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Carthay Circle statue stolen
posted by
Michael Zoldessy
on
February 14, 2008 at 8:00 am
LOS ANGELES, CA — The bronze statue of a miner located across the street from the former Carthay Circle Theatre has been stolen, possibly for scrap. This was one of the last remnants of the once glorious square where the movie palace stood.
When neighbors in the Carthay Circle community heard the news, they feared it had been stolen for scrap, like so much copper wire and plumbing around the region, as prices for metal have soared.
“I think someone stole him to have him melted down,” said Judy Moore, president of the Carthay Circle Neighborhood Assn. “I don’t want to see him as rain gutters. It just breaks my heart. He was part of neighborhood history.”
Los Angeles police are investigating the theft and others, and they suspect the miner was indeed taken for scrap. Nationwide, bronze, brass and copper artworks are vanishing into scrap yards, destined for the foundry furnace.
Read more in the L.A. Times.
Comments (2)
Unfortunately there are lazy bums who would rather steal than to work.
Glad to hear the statue has been found. Maybe a replica could be made of a durable synthetic material, and the original put in a museum for safekeeping.
This business of destroying metal sculptures and melting them down to make much more banal things in the name of quick profit has a parallel in ancient Rome. Rome was swarming with bronze statuary in Imperial times. Nearly all of it was melted down after the breakup of the Empire. There exists one notable survivor, a statue of Marcus Aurelius riding a horse. It was spared because it was mistaken to be a statue of Constantine, the first Christian emperor. Later, in safer, more historically enlightened times, its true identity was confirmed, and so it survives.
It’s such a shame that we are losing things like this due to meth addicts. I have a degree of compassion for addicts, but absolutely none for those who manufacture. I won’t comment further on the depths our culture has sunk due to the dispicable drug trade. I’d be here all night.