A team that saved a gigantic Chicken Boy mascot that once graced a restaurant in downtown Los Angeles will be given the 2010 Governor’s Historic Preservation award, according to a report in Blogdowntown.com, a blog about downtown L.A.
The 22-foot-tall fiberglass man-chicken on top of the Chicken Boy restaurant on Broadway between Fourth and Fifth streets in Los Angeles was rescued in 1984 by Amy Inouye and her Chicken Boy Team.
It was kept in storage until 2007, when it was placed on top of Future Studio Design & Gallery on Route 66 (Figueroa Street) in Highland Park, Calif., north of downtown L.A.
Chicken Boy sat on top of the Chicken Boy restaurant downtown during the 1960s. On the Chicken Boy site, Inouye explains how she acquired it:
One evening in 1984, I drove by and the restaurant was boarded up. I took down the number of the realtors and called them to find out what would be the statue’s fate. At first they were suspicious–why was I asking and who exactly was I? The more I called, the chattier they got. Ultimately, they called me–We’ve got to do some construction work on the building and the statue has got to come down. If you want it so badly, come and get it. So, a deal was struck and we hired a stealth sign mover to go and get Chicken Boy.
Chicken Boy also is called the Statue of Liberty of Los Angeles. The Chicken Boy site sells a lot of Chicken Boy merchandise. Proceeds undoubtedly help keep such weird kitsch alive.
Chicken Boy also has a Facebook page. Plenty of Chicken Boy photos can be found on Flickr.