California and the West : New Day Awaits for Shrine to Old Junk : Landmark: A Southland plumber is buying quirky Nitt Witt Ridge and plans to restore the crumbling historic monument, built with the detritus of 20th century America.

CAMBRIA, Calif. —  Some here say the crumbling castle called Nitt Witt Ridge hangs onto the hillside with the same stubbornness that marked its creator, the late garbage man and artist Art Beal.

Its walls and archways are peppered with lightbulbs and abalone shells, car wheels and toilet seats. A ceramic baby shoe shares a stairway handhold with an iron claw foot from an old tub.

But all of the junky art--or artsy junk, depending on your perspective--has been falling apart since long before Beal died seven years ago at age 96.

Enter Michael O’Malley, 35, a Los Alamitos plumber with a plan. O’Malley is buying the state historic monument from the Art Beal Foundation and dreams of restoring, or at least stabilizing, the terraced gardens and main home of this controversial Central California landmark.

He hopes to build a residence for his wife and two children on another portion of the 2 1/2-acre property.

“The goal eventually is for us to live here and know we’ll always find something entirely new in a wall and say, ‘What’s that? I never saw that before,’ ” O’Malley said.

By its very nature, Nitt Witt Ridge may oblige. Composed of rocks and detritus of mid-20th century America, Nitt Witt is cited in tour guides and architecture books as folk art on a par with the Watts Towers.

Beal, a poet, distance swimmer, plumber at Hearst Castle and garbage man, built it all, starting in 1928. He is best known for forming the walls and archways and planters from trash he collected and material he scavenged on Central Coast beaches.

“I’d pick up something and find a place for it here,” Beal told The Times in 1988. “Oh, I was busier than a one-armed paper hanger in a glue factory.”

But Beal adhered to few rules when building his estate, in a steep wooded neighborhood above downtown Cambria. Although the foundations for his main house are considered solid by experts, he mixed beach sand into the mortar for some outside walls, leading to the crumbling condition.

After the garbage man died, the Art Beal Foundation--made up of Beal friends and fans--tried to interest various preservation groups in Nitt Witt Ridge, but they declined, worrying that the structure was so unstable it might slide down the hill.

O’Malley said he will keep the property insured while he begins renovations. He talks of moving his business north and opening Nitt Witt Plumbing in Cambria. Maybe some day he’ll give limited tours.

He enjoys swapping stories with the tourists who drop by in a steady procession to gaze at Beal’s work.

“If everybody hated it, and there wasn’t all this publicity, I’d still want it, because I love it,” O’Malley said.

He plans to attack the weeds and poison oak that have tried to reclaim the place. Then he hopes to reinforce walls and planters so there aren’t any more slides, such as the one a few years ago that took out the front wall built around a television set.

Stacey O’Malley admits that she was looking for slightly more traditional property when her husband found Nitt Witt Ridge.

“My first reaction was, ‘What in the world is this?’ ” she said. “But Michael instantly fell in love with it. It really just grows and grows on you. I see a lot of benches and gardens and pathways eventually.”

The O’Malleys can start cleaning and restoring the property right away but must obtain a water meter before doing any building. Because of a water shortage, meter rights in Cambria are often bought and sold for more than land is.

Escrow is expected to close on the property this month. Those involved in the pending sale won’t disclose the final price, but it was listed for $43,000.

Steve McMasters, environmental specialist for the San Luis Obispo County planning department, said the county supports preserving as much of Nitt Witt Ridge as possible and will need to consult an architect who is an expert in folk art.

“The historical experts we deal with are primarily involved in turn-of-the-century ranch houses, adobes, Victorians,” McMasters said. “This is more than a bit unusual.”

Many neighbors would like to see the property bulldozed, but McMasters said that won’t happen. “The first thing the owners will have to do is go in and clean it up and see what they actually have,” he said. “I don’t think anybody knows for sure.”

Steve Rebuck, president of the Art Beal Foundation, said he believes that Beal would like O’Malley’s plans. Rebuck said Beal’s life work may have been rooted in his experience working at nearby Hearst Castle in the 1920s.

“William Randolph Hearst built that castle from Europe’s castoffs, essentially,” Rebuck said. “Art liked what he saw and built his own castle from a town’s castoffs.”