Pink Elephant Mall: Outdoor Retro

Livingston, Illinois

Although the purpose of the Pink Elephant Antiques Mall is to sell antiques, it has developed a separate reputation as a repository for retro-roadside statuary and buildings. This is thanks to mall co-owner Dave Hammond who, according to his wife, "likes weird, odd things." Dave's son reportedly prowls the interwebs searching for his dad's next prize.

The mall opened in 2005 in Livingston's former high school, and brought along two statues from its previous location in Benid: a 24-foot-tall Beach Dude and the Mall's namesake Pink Elephant (both briefly appeared in the 1990 horror film "Flatliners"). In 2006 a 14-foot-tall Muffler Man was acquired, and displayed indoors until 2010, when he was moved outside and painted with a Harley Davidson t-shirt. In 2009 the Mall added a Twistee Treat cone-shaped ice cream stand, which Dave supposedly found in pieces in a ditch in Pennsylvania. In early 2010 a saucer-shaped Futuro House became part of the outdoor collection, and in 2017 the mall unveiled its newest vintage treasure, a fully restored Uniroyal Gal, outfitted like a waitress, standing next to the big ice cream cone.

The Pink Elephant Antiques Mall collection may be unmatched for its diversity of statues and structures. Business is evidently good; Dave's shopping spree has been going on for over a decade.