Movement Of Jah People

Go West, young statue!

HOW AN L.A. STATUE OF A JEWISH REVOLUTIONARY WAR HERO MOVED WEST, AGAIN AND AGAIN

I know the statue well, as I often walk around Pan-Pacific Park, &/or visit the library branch just down Gardner St.; it's not really a good-looking statue.

On Jan. 6, 1944, Mayor Fletcher Bowron dedicated the statue and officially declared Haym Salomon Day
in Los Angeles. The 12-foot tall and 13-ton concrete artwork, carved by sculptor Robert Paine (a descendent of Thomas Paine), was feted with a four-hour celebration featuring a military parade and prominent Angelenos.

I suspect carving concrete is not the best possible way to sculpt; war-time whatnot may have precluded the use of metal.

Warner Brothers even donated a copy of their 1939 Academy Award©®™-winning two-reel short film Sons Of Liberty, starring Claude Rains as Salomon, to be sealed in the base of the statue! However, it remains unknown if the film canister remains inside the statue’s base.

Saw it on TCM once.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that Salomon will stay put. As [former L.A. City Councilman] LaBonge told the L.A. Times following its 2005 move, “I’ve joked with my Jewish friends that one day that statue will be out in Tarzana.”

Desmond Dekker & The Aces - "Israelites"