If you grew up in Malibu in the 1960’s or frequented the area, chances are that you at one point heard about “The Pink Lady.” If you don’t know what the Pink Lady is, it’s about time that you learn about this cool piece of Malibu history.
The area in which she painted her historic piece, on the rocks above the Malibu canyon tunnel, had previously been occupied by ugly graffiti. To access this area was no easy feat and Lynne thought that if such effort was taken to paint something there then it might as well be something creative.
After months of planning on what she would create (it is said that her initial intention was to paint a bird, but because of horizontal restrictions horizontally, she decided on naked lady instead), Lynne began removing the existing graffiti while suspended from the top of the cliff above the tunnel by ropes. This took months. Finally, when the rock was clean she was ready to paint.
On Friday, October 28, 1966 Lynne painted her masterpiece. Suspended by ropes and equipped with brushes and multiple cans of paint, The Pink Lady came into existence – 60 feet tall and pink as can be.
At first the painting remained somewhat under the radar with only those driving from Malibu towards Calabasas able to see it. However, it wasn’t long before the news programs jumped into action.
Claiming there was the potential risk to traffic, County officials ordered its removal of this amazing art work.
At first the county tried to remove the painting using fire hoses. That failed. Hearing of this Lynne came forward and announced that she was the painter of the Pink Lady. She thought that the only way to preserve her painting was through a court injunction. Unfortunately, that failed and on November 3, 1966, the Pink Lady was painted over with brown paint.
(Above: The area today where The Pink Lady once was.)
Lynne later sued the county for $1,000,000 citing destruction of her work and the county counter-sued for $28,000 for removal costs. Both cases were later dismissed.
Although the Pink Lady no longer remains above that tunnel in Malibu Canyon, the legend of its creation will live on forever in Malibu history. Thank you Lynne for being such a wonderful, creative person!
• “Pink Lady”. Snopes.com. Retrieved October 13, 2015..
