Santa Cruz's hundreds of sand pyramids

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - You don't need to travel to Egypt to see the great pyramids. You only need to take a drive to Santa Cruz.  

Dozens of volunteers helped artist Jim Denevan and his son, Brighton, build 380 pyramids out of sand on Cowell Beach in Santa Cruz this week.   

Denevan said that these Santa Cruz pyramids are indeed miniature replicas of the pyramids in Egypt. 

Each pyramid began with a form, to help the volunteers shape it, and then they just add sand and make them bigger and bigger.

The largest is six feet tall.

The artists and the volunteers worked in three-hour shifts over several days.

They completed their beach masterpiece on Tuesday. 

"It's creating beauty from nature," Cindy Matino told KSBW as she admired the sand structures. "And nature's already beautiful. But somebody is making it more beautiful.  They're creating art and it's temporary. It's not going to be here. It's going to go back to nature. So no waste."

The sandy art display is called "Pyramids" and was commissioned by the Santa Cruz Museum of Art as part of the Common Ground Art Festival.   

The best time to see the display is in the late afternoon, when the structures cast shadows.

The Common Ground Art Festival runs through Sept. 22.

A crowd gathers around sand pyramids at Santa Cruzs Cowell Beach. Sept. 17, 2024 

The sand "Pyramids" on Cowell Beach in Santa Cruz. Sept. 17, 2024 

A closer view of the sand pyramids at Santa Cruz's Cowell Beach. The best time to view the sand pyramids is in the late afternoon when the structures cast long shadows. Sept. 17, 2024 

There are 380 sand pyramids at Santa Cruz's Cowell Beach. The Santa Cruz Museum of Art commissioned the project with the Common Ground Art Festival. Sept. 17, 2024