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California Statues (page 2)

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former Carpeteria Genie
North Hollywood, CA

2013:

2017:
The Carpeteria carpet store chain was established in 1960 in Santa Clarita, CA. The first locations were located in the Los Angeles area. I believe the stores only existed in California and Nevada. The company folded in 1999. I believe these genie icons have always been used in their advertising and in conjunction with their signs. These statues are about 20 feet tall and are identical on both sides. They originally supported a Carpeteria sign which graphically represented a roll of carpet.

This North Hollywood location housed L&S Carpet when the photos above were taken in 2013. This statue is probably from the 1960s or 1970s. In 2017, Superior Tile moved in and repainted the statue orange and black. I believe there are only five of these statues left. There are two statues in Reno and Las Vegas, NV and two others at the American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, OH. [map]

Atlas
Van Nuys, CA
 Atlas
Sacramento, CA
Atlas
Hayward, CA
2018: 2023 and 2020:
These statues were originally installed at Jack LaLanne Fitness Centers. This was a nationwide chain and there are still a number of these statues around the country being used by various businesses. Two other examples can be found in Reno, NV and Scarsdale, NY. There are several of these statues at various Rainforest Cafe locations. For more, see these websites: 1, 2, and 3.

The Atlas statue in Van Nuys is installed on the roof of the Duk Su Jang Restaurant. [map]

The Atlas statue in Sacramento is installed in front of California Family Fitness. [map]

The Atlas statue in Hayward was located at a farm in Michigan for about 25 years. It arrived at Bell Plastics in 2018. The statue will be restored and displayed with various other statues at the company. [map]

David
Hayward, CA
2018:
 2023:

Burger Boy
Hayward, CA
2018:
 2023:
These David and Burger Boy statues are located at Bell Plastics where there are many other statues on display. It is not known where these statues came from or if others like them were produced. Despite some information online, this Burger Boy statue did not come from a Kip's Big Boy. From the beginning, Kip's was a Big Boy franchise and used the same Big Boy mascot in advertising, menus, and statues as the character that we know today. This statue in Hayward is most likely a one-off. I believe the legs shown on the right above are the lower half of this statue. [map]

Bobblehead
Hayward, CA
 Gas Station Attendant [gone]
Hayward, CA
This statue appears to be a giant Bobblehead. I don't know who it is supposed to represent. The statue is on display at Bell Plastics.

This Gas Station Attendant was installed at Bell Plastics in 2014. It was built for a gas station but was never installed due to city restrictions. It was on long-term loan to Bruce Kennedy, the owner of Bell Plastics. The statue went back to the owner in 2016. It is no longer on public display. However, there are many other giant statues at Bell Plastics. [map]

Lenin [gone]
Los Angeles, CA
 Spirit of American Youth
Glendale, CA
 Marines
Santa Maria, CA
This bust of Lenin was installed in front of the Ace Museum in 2011. The stainless-steel sculpture is about 14 feet tall. It is entitled "Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin's Head". It was created by Gao Zhen and Gao Qiang. In 2018, the sculpture was moved to private property.

This 18-foot-tall Spirit of American Youth sculpture is located at the Americana at Brand shopping mall. It was built in 2008 as a replica of a sculpture in France memorializing Americans that died fighting at Normandy during World War II. For more, see this website.

These two Marine statues are owned by a private collector and displayed in his backyard. There was another one like this in Bethesda, MD. If you know of any others, I'd love to hear from you. These are the six-foot-tall models. They were also produced in three-foot-tall models.

Bob's Tire Center
Red Bluff, CA

2008:
2015:

Bob's Tire Center
Corning, CA
 Jim's Tire Center
Simi Valley, CA
These Bob's Tire Center chainsaw-carved wooden statues were created in the 1990s. There are three of them at this Red Bluff location: one outside and two inside. The statue outside was repainted around 2012. The statue in the window is about half the size of the other two statues. [map]

The Bob's Tire Center in Corning no longer has a statue but the store still features the mascot on its signs. [map]

Jim's Tire Center has another one of these statues. This store was probably a Bob's Tire Center originally. There were other statues like this at the Bob's Tire Center in Chico, CA and another inside the Corning, CA location. Both of those locations are gone. The statue looks a lot like the Tire Man chain mascot. However, instead of a service man's hat, these statues wear cowboy hats. I assume the statues with cowboy hats were the earlier design. The Simi Valley statue was previously located outside the shop. I'm told that the damage to the statue's left ear and hat came from the statue being knocked over during the Northridge earthquake in 1994.

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