By: Sue By: Sue Koffel Koffel
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written consent of Sue Koffel. First American edition published on Lustro Cover Gloss paper.
Sp Th eci is al is No th te e au : th or ’s
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Introduction................................ 11 Prologue..................................... 15 UrbanLove Fossils....................... 17
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I dedicate this book to my husband who made our first love fossil more than 19 years ago. And the lovely thing is, I feel the same way about discovering new fossils as I did with my very first one. Their sweet permanence is the love fossil’s distinguishing characteristic.
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A well-known architect pointed out in early 2001 that people prefer not to walk in mud; that the sidewalk is a normal place to stroll, hurry – or even sit. He suggested that modern town planners need to take this human preference into account when laying out urban areas that include new communities, shopping malls, housing developments and downtown business districts. I am personally glad for sidewalks, and I very much prefer to walk on one, if available. I became particularly glad for sidewalks in September 2001. The funny thing is that we all look down when we walk along. And most of the time what we see is not very pretty. Nothing seemed very pretty eight years ago, in the wake of 9/11. Every encounter with my fellow Americans seemed filled with depression, anxiety and fragility. I cannot explain “why sidewalks?” The light just went on. That day, not long after 9/11, I was walking along, looking down, and there it was, beauty and love all over San Francisco. The sidewalks were filled with it. Usually taken for granted, these bold, shared declarations of love, Urban Love Fossils, jumped out at me everywhere. In the midst of the gray and grime under my feet – accented by an
old cigarette butt, gum wrapper, or the ever-present leaves – were these permanent Valentine’s etched into the pavement. This was true love that could only be removed by the dreaded jackhammer. Indeed, the only true break-up in the world of Urban Love Fossils occurs when an old sidewalk cracks and is replaced. I felt intimate and cemented connections with “Pat & Paige,” “Tony & Joy,” “Jason & Ann,” “Brigid & Kevin,” “Cecilia & Brad,” “G & K,” “T & M,” and “AC & RC.” I started to photograph these etchings in the sidewalk and collected the prints in an album. I found these Urban Love Fossils everywhere. The sidewalks became a treasure trove of shared love that was as permanent as a modern fossil could be. My album brought smiles to the post-9/11 faces of our friends. This sense of love being such a permanent part of our lives – right there under our feet – delighted the fragile American soul. I often visit that particular place in front of our house where my husband spontaneously engraved a love fossil for us. It was 1990. I remember the pipe that needed to be repaired and the inviting wet cement the contractors left. I did not see Martin do it. Love fossil artists are usually quite stealthy. His design is classic. His initials come first, “MK + SK.” He wrapped a heart around them and then made the “completion state-
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ment,” an arrow through the middle. I never take our fossil for granted. Over time, moss has given it an aged patina. The sidewalk repair is no longer fresh looking, but the love is fresh and new every day. In addition to couplings in cement, some sidewalk artists also draw peace symbols. Others have pressed their children’s hands or puppy’s paws into the corner of a newly laid patch of the urban artist’s favorite medium. Not so long ago, when an admired young actor sadly passed away, his adoring public placed flowers on the square of sidewalk outside his house where he had inscribed his daughter’s name and handprint. His love fossil in the sidewalk gave people a place to remember him. The flowers laid nearby validated the impact and virtue of this gesture. Peace symbols and hands and paws make up about 4.5 percent of the sidewalk fossils I have found. There have been very few expletives – not even 2 percent. These markers of modern paleontology are in the large majority positive and uplifting; and very little of them smack of graffiti. They evoke permanence, a place to leave flowers of tribute and remembrance. Eventually, I started carrying a single-use camera with me. And, as a self-appointed urban paleontologist, I documented what I saw on the walkways around my city, and on our journeys around the United States and Europe. It is much harder to find Urban Love Fossils in Europe, especially in the older parts of the cities. The traditional use of cobblestones and bricks for the walkways makes it much more difficult to carve patterns than the tempting lure of freshly laid, wet concrete. I committed myself to this task. Once, I even jumped out of the car at a red light to capture the 1978 love fossil left by Terry and Sheila. Bless them for dating it. I love dated Urban Love Fossils. The date reinforces their permanence.
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Who knows if these lovers are still together 30-plus years later? Maybe they have children – or even grandchildren, who skateboard over their grandparents’ Urban Love Fossil. Even if Terry and Sheila went their separate ways, their bond is still permanently carved into the pavement near a wall – a wall they may have sat on while perhaps discussing their bright collective future.
