Riverside’s statue of explorer Juan Bautista de Anza stands erect in Newman Park, hat held to his chest, cape hanging from his shoulders. He gazes serenely toward the arroyo where he and his party tread in 1774 as the first outsiders to visit the region. Stately though his bearing may be, pranksters used to routinely make this idealized version of De Anza look comical. On May 6, 1962, a Sunday, churchgoers “were taken aback” at the sight of the statue “garbed in a red flowered muu muu, big sunglasses and a straw hat,” the Riverside Daily Press reported. (Thanks to the Riverside Main Library’s Ruth McCormick for locating this and other materials for me.) John Nelson went home to get his camera and snapped a photo to document the scene. Which was quick thinking, because the garb was reported at 8 a.m. and gone by 11 a.m. “Best I’d seen the statue look in a long time,” Nelson cracked to The Press. “The muu muu, or whatever it was, fit. They must have measured the statue for it.” A 1962 photo shows young people posed with the Juan Bautista de Anza statue, newly costumed as “Riverside’s first” tourist in muu muu, straw hat and sunglasses. It was just one example of many reported instances of the statue’s defacement. (Courtesy City of Riverside) Playing off De Anza’s status as the first outsider to pass through the area, a homemade “plaque” at the statue’s pedestal read “Riverside’s First Turista,” i.e., tourist. As the paper reported: “The prank was apparently the work of Riverside City College students.” Those darned kids (chuckle). Researching its history last fall, I was captivated by how frequently De Anza was vandalized in an earlier era. I was writing about a drive to raise money to repair the statue after nearly 75 years out in the elements and couldn’t get into the vandalism. But a deep dive into civic prankishness is what follow-up columns are for. Seemingly from its dedication in May 1940 into the early 1960s, the De Anza statue was defaced in one way or another on a steady basis. Why? It was commonly believed that money earmarked for a swimming pool at Polytechnic High had been diverted toward the 14-foot-tall statue. Thus, Poly High students left high and dry by the lack of a pool took out their irritation on the statue. The situation was debated in the letters section of The Press in December 1951. Earlier, one T.L. McCullough had applauded the vandalism as a corrective against the government waste he believed the statue represented. That brought responses in the Dec. 22 edition. The most informative was from F.L. Housholder, who had been chair of the Riverside Art Club committee that solicited the money for the statue and saw the project through. Housholder allowed that “there is some excuse” for the vandalism because Poly High students “believed that the statue was built with the tax money that they thought should have been used for their swimming pool.” Housholder tried to set the record straight: “Not one cent of tax money was spent. The entire amount represents the nickels, dimes and dollars of thousands of Riversiders…” It’s safe to say the statue was popular in many Riverside households, not just Housholder’s household. An undated postcard view of Riverside’s De Anza statue. Newman Park has since been surrounded by a fence and previously had a short cutoff street, since filled in, a few yards in front of the statue. (Courtesy Riverside Main Library) A second letter offered a good harrumph to McCullough’s original letter and the general all-in-good-fun spirit. “What I deplore is the tacit approval given to irresponsible hoodlums who feel compelled to drench the statue with paint from time to time, and thus to condone vandalism,” Cornelius C. Smith wrote in part. “Let us have instead a little more of good manners and self discipline.” Also, stay off his lawn. Walter Parks, who researched the Riverside Art Association’s history some years back, told me that the organization spearheaded the statue drive. Most of the $30,000 cost was borne by the Federal Arts Project, a branch of the Depression-fighting Works Project Administration. The art association “raised $5,000 for the local share of the remainder,” Parks wrote — those “nickels, dimes and dollars” that Housholder referenced. History writer Tom Patterson addressed the subject in 1964’s “Landmarks of Riverside and the Stories Behind Them,” saying that vandalism began “within days” of the statue’s dedication. “It did not matter that this story of swimming pool funds was false and that it was frequently proclaimed so,” Patterson wrote. This photo from the 1951 Riverside City College yearbook shows Junior Lions cleaning the De Anza statue, done at least once annually to “restore the old boy to his natural color” after having paint thrown on him by pranksters, a common occurrence. (Courtesy Doug Barrie) “Before Poly High athletic events, or after them, or anytime, the statue would greet the morning with an uneven mustache or a magnificent smirch,” continued Patterson. “It became the regular civic duty of the Riverside Junior Chamber of Commerce to paint over the defacement.” In the 1951 Riverside City College yearbook, provided to me by Doug Barrie, a photo shows eight young men with a ladder, sponge and bucket around the statue, which is gleamingly white again. “De Anza’s annual face lifting is one of the more pleasant duties delegated to the Junior Lions,” the cheerful photo caption reads. “Several times a year, the statue gets a thorough going-over by some of the less civic-minded individuals of the community. Consequently, the Junior Lions pitch in every so often and restore the old boy to his natural color.” Other than the “turista” photo and Patterson’s comment about painted-on mustaches, it’s unclear how the statue was defaced, other than frequently. William Hunt of Riverside emailed to tell me: “I can remember the De Anza statue with ‘costumes’ at different times as a child in Riverside. My mother recalled the statue being dressed for Halloween. She also said it was dressed for the De Anza Days Parade.” In several posts in the Facebook group We Grew Up in Riverside in the ‘50s and ‘60s, some recalled the statue being toilet-papered. Some girls were said to have once put a bra on him. Related Articles Local News | Jimmy Carter stopped in Inland Empire before and after presidency Local News | Inland Empire history, vintage fiction among 2024 reading choices Local News | Hike to Mount Hollywood offers exercise, sights and surprises Local News | The deep blue pleasures of the Travis McGee mystery novels Local News | Hobbies, milestones, positivity: readers share their plans for 2025 “We pasted a fig leaf on his privates,” one man said. Going in the opposite direction, other boys hung a firehose and two basketballs there. Vandalism seems to have largely stopped by JFK’s presidency. “In 1960 a swimming pool was finally built on the Polytechnic High School (now City College) grounds, close to the statue,” Patterson’s 1964 account ends. “Whether for that reason or other, the smirching of the statue has been much reduced.” Well, except for that 1962 muu muu. David Allen writes Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, besmirching your reading. Email [email protected], phone 909-483-9339, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook and follow @davidallen909 on X.