There's only one bit of video of Tim at work that I've been able to find, and it doesn't even show him, but click here to see it anyway if you like.
If you've never met Mr. Dillenbeck, I'm happy to introduce him to you. If you've met him please contact me. I'd love to know even more about this man....
Let me set the scene: Santa Monica Pier & Beach.
The Santa Monica Pier, built in 1909 and renovated subsequently, is a tourist hotspot and a great place to hold concerts and film screenings.
Also known as "The Coney Island of the Pacific," the pier houses an amusement park called Pacific Park, Rusty's Surf Ranch for those who need a good drink, a hot dogs stall, a fifty-cent carousel and an aquarium. Tourists can pick up cheap souvenirs, bubble-makers and churros from the local vendors based at the bottom of the pier.
Tim's been bubbling at the pier for years, but there's trouble brewing....
Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble
After four years on Santa Monica Pier, Tim Dillenbeck is popular with visitors but not with authorities.
Los Angeles Times - Los Angeles, Calif.
Author: ROBERT GAUTHIER
Date: Nov 14, 2000
Tim Dillenbeck, whose Rube Goldberg-like bubble-making machines are a fixture on the Santa Monica Pier, says he should have the right to blow bubbles day and night. But his obsession to blow bubbles during restricted hours has led him to the police station, the municipal courthouse and to jail. After four years on the pier, he's nearly broke and is having trouble paying his rent.
Dillenbeck, who makes most of his money from tips, has received more than a dozen tickets--most of them in recent months--for violating the performance curfew (10 on weeknights and midnight on weekends) and for other related offenses. "I never hold it against an officer if they believe their duty dictates them giving me a ticket," he says. "There's a law on the books. . . . Until the law is changed, I'm at the whim and discretion of each officer."
"I'm not doing this just for myself; the law is silly, and everyone suffers," Dillenbeck says. "Santa Monica is the first municipality in the U.S. to have jailed someone for blowing bubbles."
The ordinance is meant to help businesses and street performers co-exist, according to the director of the organization that helps manage the pier for the city. "The purpose of the ordinance is to try to establish guidelines and rules," said Jan Palchikoff Monica Pier Restoration Corp., who added that it is subject to future review.
Santa Monica Police Lt. Betsy Stratton said her department has been "fairly lenient on" Dillenbeck. "We don't make a judgment on the ordinance, we just enforce it," she said. "That's what police departments do, we enforce the law."
After years of jobs ranging from designing concert sound systems for rock 'n' roll bands such as Fleetwood Mac and Lynyrd Skynyrd, to designing and assembling robotic stage lighting, Dillenbeck settled into a life making bubbles.
"I leave the pier [each day] having made thousands of people smile," he said in his swift-moving voice. "Thus, in our silly little ways we achieve our immortality through the memory of others."
"Let's face it," he says while heading to his usual spot on the wood planks of the pier. "I've got an image to overcome. I work doubly hard because it's a matter of pride." He believes if someone talks with him a few minutes, "usually all the hair and all this can disappear as far as [how] they perceive me. I enjoy turning the preconceptions upside down."
In some cases, he has been sentenced to community service (sweeping sand off Santa Monica beach walkways), or small fines. At other times, such as in early October, his violations have been dismissed in court. Once, though, Dillenbeck paid a particularly steep price for his bubble-making. He was sent to jail after a tussle with an officer.
Early on the morning of July 15, Dillenbeck said, he was running one of his machines on the pier while packing his van parked nearby for a cancer benefit he was booked to perform in later that day. When he returned from the van, an officer was writing him a ticket for blowing bubbles before the city ordinance's 9 a.m. starting time for street performers. "He was in the process of mangling the machine and I was trying to keep him from breaking it," Dillenbeck said in his staccato speaking style, "when he says, 'One more word out of you and I'm going to book you for interfering with an officer.' I [started to say], 'At least let me get the case,' and before I could say 'At least . . .' he drops everything, rushes at me, cuffs me and throws me into the back of the squad car."
