Bad Day on the Normandie

You may well ask, "What the heck is 'Bad Day on the S.S. Normandie?'" You can find your answer on Del Monte Boulevard in Pacific Grove. As you pass the intersection where the street passes Coral Street, look to the first house on the right and you'll see an unusual sculpture. The sculpture is named "Bad Day on the SS Normandie" and it's a large, dead tree that has been carved into a giant octopus attacking an ocean liner! The owners of the property, Matthew and Jessica Denecour, commissioned the artist, Griffon Ramsey, to create the sculpture using a chainsaw after the tree died. This sculpture, finished in September 2017, was the largest sculpture Ramsey ever carved and depicts a massive octopus attacking and squeezing an ocean liner (the SS Normandie) which was an actual ship originating from France. Luckily the SS Normandie was never attacked by a giant octopus. She met another sad fate. After the ship had been seized by the U.S. and renamed the USS Lafayette, she caught on fire, capsized, sunk into the Hudson River, and then sentenced to the scrap pile in October 1946.
(Photo by Jay Galvin)