El Nuevo fuego (The New fire) is still mainly intact on the side of the Victor Clothing Company at 240 South Broadway. From a USC image description:
Both the pageantry of the ancient Mexican torch-lighting ceremonies (which took place in 52-year intervals) and the two 20th century Olympic Games held in Los Angeles (1932 and 1984 -- also a 52-year gap) are portrayed. The most prominent portraits are those of local 1984 Olympic gold medal-winning athletes Paul Gonzalez (boxing) and Valerie Briscoe-Hooks (track). Also included are Greg Louganis (diving), Ernesto Canto (50 km walk), and Pierre Vignon (pole vault). East Los Streetscapers. Designed by Wayne Healy, David Botello, George Yepes. Assisted by Rudy Calderon, Bob Grigas, David Morin, Paul Botello.
The Olympic Auto Hotel was at 1661 Lincoln Boulevard, Santa Monica (at the intersection with Olympic Boulevard). Seen here in 1937, it seems to have gone by the late-60s.
the Olympic Auto Hotel is currently a four story brick-clad office building at that address. I originally thought it was on the other side of Olympic, meaning it was razed for the 10 Freeway, but no.
Surely when POP was dismantled, the Neptune statue was acquired by someone . . . ? It's not without artistic merit, especially if presented in the setting as seen here.
Surely when POP was dismantled, the Neptune statue was acquired by someone . . . ? It's not without artistic merit, especially if presented in the setting as seen here.
Quoth Google/A.I.: "The statue was purchased at auction by John Weideman, the owner of John Weideman Designs, a local antique and design store in the nearby Ocean Park neighborhood of Santa Monica. The massive Neptune statue was moved off the pier and kept in the back lot/yard of the antique store property. Witnesses and local historians who tracked down the statue in the mid-1970s noted that it was actively crumbling apart. Because it was built primarily as a Hollywood special effects piece rather than a traditional stone or bronze monument, it could not withstand years of exposure to the elements. Collectors who expressed interest in buying it from the antique dealer at the time were told it was physically beyond the point of being safely moved again."
It should be re-created and presented in something like its original setting at some ocean-related or maritime venue.
Prev
Linear Mode
