20-Ft. Tall Rocky And Bullwinkle Statue
Los Angeles, California
Rocket J. Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose were the stars of Jay Ward Productions' most successful cartoon. Their production offices closed long ago, but the colorful statue that was erected outside of them in 1961 has remained.
It's remarkable, because almost everything in Hollywood is quickly knocked down to make way for progress. Rocky and Bullwinkle, nearly forgotten animated characters, have stubbornly clung to this curvy spot along busy Sunset Boulevard.
The original sculpture, made in 1961, was intended to parody a statue directly across the street -- a bikini-clad, spinning cowgirl on a billboard advertising the Sahara Casino in Vegas. When R and B were erected, they spun around too. At "The Bullwinkle Show" launch, movie bombshell Jayne Mansfield pulled the ribbon that unveiled the cartoon superheroes. In the 1960s, whenever the rotating cowgirl's bathing suit was painted a new color, Bullwinkle's shirt soon followed.
Cement disks arrayed around the base of the statue bear the "Walk of Fame"-style signatures and elbow prints of the cartoon's writers.
The current occupant of the building is Hollywood Hounds, a dog care business.
