Atlanta, Illinois: Texaco Big Friend: Former Home Giant
RoadsideAmerica.com Team Field Report
- Address:
- 100 NW Arch St., Atlanta, IL
- Directions:
- I-55 exit 140. Drive west into town. At the stop sign turn right onto SW Arch St. You'll soon see the Hot Dog Muffler Man on the left, and a half-block beyond it, on the right, is the Texaco Big Friend.
- RA Rates:
- Worth a Detour
-
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Texaco Big Friend stood for years as the happy "Home Giant" in the Nevada desert. Restored and moved here in May 2024.
Roadsideamerica.com Report...
Big Friend - Valley Giant:
KPVM-TV reports on the Valley Homes Giant, rare Texaco "Big Friend" statue, dismantled, damaged and hauled away for scrap. He may yet be revived....
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After being stored for eight years in Illinois, the former Valley Homes Texaco Big Friend was fully restored in early 2024 and set up at the American Giants Museum in late May. To date he is the only Texaco Big Friend that has been fully restored to his vintage look. This particular Big Friend was deployed in 1966 to Las Vegas, and then spent time advertising mobile homes on the Boulder Highway and in Pahrump. Huge thanks to the ReGiant Restoration Crew that fully restored him.
[Joel Baker, 06/05/2024]
We were visiting the Pahrump Valley Museum and saw this big broken statue in the outside display area. There wasn't any information about him and we didn't ask in the museum so I don't know how he ended up there. When I did a search I found the Big Friend on your site. Good news is he has been saved; bad news is he's in bad shape. It looks like the scrap yard scavenged his framework, so he may never stand again.
[Karen, 03/05/2016]This attraction is no more. It was taken down, and reportedly sold for scrap metal, in the last three months. The museum staff happened to see the attraction being taken down (They said they have a photo, which I did not see). As a side note, I think the museum would have taken the Giant if it had been offered. Several of the staff seemed sincerely distressed that the Giant was reportedly recycled somewhere.
[Carol, 03/11/2013]The Giant was taken down on December 14, 2012, and was "headed for the scrap heap" according to the Pahrump Valley Times. It was the mascot of Valley Homes, which went out of business after one owner died and the other owner was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
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The museum intends to keep him, and hopes to eventually restore his fiberglass damage, if they can get the funds. The current display is oddly satisfying -- as if a fairy tale giant has been eaten by monster birds.