This photo captures what I think of as being a very LA moment. In 1968, sculptor Howard Ball made a fiberglass mammoth to be placed into the La Brea Tar Pits, where natural asphalt has seeped up from the ground for tens of thousands of years, only the last 100 or so of which has been known as the Miracle Mile section of Wilshire Blvd. Over many centuries, the bones of trapped animals have been preserved in the tar, so Ball’s sculptures were a way to remind people of the pits’ perilous history. In June 1968, it was ready to be installed, but of course they couldn’t simply throw it in, so it had to be lowered into place via helicopter. (Source: miraclemilela.com)
Howard Ball towed the male mammoth sculpture from his studio to Hancock Park with his VW Bug:
This is how that sculpture (along with its mate that Ball transported on a trailer pulled by his VW bug) looked in July 2021.
Shortly after I moved to Los Angeles in December of 1981, I was trying to drive to the County Museum to see a movie on a Friday night. There was a thick fog, making it nearly impossible to see. That combined with my unfamiliarity with the roads led to me getting lost. I finally found my way to Wilshire from some side street and, as I waited for the light to turn green, the fog broke just enough to reveal the shape of a mammoth rising up across Wilshire in front of me. For a second I thought, “Oh, my God – there’s a mammoth in Los Angeles!” Then common sense intervened. I always think of that and chuckle when I see a picture of the La Brea Tar Pits mammoths.
What a great story!
I can remember going to see movies at the museum when I was in high school in the 60s. Followed by a stop at The Apple Pan and the mad whipped cream man!