Options Dwindle for City's Wooden Icon
By Corey Lyons
Contra Costa Newspapers
Nov. 19, 2002
VALLEJO -- Gen. Mariano G. Vallejo, a towering historical figure and father of this southern Solano County city, has loomed over a stretch of Redwood Street for nearly two decades.
But the hulking sugar pine statue is now nine tons of rotting pride, a Dead Man Standing. In short, the splintering giant is infested with termites and dry rot. It's not expected to survive winter, much less a particularly strong gale.
"I understand that Gen. Vallejo has termites," Jim Reikowsky, communications director of the Vallejo Convention & Visitors Bureau, said dryly. "I'd miss the statue if it's gone, but I'd live. "It wouldn't kill me to see it gone," he added. "It's not historical. It's pretty neat, but not one of those things that you'd get in front of a bulldozer to save."
The unusual roadside figure has become a curious city landmark and an awkward advertising tool since it went up in front of an auto dealership in 1983. It stands guard outside Team Chevrolet, poking the heavens with a long silver flag pole from atop a rotting stump that makes managers trying to sell $18,000 trucks nervous. Very nervous.
"It's going to hurt someone," said Duane Jang, Team Chevrolet's general manager, while surveying the timeworn effigy on a recent morning. Jang pointed out the rusted bolts crumbling away from the stump on which the 18-foot-tall statue plants its mighty boots, which are as large as lawnmowers.
"It's sort of a sore subject," he said of murmurs of removal. "We don't want to remove it; it's such a historical thing. But there's no alternative. Someone will get hurt. "To be honest," he added, fingering the loose bolts, "I think it's standing alone."
The statue of Gen. Vallejo, a Mexican soldier dispatched to the Northern California frontier in the 1830s, was created by Miles Tucker, an artist living in Arnold. Tucker, 59, was not surprised when told that his statue was fading and falling.
"It was carved out of sugar pine and requires maintenance," said the artist, who added that he would be willing to restore it with wood from a 3,000-year-old giant sequoia -- for a price.
Ron Barber, a Solano County auto dealer, commissioned the piece and had it propped up in front of what is now Team Chevrolet.
Ever since, the expressionless soldier has kept a proud and defiant vigil over a gritty stretch of the city. Nonetheless, some say it isn't taken too seriously as public art.
"It's unusual. You can call it a piece of folk art, sort of like the things you see in rural areas, like a guy using a chain saw to carve out a grizzly bear," said Jim Kern, executive director of the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum. "This is sort of like that, except 10 times bigger."
Without upkeep, weather and critters have chipped away at the craggy monument. Some folks have suggested dragging the giant across town and displaying him at the museum.
But Kern said he had no room. Nor was he excited about inheriting termites and dry rot. What about sparing Vallejo's head? "We could decapitate and maybe put his head in here," he said. "But his head alone is as large as a Volkswagen, which could be a problem."
Carlito Abadi, who owns Sign-A-Rama, works directly across the street from the massive statue. He finds the decaying general a comforting neighbor. "It'd be good to refurbish it," he said, gazing at the statue. "It'd make it more appealing. It looks very neglected. But I like the statue."
In any case, no one has emerged to rescue the piece. Which raises the question: What becomes of the city's infested father? Alas, no easy answers.
Jang, Team Chevrolet's manager, is waiting to determine what to do, since he leases the dealer site from Barber. And it'll take a few thousand bucks and a few stiff backs to haul the statue off, when and if that happens.
"We're sort of waiting, to see if someone will step forward," Jang said, sounding hopeless. "But as it rains and moisture gets in there, it'll get worse, I'm sure."
Contra Costa Newspapers
Nov. 19, 2002
VALLEJO -- Gen. Mariano G. Vallejo, a towering historical figure and father of this southern Solano County city, has loomed over a stretch of Redwood Street for nearly two decades.
But the hulking sugar pine statue is now nine tons of rotting pride, a Dead Man Standing. In short, the splintering giant is infested with termites and dry rot. It's not expected to survive winter, much less a particularly strong gale.
"I understand that Gen. Vallejo has termites," Jim Reikowsky, communications director of the Vallejo Convention & Visitors Bureau, said dryly. "I'd miss the statue if it's gone, but I'd live. "It wouldn't kill me to see it gone," he added. "It's not historical. It's pretty neat, but not one of those things that you'd get in front of a bulldozer to save."
The unusual roadside figure has become a curious city landmark and an awkward advertising tool since it went up in front of an auto dealership in 1983. It stands guard outside Team Chevrolet, poking the heavens with a long silver flag pole from atop a rotting stump that makes managers trying to sell $18,000 trucks nervous. Very nervous.
"It's going to hurt someone," said Duane Jang, Team Chevrolet's general manager, while surveying the timeworn effigy on a recent morning. Jang pointed out the rusted bolts crumbling away from the stump on which the 18-foot-tall statue plants its mighty boots, which are as large as lawnmowers.
"It's sort of a sore subject," he said of murmurs of removal. "We don't want to remove it; it's such a historical thing. But there's no alternative. Someone will get hurt. "To be honest," he added, fingering the loose bolts, "I think it's standing alone."
The statue of Gen. Vallejo, a Mexican soldier dispatched to the Northern California frontier in the 1830s, was created by Miles Tucker, an artist living in Arnold. Tucker, 59, was not surprised when told that his statue was fading and falling.
"It was carved out of sugar pine and requires maintenance," said the artist, who added that he would be willing to restore it with wood from a 3,000-year-old giant sequoia -- for a price.
Ron Barber, a Solano County auto dealer, commissioned the piece and had it propped up in front of what is now Team Chevrolet.
Ever since, the expressionless soldier has kept a proud and defiant vigil over a gritty stretch of the city. Nonetheless, some say it isn't taken too seriously as public art.
"It's unusual. You can call it a piece of folk art, sort of like the things you see in rural areas, like a guy using a chain saw to carve out a grizzly bear," said Jim Kern, executive director of the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum. "This is sort of like that, except 10 times bigger."
Without upkeep, weather and critters have chipped away at the craggy monument. Some folks have suggested dragging the giant across town and displaying him at the museum.
But Kern said he had no room. Nor was he excited about inheriting termites and dry rot. What about sparing Vallejo's head? "We could decapitate and maybe put his head in here," he said. "But his head alone is as large as a Volkswagen, which could be a problem."
Carlito Abadi, who owns Sign-A-Rama, works directly across the street from the massive statue. He finds the decaying general a comforting neighbor. "It'd be good to refurbish it," he said, gazing at the statue. "It'd make it more appealing. It looks very neglected. But I like the statue."
In any case, no one has emerged to rescue the piece. Which raises the question: What becomes of the city's infested father? Alas, no easy answers.
Jang, Team Chevrolet's manager, is waiting to determine what to do, since he leases the dealer site from Barber. And it'll take a few thousand bucks and a few stiff backs to haul the statue off, when and if that happens.
"We're sort of waiting, to see if someone will step forward," Jang said, sounding hopeless. "But as it rains and moisture gets in there, it'll get worse, I'm sure."
posted by Corey at 3:08 PM
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