At a July 26 court hearing, where he pleaded no contest to restricting a police officer, Dillenbeck was given credit for 12 days served in jail and placed on summary probation. But he was put back in jail on three remaining performance-hour violations. On Aug. 2, he was released when a friend posted $150 bail.
The boy captures a bubble as large as his head and stands wet, laughing harder than his parents. The Bubbleman raises his arms in triumph, casting a smile that melts through his bushy facade. "That's the foundation of why I do this," he says.
To some pier regulars, Dillenbeck is a Santa Monica icon. "There's always a crowd around him," says Ellen Brennan, chairwoman of the South Beach Neighborhood Assn. "It's just magic."
Brennan says the Bubbleman should be appointed the "unofficial goodwill ambassador of Santa Monica" and be allowed to blow bubbles any time, anywhere.
On the pier, thousands of bubbles float out over the receding tide, lit by the ambient glow of the moon and street lights. Dillenbeck pauses, cocks his head and looks over his creation. "I like it," he says. "It's like the Milky Way."
Their Year That Was
For a moment, the Bubbleman, a female boxer, a recovering alcoholic and others shone in our pages. Here are updates on their remarkable lives.
Los Angeles Times - Los Angeles, Calif.
Author: ROBERT GAUTHIER
Date: Jan 1, 2001
Whether you thought of it as the first year of the third millennium or the last year of the second millennium, 2000 was a rich time for purveyors of feature stories. Today, Southern California Living publishes postscripts to the tales of some we've profiled in the previous 12 months. Together, the stories give a glimpse of the startling range of life that has been chronicled in these pages... (clip)
Dillenbeck, a fixture on the Santa Monica Pier with his Rube Goldberg-esque bubble-making machines, has brought joy to beach- goers but headaches to authorities who have repeatedly cited him for blowing bubbles during restricted hours for street performers. After four years on the pier, Dillenbeck had accumulated more than a dozen misdemeanor violation tickets, spent weeks in jail and was nearly broke.
After a story in The Times about Dillenbeck and his obsession, he received numerous orders for bubble machines, which he constructs from scratch and sells for $200. But despite the outpouring, Dillenbeck says he still faces a Catch-22 situation because he often does not have enough money to buy some of the more expensive parts that make up the self-designed apparatus, slowing the construction process to a crawl.
"I'm trying to generate an income as best I can with what little I have. It's a constant juggling act of what bills to pay and when. I've got to work a lot of hours to catch up."
Dillenbeck has received only one ticket in recent months, but he still owes about 50 hours of community service after pleading no contest to misdemeanor charges of blowing bubbles after hours. According to Dillenbeck, there just haven't been enough hours in the day to keep up with his bills and sweep sidewalks as part of his community service.
Tim Dillenbeck, a.k.a "the Bubbleman," solders a part on a bubble machine. Despite numerous orders for the self- designed machines that have brought joy to beach-goers in Santa Monica, he often doesn't have enough money to buy the more expensive components.
His Defenders:
Bubbleman Garners This Citizen's Vote
Los Angeles Times - Los Angeles, Calif.
Date: Nov 23, 2000
It is shocking that Bubbleman, Tim Dillenbeck (Bubble, Bubble; Toil and Trouble," Nov. 14), is being treated with such malice. It's an absolute disgrace that he was booked into county jail--actions that appear to have put a man who has chosen to live simply into dire financial circumstances.
Do we really want our community to be this mean?
We confiscate meager belongings from the homeless, and now we can't tolerate bubbles between 10 p.m. and 9 a.m.
Ellen Brennan of the South Beach Neighborhood Assn. is so right: We vote for Bubbleman for our official goodwill ambassador. We love those magic bubbles.
