The Home Giant: Big Friend (Gone)
Pahrump, Nevada
October 2016: the American Giants guys loaded the badly damaged pieces of the giant into a truck and hauled him east to Illinois, for restoration. He won't be returning to Pahrump.
March 2016: After a scrap yard gutted the giant for metal, his remains ended up as an outdoor display at the Pahrump Valley Museum. Sprawled on the ground, it resembled a dead fairy tale character eaten by monster birds.
April 2013: After a hasty scrapping of The Home Giant as part of the demise of Sun Valley Homes, the statue survives at Pahrump Valley Disposal, under a tarp. The business is considering restoring him to use a sign, probably adopting a new identity (How about "Scrappy the Salvage Titan" ??). He sustained a caved-in chest and amputation of an arm and a hand.
Our report prior to his removal:
Our visit to Pahrump seeking a rare Texaco "Big Friend" reminded us how even large statues can be invisible to locals. A young woman at a convenience store only a mile from "The Home Giant" -- and on the same road -- swore up and down that in her whole life in Pahrump she had never seen a large statue of a man.
Two minutes later we were at the base of the big guy at Sun Valley Homes. He's not a standard Muffler Man, but a modified Big Friend (made by International Fiberglass in the 1960s). Owner Jack Stanton paid Young Electric Sign Co. $18,000 for this old Texaco Big Friend in 1981. He had him painted green, orange, and white -- Irish colors -- and completed the transformation with a Robin Hood-type feathered cap.
The statue is mounted on a sign above a couple of model pre-fab homes, and is used prominently in advertisements by the business.
In case you were wondering, Pahrump (puh-rump) means "water rock."
