Some cities have love-lock bridges. Others have heart-shaped rock collections. Santa Barbara has frogs.
Dozens and dozens of them, nestled into niches, or lined up sentry style along a tan stone wall of the Riviera neighborhood — one of the oldest districts of Santa Barbara, known for its labyrinthine streets. The “Frog Wall,” as locals have affectionately called it for decades, became an accidental shrine to amphibians of all kinds — ceramic, rubber, plush, painted, plastic, even bottle-shaped.
But sometime in the past few weeks, the frogs thinned.
The iconic (if unofficial) installation along Paterna Road has been significantly cleaned up. Gone are the weather-worn plush toys, the sun-bleached rubber amphibians, the moss-covered figurines tucked into crevices and median strips. What remains now are mostly ceramic statues — neatly placed, a cleaner, sleeker version of the chaos it once was…