Magic castles made of sand in O.B.

Syd and Spike have been drawing a daily crowd along the seawall in Ocean Beach lately with their impressive sand sculptures. They’ve built an O.B. sandcastle, a mermaid lounging on the wall, and, the most recent hit, Neptune, greeting you as you hit the sand, sprawled like a boss with his six-pack physique and near perfect facial details.

“I learned sand sculpture from a guy in Santa Barbara — Scott Dosch, who’s been doing it for 30 years,” Syd told me. “He took me under his wing as an apprentice and after a few months when I knew how to do a sculpture on my own, I started using that to travel…. Spike and I are both writers, so we do this primarily so we can write and travel because we’re not getting paid to write yet. It's just a really wonderful skill that enables us to live free.”

Next to the sculptures is a tip bucket. I wondered if people were returning the love.

“We do okay,” Syd said. “Depends on the day and the beach, but, yeah, we get our needs met.”

But Syd said their occupation is about something bigger than tips.

“Even though we do this as our living, I do this primarily to keep magic alive,” Syd told me. “I think its really important, especially in this day and age where there’s a lot of — it’s just a hard time to be a young person, and I think it’s a really important task to keep magic alive for both kids and adults.”

The duo said they will soon be heading to Slab City and Arizona.

“Come see the sand — play and bring your smiles; we appreciate all the joyful support,” said Spike. “Catch us while you can: we're out at the end of February.“