San Francisco's 'The Whales' Statue Returns After 20 Years

Stationed over a planter outside City College of San Francisco's almost-done Student Success Center, an 86-year-old statue is tightly wrapped in a blue tarpaulin like a present for the public.

Work crews carefully installed the sculpture of two intertwined killer whales, or orcas, late last week, ending a 20-year saga that turned the iconic and nostalgia-inducing artwork into a symbol of neglect and mismanagement.

Woody LaBounty, head of the architectural preservation group SF Heritage and formerly The Light's history columnist, has tracked "The Whales" project and wrote about it last year. By his count, the sizable statue, which is quarter scale to actual killer whales, has been moved seven times.

"These whales have migrated more than maybe even real whales," LaBounty said. "But everybody, especially folks who have memories of seeing them at the Academy of Sciences, is excited to have them back on public view."

This reporter wrote about the ill-fated campaign to restore the deteriorating cast black granite statue before the college's 70th anniversary for City College's student-run newspaper The Guardsman. Now, I'm a faculty member and the college is on the cusp of its 90th. But, at long last, "The Whales" are ready.

A Fantastic Centerpiece

San Francisco commissioned painter and sculptor Robert B. Howard to design a piece for the 1939 World's Fair on Treasure Island.

Howard, an artist of considerable talent, designed the phoenix above Coit Tower's entrance and often worked for architect Timothy Pflueger, designer of Ingleside-defining buildings the El Rey theater and City College's Science Hall.

"The Whales" was the centerpiece of a fantastic fountain in the Court of the Whales in the San Francisco Building. It was bracketed by two sculptures of dolphin-clinging men by Cecilia Bancroft Graham. (Read Sunnyside historian Amy O'Hair's article about Howard and the sculpture.)

When the World's Fair ended in September 1940, the sculpture was stored in Golden Gate Park for 16 years. The Arts Commission rescued it — but not the accompanying dolphins with riders, alas — and placed it in a fountain in front of the California Academy of Science's Steinhart Aquarium. There generations of children ate sack lunches around the sculpture and made memories.

In the early 2000s, Cal Academy demolished its facility for a new one, and "The Whales" no longer fit. City College was a natural home, already possessing the most significant art from the World's Fair: Diego Rivera's Pan American Unity fresco.

The statue was damaged when it was moved to a warehouse in the Bayview. Later, it was deposited on City College's campus beside decrepit bungalows. The college made plans to install it in front of Science Hall and another in front of the Wellness Center, but neither materialized.

A Long Wait

The Arts Commission owns and is responsible for the statue.

In late 2019, the commission moved the statue to a storage facility in Oakland and, a few years later, allocated funds for repairs. Last year, the commission approved planting the statue at City College's $133 million student services building.

The commission could not provide information about the final cost of restoration or a statement about the 20-year timeline to save "The Whales" by press time.

Howard's sculpture may not belong to the college, but it certainly belongs to it. It thematically fits its art collection. Inside the Student Success Center will be "Bighorn Mountain Ram", another World's Fair sculpture. And across the street, Rivera's fresco will have a worthy home in a new performing arts building.

Neighborhood historian Lisa Dunseth was surprised when she learned "The Whales" had returned to City College. She'd given up hope and forgotten about them.

"It's hard to celebrate this because it's so needless," Dunseth said. "If people would just do the right thing when they are supposed to."

How can it be a city that dredged an island out of bay muck and held a year-long extravaganza celebrating the commerce, science and arts required 20 years to repair a popular statue?

Dunseth and her husband, David Hooper, made plans to take a stroll to see it with their own eyes.

"The Whales" may lack a fountain. And the Arts Commission told The Light it has no plans to restore its companion sculptures of men astride dolphins. (They're decaying in Golden Gate Park.)

No matter the wait, the gift is here. The blue wrapping will be removed sometime this summer, timed with the student center's grand opening, college officials said.