PATRICIA MACE
Los Angeles
To the editor:
The LA Times story, "Bubble, Bubble: Toil and Trouble" in the California Living section on November 14 told of Santa Monica’s Bubble Man and his continuing problems with a few peace officers in Santa Monica.
A number of us were there the night Tim Dillenbeck set up his bubble machine outside City Hall and those of us at City Council walked out into a cloud of bubbles. Those bubbles lifted our spirits and made us feel happy to be there. The very air seemed magical, as we watched the bubbles float across the lawn and up over city hall.
Usually found on the pier, that’s what Tim does -- he makes people feel happy. But he's in trouble. The story the Times writer wanted to tell, preempted by his editor for lack of official verification, is one of systematic police harassment.
A couple of officers in Santa Monica see Tim as a threat to western civilization and have set about trying to get rid of him. He was arrested and sent to county jail. He was held in maximum security for three weeks. It has been repeated around the pier that the officer told people Tim would never be back on the pier -- he had ghosted him.
Now his van has been confiscated on what could only be termed aggressive selective enforcement. He was pulled over for an emissions problem. The officer claimed his license had been suspended. His van was confiscated. Tim came back with proof that his license was good and proof that his van was in smog compliance. The officer refused to release his van - keeping it in the tow yard, running up daily costs for 30 days. Now it's been released, but Tim doesn't have $800 to pay the costs. (an outcome the officer clearly anticipated).
Tim Dillenbeck chooses to be different. His hair is long. But he's kind, courteous, good-hearted, and his mission in life is to make people smile. He creates magic wherever he goes. People love him. Children, especially, are enchanted by his bubbles.
I've stood on the pier many times, watching children light up with the magic he creates. Tim is the one attraction on the pier I always stop to watch. Let's face it, the child in me loves the bubbles and the magic they represent.
But he needs help. He needs money and protection from harassment.
When my children were growing up, the city of Laguna Beach adopted a man like Tim who used to stand on the curb in the middle of Laguna and wave to all the passers-by. He was called "The Greeter." My kids loved him. They'd ask to drive past him over and over, just so they could wave to him. When he died, Laguna put a life size statue of him on his spot in commemoration.
I'd like to see Santa Monica adopt Tim as Laguna adopted "The Greeter." I'd like to see him declared an unofficial good-will ambassador of Santa Monica and be allowed to blow bubbles any time, anywhere. I'd be happy to walk out on the beach at any time of the day or night and see clouds of bubbles blowing off the pier. Bubbles are the symbol of dreams, of magic. Wouldn't it be fitting to have a maker of magic as an unofficial good-will ambassador of Santa Monica? Does that strike a chord for you?
I'm collecting money to help Tim pay for getting his van out of storage. I find his gift to all of us -- the magic of his bubbles -- so heartwarming, I've felt compelled to help. I and a few friends have come up with about $300 -- including a check for $50 from a retired military officer in New Jersey (met him on a garden tour of Japan) who said, "I feel compelled to help. What the world needs is more Bubble Men."
If you've been touched (as I have) by Tim's spirit - by his clouds of bubbles, his effervescent, magical bubbles, double bubbles, bubbles in a light beam, smoke-filled bubbles; if you appreciate the pleasure he brings and you'd like to help him, make out a check to Tim Dillenbeck and mail it to me:
Ellen Brennan
Chair, South Beach Neighborhood Assn.
1659 Ocean Front Walk, #102
Santa Monica, Ca. 90401
By doing so, you'll be letting Tim know that some people in Santa Monica care.
Ellen Brennan
Santa Monica Mirror January 17-23, 2001
PRC Discusses Parking, Carts Breakwater, Leasing and Bubbles
Associate editor
Brennan then brought up her concern for Tim Dillenbeck the "bubbleman," who has been arrested and jailed for not paying fines related to his after-hours bubble making on the Pier, asking, "What can we do to get him out of this cycle of what appears to be abuse?"
