Urban seaside in the Civic Center

Joel Bellman was walking to lunch with a friend today when they spotted some figures sunbathing in the urban eyesore where the state building used to stand at 1st Street and Broadway. "Down in the pit was a family catching some rays as if they were kicking back at the beach, complete with chaise, umbrella, and even a beach ball," he says. Taking a closer look, Bellman and friend saw the figures weren't real. Was it guerrilla art? Perhaps a comment on the ugly pit with a pool of fetid water where a federal courthouse may be built someday? Hard to say, because when Bellman came back by after lunch the family group was gone. "A casualty, no doubt, of the zealous crew at the General Services Administration, charged presumably with 'keeping up the property,' he says archly. "Demonstrating that while the feds may not know art, they know what they don't like."

Typos fixed