Like an all-seeing goddess, the Giant Cow Head watches Mack Avenue with eyes that never blink.

Giant Cow Head

Detroit, Michigan

The Giant Cow Head of Detroit is almost as big as the abandoned ice cream stand on which it's perched. Fourteen feet tall, this commercial sculpture was made circa 1960 when the stand was owned by Ira Wilson and Sons Dairy. It was actually the second giant cow head erected by the dairy in the Detroit area; the original head, at a different location, was torn down in 1983. This one somehow survived the downturn of the surrounding city, even though the building has been empty since the mid-1980s.

The Giant Cow Head became famous after it was shot with a pink paintball in Eminem's 2002 pseudo-biopic, 8 Mile (although the Cow is on Mack Ave., far from the film's eponymous 8 Mile Road). No real damage was done to the Cow (the splat was digital) and its newfound status as a celebrity Giant Cow Head appears to have ensured its continued preservation. The rest of the building has become battered and graffiti-scarred, but the Head remains remarkably intact.