PRC Chair Bill Spurgin replied, "Publicity is an issue. But I don’t see us having a duty or responsibility to get involved. This is something for our P.R. consultants to discuss."
After public comment in which the lone member of the public attending the meeting called for the "voluntary resignation" of Ms. Pelchikoff, the meeting was adjourned. The next meeting of the PRC will be held on Wednesday, February 7, 7 p.m. at Ken Edwards Center.
-- Ocean Park Gazette -- 2001
Henna arts banned as performers face enhanced penalties on pier and promenade
Carolanne Sudderth
Ocean Park Gazette
Oct. 24 - Santa Monica City Council revised the ordinance governing street performers on the city's foremost tourist attractions, the pier and the promenade. Henna artists who apply temporary tatoos will no longer be allowed to ply their arts there. Street performers and residents protested that heightened fines were overly harsh, and residents urged the council to go easy.
"I don't think I'm a criminal," said Henna Artist Miguel Mendoza, "I don't think any of us are. You take the entertainers and the performers away and it won't be Third Street."
It won't matter for henna artists like Mendoza; they won't be plying their art on the promenade anymore. The revised ordnance bans their plying their art on the promenade.
Street artists were quick to link the new ban on henna performers to problems with the use of black henna. A hair dye, rather than an herb, black henna has been known to cause chemical burns on skin, Henna Artist Ray Mayhew said. According to the city staff report, the city was sued by a person who found her temporary henna tatoo could not be removed. Mayor Mike Feinstein alleged the problem is a "Henna Mafia" that has been monopolizing a number of sought-after performance spaces. He urged the council to be lenient.
But according to Councilmember Ken Genser the application of material to an individual's skin is personal service, not something that others enjoy watching.. "If we allow henna to go forward, we're going to have to let hair braiding and other 'cosmetological' [arts on the Promenade]. Having someone's rear end decorated is not performance art."
Expounding on Palmer's statements, Ellen Brennan remembered "the night he was dragged from the Twilight Dance Series in handcuffs when he had a legal right to be there." On another occasion, she said Dillenbeck was held for three weeks in a maximum security prison until a friend traced him and paid his $112 bail. Police later claimed it was a mistake, she said. On Labor Day weekend, Dillenbeck was arrested again. This time, the performers raised $320 bail, and Brennan delivered it in the wee hours of the morning. Since then, Dillenbeck's permit to perform has been suspended for four months.
"These increased penalties are inappropriate and draconian," Brennan said.
Art Harris remembered the late night phone call he received the night Dillenbeck spent in jail, when Brennan asked him to accompany her to Santa Monica jail. "I can also testify that Mr. Dillenbeck looked pretty shattered," he said. "This is a gentle soul. The experience was excessive."
Council attempts to discuss Dillenbeck's plight were squelched by Moutrie who reminded them several times that it was inappropriate to discuss a particular individual.
Councilmember voted 4-to-3 to uphold the staff recommendation, including the henna ban. Councilmembers Kevin McKeown, Richard Bloom and Mayor Mike Feinstein cast dissenting votes, but indicated they would have supported the measure if the henna ban had been removed.
From a blog on the web...
Feb 17 '03. Forget about everything else, let's see how my wife, kids and I had fun...
Day 1: Visit to the Santa Monica Pier
With our kids, we had to find the kids' stuff first. Before heading to the nearby rides, we had a pleasant surprise from a street performer who has never ceased to delight tourists and families alike. Mr. "Bubble Man" was providing lots of fun to everybody on the pier. My son spotted him first and started running toward his location. Kids and adults were chasing huge bubbles. He was never tired of blowing them to please his audience. To tell you the truth, I was surprised to have seen him still on the pier. For some time, there had been some push from the city council and others to get him off the pier. It appears that he survived these personal attacks. When his fans rose to defend him, these people appeared to give in. What can a man who is blowing bubbles for kids and tourists do to harm the image of the city? In fact, he appears to add to or enhance it. How many cities have unselfish people like the bubble man? Only Berkeley had the late Charles as the famous "Smile and Greeting guy!"
