocks, all the way to the fork. No signs, and they shut down the freeway entrances starting at about 7a weekdays. Maybe Caltrans should worry about keeping roads open and saving money. Caltrans is now officially a joke.

[Manuel Alderete]

They should just reshape it into a giant DOLLAR SIGN
$
"Your tax dollars at work."

[truth to power]

SAVE THE FORK!

Give us all a break Cal Trans, HAND OFF!

[Bob]

It's amazing the fork is still there. Yogi Berra always said, "when you come to a fork in the road, take it." You should put the fork in the grassy area at the southwest corner of Lake and Altadena.

[chilangelina]

The fork is in our way to school, everyday, and everyday it makes us happy. I forgot about the traffic and my kids sometimes even forget that they are going to school!

[JA]

"...they’re afraid people will run across the street to be photographed with the fork and be run over,” Stane said.

Well, that would be a practical and instant application of Darwin's principle of survival of the fittest (actually, the thinning of the stupid from the herd so their stupid genes can't be passed along), which is a good thing, no?
There are way too many stupid people in America, we could do with (quite) a few less.
Anyone dumb enough to run out in traffic to get photographed next to a fork, is a person that society can do without.
Make America smart again, put up a fork in every city!

[Shalini Dore]

Leave the fork be, it's fun!

[I love fork]

Keep the fork where it currently is! The intersection of Colorado and Orange Grove isn't even a "fork in the road!"

[boris8]

Take it down; it looks too much like a Claes Oldenburg.

[Rade]

Cal Trans has so many bigger fish to fry...Pasadena Freeway, anyone?

[BeautyQueen]

Seriously: Leave the fork alone. Be magnanimous. Give Caltrans a better name than it currently has. This one simple gesture could do wonders for your public image. Look, the fork hasn't caused mass upheaval in all the time it's been there. Doubtful it will. But the more you make an issue of it, the more people might come. So just let it be, quit writing about it, and allow passersby to enjoy it. Grow a funny bone, people!

[chris]

let the Folk-art stay....or should that be fork-art

[K.E.]

I can't believe Caltrans is so paranoid about this bit of whimsy.

In 6 months, how many people have been injured by the fork, vs. train crossings, I wonder?

[MOP]

This fork brings me joy every day, before and after I have to drive on stupid Fremont to and from my job. I didn't think it would be permanent, but what is wrong with these people?!

[Justin]

Stick a fork in it CalTrans! You're freaking losers.

[Andy]

"Did you see how they closed the 710 spur entrance for weeks to install some needless hardscape landscaping on a piece of freeway that will be torn down someday? They had Pasadena avenue backed up for 20 minutes and three giant blocks, all the way to the fork. No signs, and they shut down the freeway entrances starting at about 7a weekdays. Maybe Caltrans should worry about keeping roads open and saving money. Caltrans is now officially a joke. "

J, your comments are spot on. I too was caught in this mess and couldn't believe the sight of tens of workers milling around on the onramp, seemingly oblivious to the traffic debacle they were responsible for.

Perhaps they were too busy making plans for the fork to control traffic adequately. Definitely symbolic of the competence of the agency.

[Paul]

If you're concerned about it falling, reinforce the base.