Walking Santa Monica

Today, I saw two interesting things during my almost-daily walk-about in Santa Monica: coins in cement and a big blue angel.  I'm somewhat aware of the story behind the big blue angel but not the coins in cement.

The big blue angel is actually a human-size sculpture that, I believe, was created as part of the 2000-2001 "Community of Angels" art project that sponsored the creation and placement of hundreds if not thousands of angels -- each one with a unique theme and name -- all over the City of Angels. 

This angel currently lives outside Santa Monica's  Angels Attic on Colorado and 5th St. 

The basic angel shape was pretty much the same although some had halos, tin man bodies or other minor variations but each was "dressed" by different artists.  There are several of these angel sculptures around Santa Monica.  I have yet to find the name of this angel (close up it looks like it's covered in mostly blue marbles).  As I recall, after the art project was officially over, many of the statues were auctioned off and moved to various locations around the Los Angeles basin.  The book, "A Community of Angeles: Los Angeles" is a photographic history of the project and its resulting angels.  Several web sites offer photos of some of these truly wonderful and imaginative angel sculptures.

Then, there are the five coins in cement.  I would never have noticed them except I happen to have stopped right by them to contemplate the state of my untied shoe.

Five coins (top to bottom, left of center) cemented into the sidewalk along Wilshire Blvd., between 11th and 12th.

I would have had to get on my hands and knees to get a really good look (and photo) of the coins but from my vantage point, they appear to be five U.S. coins that were pushed into wet cement. The coins appear to be (from curb to store front): penny, penny, nickel, penny, dime.  One wonders about the story behind the eighteen cents.