Pier Restoration Corporation,
for a position on the board. Fascinating.
Tim AKA "Bubbleman" Dillenbeck - Applicant for Pier Restoration Corporation
Application Date: 6/8/2004
Public Contact
Information Address: 13228 Sherman Way, #8 North Hollywood CA 91605
Phone: (818) 470-2825
GOALS Goals: Aside from the stock answers (preserve historic character, etc., I have some more immediate and specific goals. One hope is to promote the growth of off-season attendance through a more robust schedule of special events such as music concerts and art fests, for example. - conduct time-lapse video studies of crowd flow and traffic patterns on and around the pier. (each frame is time-stamped) - arrange for a weekend-long trial evaluation of Segway Personal Transportation Devices to augment Harbor Patrol and SMPD patrols. The platforms would elevate the officers above the crowd, allowing them to both be more easily seen and to see around themselves farther. Segways have accessory cargo carriers available for basic med-kits, etc. There is a new Segway rental store just opened on Ocean Blvd. across from Chez Jay, next to Bruno's. - We should endeavor to restore a neglected lost Crown Jewel of the Pier. Stand in front of Big Dean's on Ocean Front Walk, and center yourself on the magnificent "Grand Entrance" to the Pier. The multiple terraces of steps, deco-seahorses, illuminated ramps, the circle of up-lit palm trees, all framed by those two gorgeous obelisks, each topped with a be-spiked glowing moon-light (not that any of us have ever seen them lighted), Now, imagine it all restored and lit up, with limousines arriving at the base, TV cameras ready for interviews on the second palm-circle level, covering the celebrity auction about to happen at the Carousel. - And picture the Carousel ceiling, wonder of its day, repainted, say, sky-blue with gold lattice accents. and a mirror ball atop the merry-go-round, a dizzying cascade of moving stars in the "sky" above you. - We must pay serious attention to basic lighting on the Pier. Stand in Palisades Park some night. The Pier looks old, neglected, toothless and broken. We can fix that, and create excitement. - Repair and upgrade the public address system, allow it to select any or all of several "zones" and allow several "access points" (harbor office, PRC office, substation)
QUALIFICATIONS Education: 4 years - Harding Military Academy; Glendora, CA University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA I spend 25 years immersed in all aspects of live performance and multimedia production, ranging from intimate clubs and studios to massive multi-day outdoor rock festivals. I've designed and built, from the ground up, large scale concert touring sound systems, including mixing consoles. My live show mix credits include Fleetwood Mac, Linda Ronstadt, Weather Report, John Lee Hooker, Chaka Khan, Johnny Winters, the Byrds, the theatrical productions of Jesus Christ Superstar and Tommy - and these only scratch the surface. My company, Rock and Roll Mercenaries, also provided concert and tour promoters with logistics and pre-production services, and supplied stage crew and stage management packages as well as full security personnel services. I have extensive experience in acoustical analysis, design and installation, with emphasis on architectural tuning and noise reduction techniques. Other skills include photography, graphic art design and production, Autocad, electronic and electromechanical design and fabrication, architectural, commercial and theatrical lighting and installation, stress analysis and failure prediction (of people as well as systems and hardware), mediation and facility maintenance.
(From Keith: Tim Dillenbeck now (2005) works as a volunteer for the Commission and has lead efforts to improve lighting and other conditions on the landmark pier. His advisory position is taken seriously and his thorough studies of the problems at the pier have been acted on. I've found his name mentioned in the minutes of their committee meetings and money has been allocated to implement his suggestions. Go Tim!)
And how does this story end?
With a couple of awesome Dillenbeck encounters,
then controversy & solutions.
Journal Entry: August 13, 2004
(The author of this has been contacted and granted me permission to copy it here, with out attribution.)
