email: roadarch@outlook.com

Giant Containers (page 2)

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The Bucket
Los Angeles, CA

2013:

2015:
2021:
The Bucket was built in 1935 and meant to resemble a lunch bucket with a hinged lid. I've read that there was another giant bucket like this down the road. The Bucket closed in 2013. After that, the building housed Patio Burgers & Beer. In 2019, it was named The Bucket again. For more, see these websites: 1, 2, and 3. [map]

More Buckets:
The Freezer (Los Angeles, CA) [vintage; gone]
Cedar Bucket: 1, 2 (Murfreesboro, TN)
Kentucky Fried Chicken (Puerto Vallarta, Mexico)

Treasure Chest
Cave City, KY
This Treasure Chest was built in 1970 by the Long John Silver restaurant chain. It later housed the Treasure Chest Gift Shoppe which later became Big Mike's Treasure Chest. When the store closed, the building was donated to the city. The building was moved near the Convention Center and is now used as the Mammoth City Area Welcome Center. The building has been stripped of its treasure chest hinges and other details. [map]

Gallon Measure
Buchanan, NY
The Gallon Measure was built in 1926 by Ray Gallagher as a gas station. The office was built in the shape of a gallon measuring beaker. These beakers were used to measure oil back in the 1920s. The upper level of the building was used as a sleeping loft for the night shift. The building with bays was added much later when the station was a Texaco. The pumps are gone now but the building is still used as a repair shop. For more, see this website. [map]

Pitcher
Lynchburg, VA
Urn [gone]
Washburn, WI
Sandy Jug
Portland, OR
Sand Pail
Wildwood Crest, NJ
This Pitcher is about six feet tall and located in the City Cemetery. It was used as a fountain at a local reservoir from 1890-1963. When the reservoir closed, the pitcher was moved to the Water Authority building and then later installed here.

This giant Urn was installed at Karlyn's Gallery by 2008. This photo is from 2011. When Karlyn passed away in 2019, the sign and Urn were removed. There is a different gallery in the building now. There is apparently a second Urn with the same design at Eckels Pottery in Bayfield, WI. There may have been others produced.

The Sandy Jug was built in 1928 on Sandy Blvd. It was originally known as the Orange Blossom Jug and was part of a complex that included a gas station with a fake 75 feet tall oil derrick. In the 1930s, it became the Sandy Jug restaurant. The circles on the building used to have round Coca-Cola cap signs. It became a bar in the 1950s. Since 2002, the building has housed the Pirate's Cove, a strip club. For awhile, the round cork was painted like an eight-ball. The building was painted red around 2004. For more, see these websites: 1, 2, and 3. [map]

This Sand Pail has been here since at least 2008. It now houses a rental business and beach supplies store. Does anyone know when it was built and what business was here originally? [map]

Zuni Pottery
Gallup, NM
Zuni Pottery
Bloomfield, NM
There are many giant sculptures of Zuni Pottery installed around Gallup, Bloomfield, Albuquerque, and Deming. They range in size from five to 12 feet tall. The sculptures were created by Bennie Duran who began making them in 2004. For more, see this website.

Kettle House
Galveston, TX

2011:

2018:
2019:
The Kettle House, aka "The Tank", is made of steel. It was created in the early 1990s by a man that built storage tanks for oil companies. The bottom section and the top cover came from an old water tower that was installed nearby. At some point, the rusting top was replaced with a wooden roof. The Kettle House has been vacant for many years. In fact, it may never have been lived in. In 2018, doors were added to the sides and new windows were installed. A second level deck was installed around the house and plants were added. It is now a rental property. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2. [map]

Potato Chip Kettle
Thomasville, PA
The Kettle
Manhattan Beach, CA
Cauldron of Burgoo
Owensboro, KY
Mortar & Pestle
San Jose, CA
This giant Potato Chip Kettle is installed in front of Martin's Potato Chips factory. [map]

The Kettle restaurant features this giant kettle sign on its roof. The neon is lit at night. The restaurant opened in 1973 and this sign may be from then. [map]

This Cauldron of Burgoo is about eight feet tall. It was built from plywood and fiberglass by Harry Holder Ford's auto body shop, possibly around 1982. It is mounted on a riding lawnmower. The cauldron was painted by Maglinger's Signs. It was driven in local parades before it was installed permanently in front of the Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn. In 2023, the cauldron was flipped over during a storm. It is currently at a shop being repaired. Burgoo is a soup made from mutton, chicken, and vegetables. [map]

This Mortar and Pestle sign is installed over the 10th Street Pharmacy. Shortly after this photo was taken in 2008, the pharmacy closed. The building now houses "Braid It Up", a hair salon. [map]

More Kettles:
Soup Kettle (Laona, WI)

Bondurant's Pharmacy
Lexington, KY
The Bondurant Pharmacy building was built in 1974 in the shape of a 30-foot-tall, mortar and pestle. According to his son, Joseph Bondurant was inspired to design the building after a trip to Las Vegas. He used a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket as a model. The pestle extends another 10 feet above the building. The pestle's ball was backlit plastic and had black Rx letters painted on it. Painted metal, upper case letters for "BONDURANT'S" were installed on the top half of the building. The "R" had a dropped case "X" to convey "Rx." The building had two drive-thru windows: one for ordering and one for pick-up. Unsure if the pharmacy would be successful, Bondurant intended to use the second floor as an apartment for himself. However, business was good, and it was never used as a residence.

The parking area had a drive-in restaurant style, two-way speaker system with a sign: "When your order's ready, we will call you to the pick-up window." These speakers were used until around 2000. In 2011, the pharmacy closed and, a year later, the building began housing Imperial Liquor. The building was painted lime green with an olive-green pestle to simulate a giant margarita. In 2016, the building owner contacted muralist Bonie Bolen in Marietta, OH to carry the idea further. Bolen spent two weeks on scaffolding, hand-painting the building with ice cubes, lemon and lime wedges, as well as a salted rim. The pestle's ball was painted red to resemble a cherry on a stir stick. The drive-thru windows are still used by the liquor store, but the speaker poles have been removed. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2. [map]

I don't believe this design from 1948 of a mortar & pestle drug store was ever built.

More Mortars & Pestles:
Denver, CO
Cambridge, MA [map]
Hillsboro, OH

Other Containers
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Other Containers
page 3
Giant Containers
Main Page

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Tips & Updates. If you have suggestions about places that I haven't covered, historical info, or updates about places/things that have been remodeled or removed, I'd love to hear from you: roadarch@outlook.com.