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Arts & Entertainment

Pasadena Can Stick a Fork in It: 18-Foot Utensil Art Installed Permanently

Fork-in-the-Road-Pasadena.jpg
Photo of the fork as originally installed in 2009 by stephenfalk via the LAist Featured Photos pool

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This is some guerrilla art we like, and now it's here to stay: The 18-foot fork placed at the fork in the road where St. John and Pasadena avenues meet up in Pasadena has been given the okay to go in the ground for good.

The fork art appeared in 2009, and was a birthday present/prank for Bob Stane, founder of the Ice House comedy club and current owner of the Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena. Stane always thought it would be funny if someone did that and his wish was granted by his friends.

But the art installation needed permission from the city and Caltrans to stick around. "Last month, a group of about 10 dedicated friends resurrected the enormous wooden utensil," explains L.A. Now. The fork was cemented in, with the appropriate bureaucratic blessings.

"I think we've sort of altered the outlook on outdoor art in Pasadena," remarked Stane.

Much like a similar event held in 2009, Stane and the "Fork in the Road Gang" are going to hold a fundraiser at the new "fork plaza." Calling it "Put a Fork in Hunger," the group is working with Union Station Homeless Services and is hoping to collect five tons of food at fork plaza this weekend. Donations will feed people in Pasadena's Central Park on Thanksgiving Day.

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