Community Center to Get ’Home Alone’ Actor's Art

The whimsical man in a business suit balanced on one hand high above the fray has a home.

For the next year the sculpture, “The Handstand,” by Home Alone actor Daniel Stern, will be placed on the wall in front of the ,  in the fall.

At the time, council members, save Councilwoman Barbara Denny, didn’t think the center matched the whimsy of the piece. Some thought a park or a school made more sense.

After a search, the city’s Arts Commission came up with six sites, including the center.

“We took to heart your last comments, but with all due respect we come back to you with the same recommendation,” said Heidi Wilson, the commission's chairwoman, said. 

The location had the support of the Design and Review Commission and Director of Recreation Linda Rahn.

There was also strong community support for . Rotarian Steve Duermeyer argued that the plaza is a gathering place that offers both visibility and security.  

Rita Sarich, who noted she was speaking as an individual, not for MainStreet, the organization she leads, argued that “adding another art piece to the plaza, which already has a fountain, would be cluttering.” 

Mayor Casey Tanaka, who had voiced the strongest opposition to placing the stature at the center, countered, “If you like a piece you want to put it where people can see it.” For him that was the park. 

Denny stuck with her original vote and three other members of the council joined her. The mayor remained opposed. “I never connected [the sculpture] with the community center,” he said. 

Stern, perhaps best known for his Home Alone role as one of the bumbling burglars foiled by Macauley Culkin, also has appeared in Breaking Away, Diner and as the adult narrator of the sitcom The Wonder Years.