These two guys have been sitting in a "to do" folder, waiting for a third, long enough! BJ, above, is reminiscent of an earlier day in the life of Prescott, back when the local & rural louts longed to be cowboys, not rap stars. Don't know how long he's stared down Fair Street, but I've lived here over 20 years...
This fellow, on the other hand, was swaying in the wind when I caught him as my friend and I drove by. He wasn't very substantial that day and he had disappeared by the next week. Omen of a coming deflation, possibly?
These two guys have been sitting in a "to do" folder, waiting for a third, long enough! BJ, above, is reminiscent of an earlier day in the life of Prescott, back when the local & rural louts longed to be cowboys, not rap stars. Don't know how long he's stared down Fair Street, but I've lived here over 20 years...
This fellow, on the other hand, was swaying in the wind when I caught him as my friend and I drove by. He wasn't very substantial that day and he had disappeared by the next week. Omen of a coming deflation, possibly?
I use to see lots of them when I was living in California. Big Bob's burgers was one. Doggie diner another. The ones I loved the most were the giant oranges along old highway 99. The had the best burgers and of course, fresh orange juice. Those were the days.
ReplyDeleteThe big guy's been there since at least the middle 70s. My youngest son, as a toddler, believed it was a statue of his Grandpa who dressed in the cowboy way.
ReplyDeleteKids....
If you go to roadsideamerica.com they try to keep track of the 'Muffler Men.' The site even has a little history of the Prescott one. Very cool.
ReplyDeleteSteve -- those were the days, too, of restaurants shaped like the food or like dishes. I recall one such in Phoenix way back when.
ReplyDeletelinda -- such a manly figger of a grandfather!
And many thanks to Sandybee for an important footnote to history. For those who wish to improve their understanding of history, go to the Muffler Man site. By gum, the Big Johnson guy is listed!
Hey, that is a cowboy version of the Paul Bunyan statue on the corner of Stone and Glenn in Tucson (about 3 blocks from me). In my town's version he is holding an axe in his hands and is wearing blue instead of yellow.
ReplyDelete...ok, now I'm confuzzled. Turns out his shirt is red. I drive past him just about every other day. You'd think I would know?
ReplyDeleteRats...here's the correct link
ReplyDeleteHi, DC -- somehow the conflation of Tucson and Paul Bunyan has me thoroughly confused.
ReplyDeleteQuite the dissonance for me too when I moved here from Minnesota. I thought he was quite tacky and out of place.
ReplyDeleteBut he's much beloved around these parts apparently. And he's kind of grown on me.
Mr. DC, maybe it all has to do with lumbering up on Mt. Lemon, huh?
ReplyDelete