Every Urban Love Fossil is part of a personal and emotional story. I remember being stopped by an elegantly dressed woman while photographing “M & A, ’98.” The woman looked wistfully at me when I explained my reason for being there. Longing and memories filled her faraway eyes. “I had a boyfriend in Greenwich Village,” she said. “We carved our initials into a sidewalk. I wonder if they are still there.” Somehow, I knew they were no longer together. But the warm knowledge of the love was still very much a part of her. And the private story of her Urban Love Fossil seemed sweet – even if a little sad. Sometimes, it is a hard-hearted world, for sure. But the concrete that houses millions of Urban Love Fossils in San Francisco and other cities and towns across America is there every day to make us feel soft and mushy – just like the chocolate-colored mud that these sidewalks have replaced. And this book – which is written for everyone who ever declared their love by dragging a stick through wet cement – hopefully reflects the sweetness, grace and happiness of the relationships they experienced and recorded so generously. Their thoughtful urban memories continue to make me smile, and will always be there to bring more smiles, even when historical challenges cause dismay and confusion in our rich and varied world – a world in which every generation counts on finding love. Just take a walk … it’s there.
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As they age, and the enduring and “modern permanence” of Urban Love Fossils is tested, I have come to realize how fundamentally reassuring it is when a testament to love is left in a new sidewalk, “forever fossilized,” as part of the grand collage of an everyday stroll. Some of these fossils are bold. Some are tiny. Some are new, and some are weathered and mosscovered. But they speak to our hearts and make us smile. And their intrinsic value is that smile. Here are the favorites from my own collection of these urban valentines.
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I remember coming home the day I discovered this fossil and wondering if the initials were those of a family member and his someone
special. It was a coincidence to discover this love fossil when I did. And when I asked, it was clear that no one was going to claim it. But the teasing was good fun! I love the way this photo first draws the eye to the two blobs of weeds, and then to the brick planter that adjoins the sidewalk. And there, on the sidewalk, the initials are bold and take up a whole square. One senses a big and confident romance.
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“Brigid loves Kevin”
was my favorite because I photographed it first. Theirs was the original Urban Love Fossil. Their heart even has
an arrow through it, making it “geologically complete.” They have, however, sadly been jack-hammered away. Their fossil was broken up and carried away by workmen recently needing to reach the pipe underneath the street. I respect the employees of any city keeping the infrastructure renewed and repaired. But I often wonder if they see these fossils – especially right before they flip on the switch of that incredibly noisy modern demolition device. My photograph records their at tempt to be on permanent record. And this book gives their fossil another place to dwell.
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Cecilia and Brad made this square of sidewalk instantly beautiful when it was just freshly poured. Thankfully, their Urban Love Fossil
survived the installation of the new stop sign just inches from their heart. They dated their declaration ’87 or ’89. The patina of time has disguised it exactly. Dated Urban Love Fossils are wonderful discoveries. The date confirms their love as part of the historic timeline of our urban continuum.
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When a love fossil is etched with initials only, the couple’s names are left to our strolling imagination. You walk along thinking DP plus EH, hmmm?
Is it Dan and Evelyn, Denny and Ed, or Donna and Elliot? Every time I pass this sidewalk love-puzzle, I play the name game and thank whoever they are for the generous way they chose to share their love with us. And really, that is the key thing about a love fossil – sharing feelings for the world to see.
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These two love fossils are right next to each other. TL + RR is very bold. The initials are large and sweeping. The other one is “between the
lines” and quite small. It looks as if it has been there longer, but the cement was only “inscribable” once. Its smallness does not distract from its big message - “Great Bird.” It is most likely a guy telling his girl how he feels about her. It is definitely not about a parrot!
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T.n.N
is a unique way of expressing T plus M. Love fossil symbolism has its own creative algebra. I have walked over this fossil countless times on my way in and out of the local copy shop. This particular cement imprint motivated me to start carrying a “toss-away” camera in my purse. Every time I would see it, I would say, “Golly, I wish I had a camera.” Now, I always do. I especially love the odd bits of cement in this photo. The lines, subtle colors and textured areas combine in a natural esthetic with the irregular angles and random splotches of sidewalk “left behinds.” Urban Love Fossils are, after all , art.
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delight
The in discovering a red-to-pink Valentine at my feet was a true find. The colors that live in concrete usually take the black-to-white spectrum to describe. This grayish palet te is derived from the nature of cement, which is a mixture of clay and limestone. Ultimately, the concrete we walk on is a product of cement, sand and water. This chemistry causes the cement to set and bind and become a sidewalk. DM and J D found this sensational and unusual sidewalk. The additional pigment made a perfect color scheme for a love declaration. DM is, of course, the one we credit with the creation of this Urban Love Fossil. The maker, as an unspoken rule, puts his or her initials first. Not surprisingly, love fossils have certain conventions, but being classically tinted in shades of red is not one of them. This is unique.
