Palm Springs will move ‘Forever Marilyn’ statue to city park to settle lawsuit

The Palm Springs City Council announced Thursday that the "Forever Marilyn" statue will be moved from its perch in front of the Palm Springs Art Museum to a city park just steps away.

The move, which was approved by the council earlier Thursday in a closed-door meeting, is a step toward settling a long-running lawsuit by the Committee to Relocate Marilyn, a group that opposed the statue's current placement. In legal filings, it argued the city broke the law in the way it closed part of Museum Way to make room for the statue.

In a prepared statement Thursday, Mayor Jeffrey Bernstein said the statue will be moved to the Downtown Park, which is just north of Museum Way.

Bernstein said the decision on the specific location within the park would come in the next 30 days.

"The city council is very pleased to have found a satisfactory solution to this issue, which has divided so many within our community," Bernstein said to applause at the beginning of the meeting.

The statue's move doesn't mean cars will be back on the stretch of Museum Way: In a related action, the council unanimously voted later Thursday to permanently close the portion west of Belardo Road to auto traffic at the request of the PS Resorts hotel association, which owns "Forever Marilyn." Formally, the city will "vacate" its right-of-way for vehicular traffic but retain a public easement for pedestrians and utilities.

The announcement of the statue's move came as a surprise. Many had interpreted the city's intentions to close the street as an implicit approval of the statue's current placement.

Since its installation, the 26-foot-tall figure has proven to be a lightning rod for controversy. Detractors argue the statue blocks the view of the city's art museum and prevents traffic from flowing efficiently in that part of downtown.

"Overall, the Palm Springs Art Museum is too important historically, architecturally, and culturally to be concealed by an enormous statue," Palm Springs Modern Committee President Courtney Newman said in a letter to the city prior to the meeting.

Many critics did not object to the statue itself, merely its placement on a city street. However, some have said the statue is hyper-sexualized and misogynist, given that it shows Marylin Monroe's underwear when viewed from certain angles. The statue recreates a famous scene from the 1955 film "The Seven Year Itch" where the breeze from a passing subway train blows up the skirt of Monroe's character.

Still, the statue has proven to be a popular tourist attraction, generating an untold number of selfies.

PS Resorts had entered into a three-year contract with the city in December 2020 to house the statue at its current location. The statue was not installed until June 2021.

In a statement sent to The Desert Sun, PS Resorts Chairperson Peggy Trott said the association had agreed to move the statue off Museum Way, but was still in discussions regarding settling the lawsuit.

Trina Turk, head of the Committee to Relocate Marilyn, said in an update Thursday on GoFundMe that the organization supports the move and hopes to work with the city to resolve the remaining issues.

Sam Morgen covers the city of Palm Springs for The Desert Sun. Reach him at smorgen@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Palm Springs will move ‘Forever Marilyn’ statue to city park