This is a snip from a much longer posting. To get you caught up, the author is stranded in LA with no money and a plane ticket to get home. The problem is he needs to kill a few days before the plane departs. The bigger problem is finding a place to sleep. After a night spent in a flop-house with drug addicts, the author makes a decision....
"The next morning I decided that it was probably safer to be out of South Central, so I caught a bus to Santa Monica to hang out at the beach and check out the world famous Santa Monica Pier. When I got to the pier, I immediately spotted an interesting looking hippie beach bum and introduced myself. I ended up hanging out with "Scare Crow" for a while and took him to lunch after I got done swimming and saw his homeless and hungry sign. After we ate I asked him if he knew the Rainbow Family, and he said that he was a part of it. I told him that I knew some Rainbow kids, and he said that since I was a friend of the Family, he would help me out. When it started to get dark, he showed me his campsite, or squat, up inside the Santa Monica Pier. We walked under the pier, and then climbed up onto the maintenance cat-walks, which lead to different maintenance rooms under the pier, with water, fire, and electricity controls. It turns out that there is practically a hobo village under the pier, with a group of people that live on the catwalks and in the various rooms. We hid from the tourists, a few feet under the surface of the pier, and also kept away from the police, which constantly drove up and down the beaches looking for squatters and such.
I lived under the pier for almost two days, getting to know all of the locals. ScareCrow's friends included Leaf, Dozer, Hippie, and Bubble Man. Hippie was the man to talk to if you were looking to find some smoke, and...
After we had our fill, me and Scare Crow wrapped up the remaining food into about 50 serving size portions, with the help of a few nice tourist girls. Then, ScareCrow and I walked around Santa Monica all night, until about five o'clock, feeding the homeless. We covered Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica Boulevard, and the Third Street Promenade, as well as the surrounding blocks. After the long night of charity, I climbed back into the pier and fell asleep in my cold, wet, dank, but somehow home-y living quarters."
Journal Entry: Thu Jun 2, 2005
(The author of this has been contacted and granted me permission to copy it here, with out attribution.)
The Bubble Man
It was hard to miss the tidal wave of bubbles emitted from the Santa Monica pier on one of these walks. Huge bubbles, millions of them all coming from around the middle of the pier.
I had many conversations with The Bubble Man since; last time was maybe two years ago. At a glance you convince yourself he's homeless. At age... 40? His unfashionably long hair was oily.. his shirt dirty.. his hands filthy. And he had a neatly rolled joint behind his ear. Within this context you would stand in utter amazement at the invention to his right.
About half the size of a small hot dog stand this machine Tim (the bubbleman) had built with his hands would dip the 12 or so wands in to the liquid solution and pump out thousands of bubbles per minute. He took tactical advantage of the steady wind from the ocean that would hit the machine from behind. I remember thinking that exact thought, inspired slightly by the Art of War. He even had a blow torch to even out the bubble fluid.
What really intruiged me over time was that you could count on this man to be on this pier any time you visited. Given where I worked every day and what problems surrounded me, it seemed an utterly obscene sight at the time.
I wanted not to just ask but to understand: Why?
He told me that he dropped out of the Univercity of Southern California (USC) when he was younger, he was a physics major going towards a PHD. But somewhere along the way the world itself didn't add up. He didn't get in to why. Years later, he decided to dedicate his life to a cause that required the least amount of effort that would bring the greatest amount of happiness to all the people he encountered.
Most all of the people who Tim "Bubbleman" Dillenbeck sees every day of his life have a true and very wide smile to greet him with. Children & teenagers, couples & grandparents. All competing in Tim's mind for who he cheered the most today.
Every day. Bubbles all around.
For me he is no longer facinating, just inspiring. And utterly crazy. But what makes him brilliant is that he thought the same of me.
If you're wondering; of course I invited him to see the room he inspired at the summit. I hope he comes, at the very least he's a guy worth meeting.
