The Finger Fountain Does Not Fit Current Desired Image Of USC

FINGER.FOUNTAIN.4I confess I never gave much thought to the Finger Fountain, which was demolished this week. But I did a little research and it was constructed at USC in 1979 and designed by the firm, Flewelling & Moody, which is responsible for perhaps the most famous building on campus: Seeley W. Mudd Memorial Hall of Philosophy (below).

MUDD.HALL

What is irksome is that a fountain popular with the students that also adopted Crosstown Rivalry lore was demolished. Can you imagine Notre Dame destroying one of its campus landmarks that have a sports connotation?

This is the other sad fact: The fountain does not fit USC’s current desire to make everything on campus seem Greek or Italian based (guess who made that decision). And it doesn’t have a Disneyland feel like this out-of-place thing. So in this respect, the Finger Fountain never had much of a chance. It’s role in the fountain runs probably also hurt its image from the viewpoint of university bureaucrats.

33 thoughts on “The Finger Fountain Does Not Fit Current Desired Image Of USC

  1. What time is the going away party for St. Pat tomorrow?
    I already miss him.

  2. I wonder if Andyain’trecruiting knows Kobe Paras had to withdraw from UCLA. Paras could easily pass the bozo u academic fog a mirror GPA entrance requirement.

  3. Well then there’s the flip side – that sterile rectangular prism called Waite Phillips Hall – the mix is good with the emphasis on the classical.

    We’re blessed – we could have that ‘every thing is the same’ cheap faux mission that stanford has – you can’t tell one bldg. apart from the other save the Hoover Tower.

    BTW the architects of Mudd Hall would be shocked to see what their grand kids slapped together that thing looked like ‘Stonehenge’ light.

    • Stanford looks like a junior college. I couldn’t believe how dull it was after hearing how great “The Farm” was. Their football stadium out in some dusty field was even worse. SC is far superior to the Indians campus.

      • You talking about the old wooden clapboard stadium or that ‘Theater In The Round’ multi-level one they built 5 years ago?

        Man the old one was even lower than the Rose Bowl but good night it was huge and a ricekty wooden joke – reminded me of that race track outside Chicago that burned down, Arlington, back in the 80’s – 100% wood.

      • Mr. Goux in a recent best CFB venue poll the RB was #1 (Natch) and Stanford Stadium was top 25.

        Not voted in the top 100 was the bozo u crumbling mausoleum. The large mausoleum Wino and larger rodent population didn’t impress the voters.

  4. The Rigid Vertical Middle Finger Statue pointed directly at the UCLA Administration Bldg in the center of THE University of Southern California Campus is to be Honored. The afternoon before the Annual Rivalry Football Game, 10’s of thousands of Trojan students and alumni should gather around the Trophy and Chant F. U. C. L. A. three times. After the Trojan Marching Band (in civilian clothes) plays 3 prominant Nationally Awarded Trojan fight songs, the assemblage Chants WE ARE SC ! 3 times. WE’RE NUMBER ONE ! 11 times followed by Conquest. While Chanting WE’RE NUMBER ONE, it’s optional weather one holds up an index figure, OR a vertical middle finger aimed directly at the UCLA Campus , FIGHT ON !!!

  5. The Finger Statue was erected after I graduated. For USC football games, I always enter from the other side, so frankly I hardly ever got down near the Gavin Herbert Plaza. But with the huge University Village development going up across the street, this will be a bigger, more pronounced entry way to campus.

    From what I can see of the stark-edged, boring Finger Fountain photos, I’d say it was time to go. I don’t really remember the thing, but maybe something with a little more of a splash than a trickle would be an improvement. I’m sure the new one and the new GH Plaza will be nice.

    Bottom line is, who cares? It’s become another SW obsession, because he doesn’t really know what’s going on with recruiting or the team.

  6. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I think the USC Campus is classical, impressive and something to be proud of.

  7. Traditions come and go all of the time. If we were talking about the Tommy Statue I’d up in arms shaking my cane at the bulldozer, but I doubt I will miss the fountain. In fact if I want to flip off Ucla (If I need to be so crass) I can do so from my seat at the game

  8. I think it’s a shame. A university is the product of many generations’ accumulated work, and that includes its architecture as well. Sure, if someone proposed building that fountain in that style today, we might well ask, “For God’s sake, why?” But when you walk around a campus, it’s interesting to see the history of its various eras around you, even if some of their choices seem… questionable. I hope they don’t replace it with something in the vein of the horse or the goofy clock. Maybe a statue of Sark with water bubbling eternally from a vodka bottle into a row of shot glasses, cascading into a reflecting pool.

    • Ya, it’s amazing how the removal of the ugly Finger Fountain mess of cubes and rectangles has completely wiped out an entire era of USC architecture on campus. One would never know the late ’70’s even existed at USC anymore.

      We should hereby pass an anonymous irrelevant Trojan blog resolution mandating that nothing should ever be removed from the USC campus no matter what. We’ll make an exception for old bike racks and dead trees. Every other structure of any sort stays in place forever so we’ll always know it was there at one time. Anyone second the motion?

      • You have already said that it was built after you graduated, and that it generally meant little to you. Why get all cantankerous if some of us who DO have fond memories of the ugly thing are sad to see it go?

        More importantly, will you donate to my Sark fountain idea? I will write a letter to Trojan Family Magazine with the proposal. You call your booster pals.

        • Cantankerous? Be serious. It’s your right to be sad. It’s other’s rights not to care or to even be happy.

          It’s not a function of when the ugly thing was built or whether I liked it. I’ve seen countless changes, additions and subtractions to the USC campus over the years, and none of them them wiped out an era or dramatically altered history as you suggested.

          I used to love playing on Bovard Field. Gone. Yet better now.

          If any school’s interested in its history and plans accordingly, it’s USC, that’s for sure.

          As far as Sark goes, I feel sorry for the dude and his big fall. You don’t see many that dramatic and steep. I don’t foresee a particularly good future for the dude, so I tend not to joke about him.

          • Indeed, you are the most cantankerous fellow on this blog. Muy cantankeroso.

            Re: Sark, he is still young enough to change his ways and stay sober, although that might require pursuing another line of work — one that doesn’t require such a total commitment. Then again, a friend of mine from SC was a heroin addict and spent time in prison, yet today he has been sober for years and puts most of his time/energy into his job, so you never know what will help people keep to the straight and narrow.

          • Now that USC permanently destroyed your favorite little fountain and took away such an important part of its history, hopefully you’ll get over it. Sounds like your jailbird friend is doing better these days. Was he really attached to the Finger Fountain like you? Hope he doesn’t relapse.

        • Give him/her a break, they say the hormone drugs have side effects that make Jacqui the trans grumpy.

  9. AL 1975. AL 1975, if you are a Troll of any kind, SUCK IT UP !!! if you are a true Trojan, please laugh it off. Thanks.

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