By GABRIELLA BOCK | Reporter
A trail leading into the Santa Monica Mountains has received some beautifying touch-ups after an artist repainted a cluster of vandalized rocks to appear as, well, rocks again.
Positioned about a mile up on the Los Liones Trail sits a group of small boulders that had, until recently, displayed the unsightly markings left by graffiti taggers.
But as of Friday, Nov. 17, the rocks, in a mysterious, reverse Banksy-like fashion, have been recolored so that they no longer stand out as a blemish on the beloved 1.3-mile community footpath, but instead blend back into their lush, natural surroundings of live oaks and sagebrush.
The news of the restoration was brought to the attention of the Palisadian-Post when a local hiker posted before and after photos of the formerly graffitied stones on social media site Nextdoor in hopes they would find the person responsible for the handiwork.
Once limited to the insides of tunnels and cityscapes, graffiti has become an increasingly prevalent cultural phenomenon that has, in recent years, made its way into California’s protected wildlife areas.
In neighboring Malibu, taggers cost the state nearly $40,000 in restoration efforts last year after a cave housing prehistoric Native American etchings was painted over with devastatingly ruinous graffiti art.
The area has since been closed to the public for visiting and those found entering the area are subject to a misdemeanor offense and a near $400 fine.
Back in Los Liones, new graffiti continues to spring up nearly overnight as old graffiti attracts unwelcome taggers to the area—a problem that locals fear will continue to mar our parklands, some even suggesting that the town form a coalition of trail refurbishers.
Seeking answers, the Post placed a call to Topanga State Park on Monday, Nov. 20, which revealed that the practice of painting over vandalized rocks was not that uncommon after all.
A representative at Topanga’s Ranger Station told the Post that trail volunteers often help park employees document areas in need of restoration, a task that usually involves machinery—like a sandblaster—but sometimes requires a bit of creative flair.
“We’ll often use a mixture of crushed walnut shells to grind off paint, but we’ll use paint to cover up graffiti in areas that are a little harder to reach.”
Although the ranger said they hadn’t specifically heard of a guerrilla artist painting over defaced rocks in Los Liones, he also wouldn’t rule it out as a possibility.
“We typically use whatever basic rock-colored paint we can find,” he said, suggesting that blending different colored paints to create an oxidized look may be more advanced than what the rangers are used to doing.
At any rate, “graffiti tends to attract more graffiti—so, if someone else is painting over the rocks then we could definitely use more people like them.”
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