Thanks for reading.
by Carolanne Sudderth
OCEAN PARK GAZETTE Oct. 6 2005
....The new chief resides in Santa Monica with his wife of 17 years He has developed a reputation of a man of heart as well as skill. When the Santa Monica Pier's "Bubbleman," Tim Dillenbeck refused to forego his blowtorch - it was the only tool that would allow him to smooth out extant bumps and bubbles in the liquid. (Fire is looked upon as a hazard to the wooden pier.) Other officers -- both police and fire tried to shut Dillenbeck down. Hone, however, spent a successful afternoon with Dillenbeck shopping for an alternative that would smooth his bubble liquid and at the same keep the Landmark Structure safe for posterity...
BOO!
Pier’s Bubble Bursts
By Kevin Herrera
Santa Monica Daily Press
Published 04/5/2006
SM PIER — The bubble has burst for Tim Dillenbeck. A fixture here, Dillenbeck, better known as “The Bubbleman” for his bubble-blowing displays, has been banned from performing here, Ocean Front Walk and potentially every other public space in Santa Monica for at least two years.
The ban is part of a stay-away order filed last month against Dillenbeck because he has “numerous pending cases” for leaving property unattended and camping in public, said Betty Haviland, chief deputy city attorney for the criminal division.
“This ban is totally unnecessary, extreme, and I feel it is intended to hurt and punish me. What the city is doing is wrong,” said Dillenbeck on Tuesday from his cell phone. He was huddled underneath a tarp near the pier as he tried to stay dry in the rain. “What they are doing is taking away my livelihood. If this is allowed to continue, even for a short while, I will be ruined economically. I will lose everything, and at that point, there will be no more Bubbleman.”
For the last decade, Dillenbeck has put smiles on thousands of children’s faces by simply blowing a few bubbles. During a performance, Dillenbeck will set up bubble-blowing machines he designed and built, each capable of producing millions of bubbles a day. The displays draw huge crowds.
In the past 10 years, he has received plenty of attention from law enforcement as well. Dillenbeck has been cited and arrested numerous times for violating laws against camping and sleeping in public, as well as performing after hours.
He has had so many run-ins with the law that Dillenbeck has been labeled a nuisance and has been ordered to stay away from the pier and other locations for months at a time.
The bans hurt his ability to make a living, Dillenbeck said, but none have been as devastating financially or as far reaching as the current stay-away order. Dillenbeck said the order essentially bars him from performing because it does not allow him to store some of his belongings and equipment nearby when he’s blowing bubbles.
“The judge said no storing, so I don’t know what (Dillenbeck) needs to have to do his performances,” Haviland said. “He has a large amount of property, so I can’t comment on (whether this bans him from performing) … the case is still pending.”
Stay-away orders are like restraining orders. They are generally used in cases in which a person has been put on probation or convicted of a crime. As part of the punishment, they are not allowed within a certain distance of a particular location, said Haviland.
“We try to get (a ban of) 100 yards for most places, so if they go back to that location, they are arrested for a violation of their probation. We file them routinely for a lot of things, like theft, trespassing and camping,” she said.
About 98 percent of the orders are for at least two years, Haviland said. Anyone with an order against them can go to court and ask for it to be removed, but there is no guarantee that the request would be granted.
The order couldn’t have come at a more difficult time for Dillenbeck, who said he has been living on the streets for almost a year, unable to afford transportation back to his workshop/apartment in North Hollywood. He owes money for back rent on the workshop, which is where he builds the bubble machines he uses in his performances. He often sells the machines, some going for as much as $200 a piece.
Dillenbeck has been unable to get to his shop since his van was impounded last year after he failed to pay the vehicle’s registration. He said he has been trying to save enough money to purchase another car, but that has been difficult because of the stay-away orders, as well as changes in the hours of operation at the pier and a drop in tourism following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“Without transportation, I can’t get back to my shop, which means I’ve had to find places to stay around here so I can work to save up money,” said Dillenbeck, who says he can make as much as $300 on a good day blowing bubbles. “If I do get a ride back home, how will I get back down here to work? It’s a catch-22.”
