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The story behind 'Hedge Face,' a treasured topiary in North Vancouver

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When Cindy Brodowski bought her home on Dollarton Highway in North Vancouver in June, it came with a unique feature: a large hedge out front that was carved into the shape of a face at one end.

“If someone says which house did you buy, I say the one with the big hedge face,” said Brodowski. “Most people go, ‘Oh, that house!’ So there is some infamy with it.”

She learned the carved topiary, commonly referred to as “Hedge Face,” had been there for many years, and was the likeness of an artist named Santo who used to live at the property.

“He lived here for 30 years or more, and he’s a fairly well-known sculptor,” Brodowski said.

The cheerful hedge face became a gathering place during the early days of the pandemic.

“When people were staying close to home, families were getting a lot of joy out of it and leaving notes for the face,” she said.

Brodowski knew she had to keep it – and her son-in-law Nate Pollard, who also lives in the house, just happens to be a horticulturalist.

“It was really overgrown, I don’t know the last time it got done,” said Pollard. “But I went slowly and I just found the old growth and followed it, and took a picture of my own face just to see the features, and then that’s how I made the cheekbones and made it look a little real.”

When the familiar face appeared again, the neighborhood rejoiced.

“People were driving by honking and waving and happy it’s coming back, that we weren’t taking it down,” said Brodowski.

“And some people asked me for my phone number so I could do their hedge,” added Pollard, who has big plans for Hedge Face. “When I get a ladder I will change his hairdo. I don’t know to what yet, but I will change it,” he said.

He also plans to give Hedge Face a spooky new look for Halloween, and dress him up like Santa at Christmas.

It’s a lot of work to maintain the topiary, and Brodowski knows some new homeowners would have cut it down – but she says that never crossed her mind.

“We are kind of quirky that way, we like fun things.” 

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