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Tony and Joy is one of my favorite discoveries. Urban Love Fossils are not only permanent (jack-hammer moments excluded, of course) but
they also continually enhance and reflect their surroundings. A fossil’s message of love and af fection dwells in the shadows of a particular time of day, the wetness or dryness of the climate, the souvenirs of the seasons, and the bits and pieces of the modern world that are left on the sidewalk by passers by. Tony and Joy are under a tree that has lovely smelling white flowers that tumble all over them in the spring. The light comes through the branches on a sunny summer day and surrounds the fossil with the most glorious polka-dot shadows. As you walk over this fossil , the view is subconsciously pleasing and always changing with the time of year. A “blink” of love is taken in – and it is delightful.
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This rough old fossil is part of a complicated urban mosaic that incorporates painted curbs that have been chipped and repainted
multiple times. Seemingly random reddish marks have been left by spray-can wielding city workers planning useful infrastructure modifications. The rumpled, cherry-pat terned wrapping paper contrasts with the colorful cracks and gouges in the actual sidewalk. These urban enhancements make this very ordinary love fossil quite important. The best finds in love fossils have, at a minimum, a heart and plus sign. A dated fossil is a bonus, as is one with an arrow. But this fossil , sit ting importantly in the middle of such a colorful mosaic, needs no bonuses.
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We find Urban Love Fossils everywhere – especially in the New World. The cobblestones and flagstones of old
Europe do not really lend themselves to fossil makers. The easy-to-work with nature of wet cement creates the perfect moment for that first elegant and easy carve. Walking down Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, I found this special dated fossil – “Randy ‘n Resa 98.” It was right next to some long-time admirer of the great rock star. It touched my love-me-tender heart.
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The leaf is the magic in this photo. It was just there when I discovered “Maks Loves Marcy” in the autumn of 2002. I wish I had writ ten down
the year for every love fossil I have photographed. But I did not. The collection was casual at first, and just for friends. W hen people started to suggest publishing the photos, the stories had to be built with the few notes I had made. Sometimes I wrote down the year. The leaf in this photo tells us that it is autumn. I think of Maks and Marcy walking hand-in-hand after a delicious lunch with friends. They looked at the new cement and then at each other, and their mischievous eyes said, “Let’s do it.” Their love was, at that moment, of ficially recognized by the permanent sidewalk registry.
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From this day on ut nulpute ex et prat. Ut wis at volumsa ndiamconse eniscin ullam, quam venibh et nulluptat, sum vulla alit at. San utat dolore molummy nostrud dolutem quisim ero odio digna commy nos dui tis nullan heniamet dolortisl dolutatet ut augiamet, si tet del irilisis ad ea aut lum quat, sectet praestio dunt digna aliquisi bla con elisim ver sustion sequat. San vel dignit dolore dolor senim nullaore do od digna ad tatue conullan henim zzrit aliquis do euis nulput ver in eraestrud molesse quatin utpat. Lut at. Ut velisl iliquam ipsuscilit ullaor adignis ad tat dionsequis
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Sidewalk shadows almost create a stage – complete with spotlights and faded edges – that feature love fossils as major characters.
JM and TT are familiar to me. I walk over them frequently. They remind us of love’s strength, even in trying times. The square next to JM and TT was jack-hammered and replaced during repairs. Workmen took away the tip of the heart that surrounds them. Their stage was truncated, but not their romantic message. And at night when it is dark and the curtain of the day is drawn, they are still there.
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“M.S.D. Forever”
is a wonderful dated fossil chained to a fire hydrant making doubly sure about the “forever.” The date comes from a nearby fossil. Sidewalk cement is only ready for a fossil’s creation for two or three hours at the most. I’ve tried! It must be just freshly laid and found right then by the fossil maker. It may look wet after that, but it quickly becomes too hard for any “stick.” So this love fossil was made in that three-hour window one day in 1985. The fossil itself leaves you with a sense of a truly bonded couple. And my instinct tells me they are still together.
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“It’s blissful to be in love with Kai,” went through my head when I found Bliss “heart” Kai. The fabulous lit tle heart that dots the “i” in
Bliss’ name is the clue that tells us she probably made this love fossil. Kai might have been with her, or she may have been with a bunch of girl friends – giggling – who dared her to make this pret ty fossil. As I walked away, “Blissfully Bliss and life is Bliss and …” continued to run through my head … as well as the perfect lit tle heart on top of her “i.”
