Easter Island Head on an Island

Las Vegas, Nevada

A huge replica moai decorated the parking lot entrance to a Vegas strip casino restaurant for decades, enticing visitors to sample the exotica charm within. The Stardust Hotel's Aku Aku Polynesian restaurant operated from 1960 to 1980. The Easter Island head was constructed in place in 1959, carved in actual volcanic rock by Eli Hedley, a familiar name to tiki cultists.

After the Stardust shut down (the old, small-by comparison casino closed in 2006, was imploded in 2007), the 30 ft. tall Aku Aku tiki head made its way into the hands of Clark County and was installed in Sunset Park. The sculpture stands among palms on an island in a lake. Ducks and geese provide a sense of scale, and spritzing water jets make photography from the shore a little challenging.