O.K., O.K., I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE THINKING. NO! ON THE OTHER HAND, I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING; BUT I KNOW WHAT I’M THINKING. I’m thinking there’s something a little bit off about the bas relief figures circling the Casa de Balboa just under the roof line. I’d like to know more about the person who designed these architectural embellishments. There are two dozen or so of these life-size half-torsos around the building. The figures are, shall we say, full bodied... no, let’s say “muscular”... no, let’s make that "masculine"... or at least "confused." Look at that rugged face.

I’ll bet a stevedor from the docks wandered through the park just about the time the sculptor decided he needed a model. I’m sure it was a “he,” because there’s no woman in the world who would be this confused about basic female anatomy. We can only be glad the decision was made to stop halfway down the body.

I’d also love to know the reaction of people who visited the 1915 Panama-California Exposition in San Diego’s Balboa Park. It was the same year that the Panama-Pacific Exposition opened in San Francisco. The San Francisco folks came much closer to getting it right. Theirs is the one on the left.