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I know Pat and Paige. They are a super couple with a divine family. Finding their dated love fossil gave me happy chills. This
fossil tells of a bold love at once intimate and confident, over-shadowing anything nearby – even a lump of chewing gum. The colors in this photo are warm with extraordinary variations. Here the sidewalk is not a cold, flat, gray place, but a place that reflects the natural heat of love.
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“Bob and Irma� is under a lamp post writ ten in bold block let ters. It is on the part of the sidewalk at the edge of a driveway that slants
toward the street. This angle causes fabulous shadows that highlight the tinted colors of the old cement. Someone has crushed a cigaret te nearby, and many a puppy has visited the lamp post. But Bob and Irma make all of this seem insignificant. They dominate the scene, and we passers-by thank them for their strength.
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Union Street
in San Francisco is one of my favorite sites for a fossil “dig.” The love fossil archaeologist sifts through the visual soot and silt of the streets to reveal the beauty the sidewalk beholds. Here the fossil is barely visible due to cracks, drains, shadows and the curbside numbers that might distract the everyday eye. But our modern “dig” champion sees with a small mental brush that carefully clears the debris from “TL + DS,” allowing others to share the once again-discovered love that normally hides on our way to somewhere.
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“Surfer Mat t + Dinah” – is part of the romantic cluster where I found G&K and the shy fossil. I love the photo, especially because of the PG&E manhole and the parking meter. I imagined a darling “Kahuna” and his “Gidget” touring San Francisco on their honeymoon. He had on shorts and flip-flops and was very cold. And she looked on as he warmed the moment with this permanent testament of their love. W hoa, dude – great ride!
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In the same way that couples go out together, even in groups, Urban Love Fossils are often found with multiple neighbors. Love likes
to be around love. It is definitely a cozy commodity. JP and JB is a very sweet love fossil. It lives discreetly within the lines and cracks and fallen leaves, surrounded by a perfect heart and dainty arrow. Its neighbor is a fossil sadly started too late. The cement was obviously nearly set, and K and ? were foiled in their at tempt at this urban tradition. JP and JB might have had a love-neighbor. They seem, however, content enough to live next door to love – almost.
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I love Bob and Sherry. It was very freshly made the day I found it. It is in a “red zone” guarded by the DPT – The Department
of Parking and Traf fic, and it is made very of ficial by the two stars. This fossil has delightful boldness, in light of the zone it is in, and a romantically reckless quality as well. It is so real. It says love “parks” itself anywhere – even if it gets a ticket.
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This beautiful love fossil has a sort of romantic symmetry: DE “heart” LD. The D’s at each end give the impression of a very secure love. It has a finished quality. It is dated 2004. They made a really “we’ve found the one” impression here in the middle of a popular shopping street … everyone in The City walks here, and they wanted everyone to know about their love.
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Here was just a lit tle “infrastructure” correction. But there was thankfully quite enough newly laid sidewalk for Anthony to write his
love sentence to Michella. He was in a hurry and had to wedge in her “i” after it was complete. He filled up every corner of his lit tle find and dated it, 2006. The out-of-bounds edges make this fossil look like a lace doily, very delicate from one perspective and very “concrete” from another.
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How romantic – a June love – the month of weddings … C and C might even have inscribed their wedding date … this way, they never
forget their anniversary. The brides wore silver gray satin with a rusty red rose bouquet. C and C had their initials carved in ice for the reception, with the heart between … their fossil all over again. The ice sculpture melted, but the fossil is there in a modern-forever … “We’re goin’ to the chapel and …”
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MA & T K
was discovered tucked under the corner of a brick planter. Small fossils near gardens or planters are always lovely. The fossil is shaded part of the day and in the sun the rest. Here is a protected love, guarded, but out there. And in this set ting, the fossil is always very pret ty, like a Victorian lady at tea-time.
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The color fields
that this fossil photo defines are familiar to the modern eye. It is as if Robert Rauschenberg guided our fossil maker to this spot. The lines that give us the green, pewter and silver fields remind us that Rauschenberg was influenced later in his career by Jasper Johns. The wonderful fossil puts the subject mat ter into our photo-painting. Let ters were art for Johns, and the layered af fect makes the SS plus MC a valid member of this Rauschenberg-like moment, already worn by time, but remaining in the now established school of modern art ‌ modern love.
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On another corner
of this same rose-colored sidewalk, the result of paint or perhaps a reddish mineral crushed and mixed with the original concrete, is this precious and hopeful love – TJL + ??? Usually, our fossil makers are not so shy. But why not a shy love, a wondering love – even a lonely love? The initials now represented by question-marks have a positive ambition about them. The possibility of discovery, fun –and even bonding for life.