Those who are familiar with the pier said Dillenbeck has not been a nuisance as a performer, but rather a positive presence.
“I think his bubbles bring a lot of really good feelings to people, especially at events,” said Linda Sullivan, a member of the board for the Pier Restoration Corp., or PRC, which oversees operations at the pier. “I think it is unfortunate that he has had problems (with police). The pier will miss him.”
Sullivan said Dillenbeck joined the street performers’ working group, in which “he helped everyone get along.”
Ben Franz-Knight, executive director of the PRC, said Dillenbeck has been banned from the pier not because of his performances, but because of what happens afterwards.
“As far as his performances, (Dillenbeck) has followed all of our guidelines like anyone else … but his business with the police department comes afterwards, regarding where and how he stores his equipment,” Franz-Knight said.
Many people said Dillenbeck’s problems are rooted in his anti-establishment beliefs, cultivated during time spent in an artists’ commune near USC after he dropped out of film school there. Not wanting to back down, Dillenbeck has often clashed with police, which has given officers more incentive to enforce the law, some said.
During the late 1960s, Dillenbeck, like many others during that era, began to explore his interest in electrical engineering and acoustics, which eventually led him to design a sound system that was used during rock ’n roll tours for such famous acts as Fleetwood Mac and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
At that time, blowing bubbles was just a hobby, but grew into an obsession, Dillenbeck said. It eventually consumed his entire life to the point that he is now so far removed from the music industry that he has no idea how to get back to it.
“After 25 years of being away from it for so long, it would take a long time to get back into it, plus the music industry is such a highly competitive field now; I just don’t think I would stand a chance,” he said. “Besides, (blowing bubbles) is what I love to do. I get to put a smile on someone’s face, maybe bring laughter into their lives, and that is so hard to give up. I’ve always been more interested in making a contribution than in making money.”
Sullivan said Dillenbeck is “very bright, articulate and could have probably made a lot of money doing something else,” but that isn’t what he’s about.
“He just loves seeing the kids’ faces light up,” Sullivan said. “That seems to be enough for him.
HOORAY!
Best of LA 2006
Best Soap Star
By LIBBY MOLYNEAUX
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
What is it about floating bubbles that brings out the bad poet in many of us? “One short dance is all you get. You look so lonely. I want to cuddle you. Pop. The dance is over.” Nobody knows the power of the bubble better than the fellow known as the Bubble Man. You’ve probably seen him on the Santa Monica Pier or the Third Street Promenade. Parents break out in thank-gosh smiles of relief when they spot him. Their little ones can now work off some of that energy with a good bubble chase. Within seconds, it’s like the Pied Piper of bubbles has arrived, as kids and grown-ups gather ’round.
The Bubble Man — real name, Tim Dillenbeck — may not look like a man who regularly applies soapy bubbles to himself, and with his matted hair and gaze that says, “No talk, just bubbles,” he might be considered the kind of person you tell your kids to cross the street to avoid. He could be homeless, though the business card he will hand you without missing a bubble has a Canoga Park post office box. Regardless, the Bubble Man is clearly a sweetheart. It turns out he made his first blowing machine in 1970. He has a presence that show-biz types might describe as “understated.” He’ll pull up his jerry-rigged bubble-making contraption, start the wheels spinning, and the show begins. Kids begin to flock, in full glee mode, so transfixed they barely notice the man who keeps the precious blobs coming.
The bubble industry has made great strides in equipment that can produce bubbles large enough to cover a third-grader, and there are wands that can produce faster, smaller and more copious bubbles than ever. The Bubble Man has none of that gear. Just give him a buck for more fluid and he’ll nod back a thank-you. No — thank you, Bubble Man.