You may not know this, but the much reviled Vaillancourt Fountain at Embarcadero Plaza has become an iconic backdrop, and set piece, for skateboarding videos over decades.

As city officials move closer to signing the death certificate for SF's Vaillancourt Fountain — a jagged, hulking Brutalist work of public art that hasn't necessarily aged well and currently requires millions of dollars in repairs — another constituency has come forward besides Brutalist art and architecture fans to oppose the fountain's removal: skaters.

As KPIX reports, skateboarders going back more than a generation have used the sunken pool around the fountain (when it's been dry), and the stairs within the fountain structure itself, for stunts. And it's become a visual touchstone for SF skateboarding culture, appearing in countless online videos shot at the plaza.

The oddly moving video below from Thrasher Magazine two years ago discusses how Embarcadero Plaza was the site of the "rewriting of the history of modern street skating," and prominently features the Vaillancourt Fountain itself — as well as a since-removed, stepped, concrete podium with a C on top that was a famous skater landmark.

"I've been coming here my whole life. I've skated those stairs. I've been injured on those stairs," says skater Zeke McGuire, speaking to KPIX.

Of the 54-year-old fountain itself, McGuire says, "It's extremely awesome. There's people all across the world that come to San Francisco to skate here specifically. So for it to be gone, people would come here to visit and it wouldn't be here anymore, so I would say get it in before it's gone."

But, of course, the fountain has been more reviled over the years than it has been loved, though it might retain some ardent fans. KPIX anchor Brian Hackney even quotes the late SF Chronicle columnist Herb Caen in the piece below, who compared the fountain when it was installed to "the leavings of a giant dog with square intestines."

The SF Rec & Parks Department estimates that the fountain, which it says is currently structurally unstable, would cost between $12 million and $17 million to restore — a process that would require disassembling it completely and rebuilding it. And a new fence has now gone up around it due to the instability, and presence of hazardous materials.

"The fountain isn’t just falling apart — it’s hazardous," said Rec & Parks spokesperson Tamara Aparton back in June, speaking to the Chronicle. "The structure is cracked, corroded and missing key supports. Add lead and asbestos to the mix, and it’s a serious safety risk."

That restoration cost makes the fountain a lost cause, the department has said, given that the estimated cost of building an entirely new plaza that incorporates the next-door Sue Bierman Park would be around $30 million.

The SF Arts Commission has yet to make its final determination about "deaccessioning" the fountain, and the 96-year-old artist who created it, Quebec-based Armand Vaillancourt, continues to fight its removal. The latest in that fight, after he personally visited the city in May, is a cease-and-desist letter sent in late August from Vaillancourt's Montreal-based attorney, Sébastien Lormeau.

The letter demands that the Arts Commission "immediately cease and desist from taking any steps whatsoever that may endanger or damage the Vaillancourt Fountain," and vows that the artist will "pursue all available remedies provided by law" including injunctive relief to prevent the fountain's removal.

So, it remains possible that this fountain could be the subject of a legal fight for some time to come — though the artist himself does not own the work, and a court may quickly decide the city can do as it pleases.

Previously: SF’s Controversial Vaillancourt Fountain Deemed 'Hazardous,’ Now Getting Fenced Off to the Public