Rancho Palos Verdes revives push to refurbish Bubbles, the iconic Marineland statue

Dec 04, 2023

The Rancho Palos Verdes City Council has revived a nearly decade-long community effort to restore and find a new home for Bubbles, a 26-foot fiberglass statue of a pilot whale that had marked the entrance of Marineland of the Pacific until its closure in 1987.

The former Palos Verdes Peninsula landmark has been stored in RPV's maintenance yard for more than three decades, despite city officials and residents having long hoped to restore the statue to its former glory.

"It has experienced some unfortunate damage over the years," Matt Waters, a senior administrative analyst with RPV's Recreation and Parks Department, said during this week's City Council meeting.

During that meeting, the council revived directed city staff to once again look into raising enough money, along with community efforts, to find a home at the Palos Verdes Interpretive Center, a central location on the Peninsula for whale watching.

Postcard image shows view of Marineland of the Pacific entrance with fiberglass statue of Bubbles the pilot whale and friends sometime in the 1980s. Marineland closed in 1987. (Photo courtesy of the Palos Verdes Library District Local History Collection)

This March 6, 1987, photo shows the Bubbles whale statue at the entrance to Marineland of the Pacific being removed. (Daily Breeze file photo)

Bubbles, a 26-foot pilot whale fiberglass sculpture that welcomed visitors at the entrance of Marineland of the Pacific in Rancho Palos Verdes before it closed in 1987, is in need of restoration and a new home. Bubbles is pictured in June 2022 at the city's maintenance yard, which is not open to the public. (Photo by Michael Hixon, Daily Breeze/SCNG)

This postcard shows Bubbles the pilot whale at Marineland of the Pacific, which closed in 1987. (Photo courtesy of the Palos Verdes Library District Local History Collection)

Last year, the council declined to put the restoration efforts on the city's 2022-23 budget because of cost concerns.

Back in 2017, the city received design proposals, with estimated costs of $225,000 to $285,000 and $150,000 to $160,000, respectively. And in 2022, Bubbles was part of the city's Capital Improvement Program; in that program, though, total project cost was estimated to be $565,000, Waters said — which did not include design and restoration expenses.

"It's just hard to sit back here and look at a $500,000 cost for something that's so meaningful and so important to the heart of the community, but just not necessarily significant," said Councilmember Eric Alegria. "It's not our streets, it's not our landslide (area)."

But because of the statue's iconic status, Mayor Barbara Ferraro and the rest of the council still want the restoration work done — but not at that cost.

"We should be able to have a wonderful statue for less," Ferraro said. "I don't want it to look dinky, but on the other hand, I don't want it to cost $500,000 either."

The council on Tuesday, April 18, asked city staff to move ahead with a new request for proposals for an updated estimate and approved allocating $75,000 from the 2023-24 city budget, if needed, to design a monument on which the Bubbles statue would sit.

Restoring Bubbles has also received a boost from an anonymous Rancho Palos Verdes resident, who donated $40,000 in January, on the contingency that the project is approved by the city and completely funded, Waters said.

"I do happen to know who the resident is that is willing to give the $40,000," Ferraro said, "and I’m sure other people will be on board once they know it's actually going to happen."

Another source of funding available came from community donations.

Jon Sansom, who visited Marineland as a child, helped organize fundraising efforts in 2021 by launching a GoFundMe page — "Preserve Bubbles the Whale!" — that, as of Wednesday, had brought in more than $7,000.

Sansom, in a Wednesday email, thanked Ferraro and the council "for their continued support to bring Bubbles back to the community."

"We look forward to working to preserve this unique piece of local history," Sansom wrote, "for future generations to experience."

For those who grew up in the South Bay, Marineland was a go-to destination.

It was open from 1954 to 1987 before being sold to SeaWorld amid declining attendance and financial hardships.

Bubbles, who was a real what that was captured in the 1960s off the California coast, was a main attraction at the park, along with the killer whales Orky and Corky.

SeaWorld was Bubbles's home until its death at 50 years old, according to press reports.

Two smaller dolphin statues also helped Bubbles mark Marineland's entrance. One dolphin is at PVIC and the other one is in city storage. There are no plans currently for the dolphins, said RPV spokesperson Megan Barnes.

Paul Funk, president of Los Serenos de Point Vicente, a volunteer group at the PVIC, said that the first step to getting the Bubbles statue back in public is refurbishing the monument itself.

"We have to refurbish the fiberglass and make up a steel framework inside of it so that it would stand at a 15 degree angle," Funk said, "not vertically like a circus animal, but at 15 degrees so it looks like he's naturally breaching out of the water."

Other funding sources for that project could come from the recently formed RPV Community Foundation, a nonprofit that has a goal of promoting philanthropy in the city.

"This would be a wonderful project," said City Manager Ara Mihranian, "to add to that list of community projects that we can partner with."

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