As the comics community prepares to invade San Diego for a few days, we’re closely monitoring the local news to alert attendees to any possible hazards they will need to navigate, and here’s a doozy: A giant phallus in the guise of an apartment building is set to rise over downtown San Diego, and it’s giving law-abiding San Diegans a hard time. Developer Sandor Shapery claims the building looks like a flower, but city planners say it resembles a giant 40-story wang.
“With its rounded forms and swelling of the uppermost floors . . . this building structure is very phallic,” Pugh wrote in his critique of the project.
Some downtown residents seem to agree with Pugh. At one public meeting on the design, comments from the audience included “appalled” and “too iconic.” Someone compared it to Las Vegas architecture.
The structure would be erected near the freeway exit that leads to downtown; Shapery is also responsible for building the newish W and the green-tinted Emerald Plaza, which also met with controversy when it went up in the 80s.
After the local criticism of the phallic structure, the architect has agreed to “tone it down.” Perhaps with a dose of saltpeter?
“The structure would be erected near the freeway exit …”
heh heh ..erected.
It’s very … manly.
It should be noted that Springfield, IL has been home to a similarly … priapismic … building for at least 30 years. Plus, given the relatively low surrounding building heights, it can be seen for many miles outside of town.
The locals refer to it as “The Prick on the Prairie.”
Normally I get pretty impatient with people referring to this or that as a “phallic symbol.” But, uhhhh…
wow.
I can’t even come close to seeing a flower in that.
I can definitely see, umm, what you might expect I’d see. I mean, it even has a big freaking vein running up one side.
Wow.
1) That building DOES NOT look like like Las Vegas architecture. (And I’ve got an eye full of that where I work.)
2) Why are the San Diegans so afraid of the penis? I mean, they’ve already got a building that looks like a god-sized electric razor, lipsticks, powder box, and eyeliner downtown. Why not add God’s “educational model” to the collection?
Jeez Louise.
I thought the SD downtown condo building business was cooling off. As I understand it, there are more condos being built than people willing to buy at the asking price. You’d think it would slow down these superstuctures a bit.
Let’s just hope they don’t try to launch fireworks from the top of it on the 4th of July.
will it be visible from space?
were/are the designer(s) gay males?
were/are the designer(s) gay males?
“As I understand it, there are more condos being built than people willing to buy at the asking price. You’d think it would slow down these superstuctures a bit.”
SD real estate, especially with regards to condos and Downtown, is in a weird place. Until recently, lots of condos were being sold, only problem is they were being sold to out-of-town speculators- who are not willing to sell.
So you’ve got great occupancy on paper, but an ever shrinking tax base.
The city will catch on in about five years, but until then, living Downtown is almost like living in a ghost-town if you go two blocks east of 5th Ave.
“Let’s just hope they don’t try to launch fireworks from the top of it on the 4th of July. ”
That would be AWESOME!
I don’t know if I picked up on the phallic image (at first), but now I can’t un-see it, which I imagine would be a problem for the citizens of San Diego.
When’s the cigarette building going, heh heh, up?
I feel like a need one after reading the comments, which almost all had a joke (intentional or not).
KK wins with “And I’ve got an eye full of that where I work.”