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Love fossil declarations that are carefully and beautifully printed out and dated easily enrich their sidewalk environs. Even the
“goo” spilled next to them adds to the Jasper Johns-like expressionist component – so modern. “Bill Loves Darlene 1961” bids a welcome to the Decade of Love, the ‘60’s. It was all going to happen right on these sidewalks and they were there.
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Finding G&K in a cluster of love fossils on a sort of rubbishy downtown street was particularly sweet. The sidewalk was an orgy of love
mishmashed together with bits of human this-and-that all around. This untended walkway, where musty lit ter was plentiful , was rich with colors and urban designs and caused G&K’s powerful love fossil to stand out in sharp emotional contrast.
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“Jess + Rory”
sits in great contrast to its surrounding moss-covered sidewalk on a shady street in a quiet San Francisco neighborhood. Four new squares of not-yet-dry cement were an overwhelming temptation. Jess and Rory gave in to it. I discovered their fossil soon after they had made it. I had my camera out, and was photographing it, when a cab stopped and the driver jumped out to see what I was doing … a cab on this particularly quiet corner was very unusual. He and I had an hilarious chat about my collection and then he looked at “Jess + Rory” and saw the love. It was in his smile.
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“John + Mary�
surrounded by a generous heart, completes this Urban Love Fossil scene: a truck, fire hydrant, water meter, red no-parking curb and water department outlet. You could not have more of the paraphernalia that defines urban if you tried. I was so glad they had remembered their Cupid’s arrow. The arrow is like a period at the end of a sentence, and here finishes this complete metropolitan statement.
1998 was a good year for love fossils. Renovations were everywhere
and, as a consequence, there were lots of new patches of cement – sit ting ready for lovers. Two love stories found their way onto this concrete patch when it was fresh. In one corner is a dated fossil , “MD ’98 DS.” In the other corner is a jubilant declaration of love for J. The heart surrounding J has “love sparks” flying of f of it – like fireworks. Urban Love Fossils never breathe of sameness. The infinite ways the makers describe love in a fossil say it all , confirming that there must be infinite ways to be in love.
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Someone was hurrying me when I found “DD +
Greg.” I remember explaining how important it is to capture something in the moment – and out came my disposable camera and, snap, I had it. In general , people rush from one thing to another. We call it modern life. And I could hear the exasperation in my companion’s voice. But aren’t we glad DD and Greg stopped? And isn’t it sweet irony that they put their one fossil right next to the San Francisco Fire Department’s (SFF D) manhole cover? My eyes twinkled when I saw this symbol of the ultimate “hurry” – get ting to a fire.
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Here Phoenix rises, is born
from its own ashes, to live perhaps 1,000 years, until it is reborn again. It is surrounded by everyday life: an orange peel , and all the sidewalk accoutrements that accent this simple but profound love fossil that almost spells L.O.V.E… “L plus V” has fire about it – and longevity. It seems to rise from passions to become a solid, hot and great romance.
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1983 was a vintage year for Jack and Karen. These two became part of civilization’s beautification plan, which acknowledges our need for sidewalks. As I mentioned in the introduction, people do not like to walk in the mud, so sidewalks are taken for granted as part of our everyday comings and goings. We want them well planned. For in our ever-growing green hearts, we want this world left as natural as possible, but still of fering us our mud-free paths. I am thankful for this sidewalk. I had a fiveyear old and a one-year old in 1983, and we used sidewalks everyday on the way to their growing up adventures. Thank you – Jack and Karen.
Jason + Anne is a classic love fossil. The bold heart is made
with two sweeps of a “stick,” which might be any sharp, handy fossil-making tool. The capital let ters and the confident plus sign say this is real , this is now. The splash of random color nearby, colors their heart, by implication, a warm light red. And as Valentine’s are red, their cement-tinted heart feels Valentine red. Our eye wants it to be.
This is the love fossil my hus-
band made in 1990, in front of our house. He made the fresh one on the dedication page last year on a nearby corner. I know my collection inspired this recent addition to our sidewalk. And the lovely thing is, I feel the same way about discovering this new one as I did over 19 years ago, when I discovered the one above. Their sweet permanence is the love fossil’s distinguishing characteristic.
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The Urban Love Fossil is urban art that offers us the chance to share one of life’s most wonderful experiences --being in love.The sidewalk was never meant as a plaette for the Urban Love Fossil artist, but these “Picassos” have chosen this romantic theme to present an everyday gift.