re: #212 CBGB

From the last thread…

In fairness to the dimwitted Mr. Shapiro…why is there a Lenin statue in Seattle? Wouldn’t he count as a kinda not great idol?

roadsideamerica.com

The 16-foot-tall tall bronze by sculptor Emil Venkov originated in Poprad, Czechoslovakia, where it was first erected in 1988. It tumbled along with other heroic (and out of fashion) statues when the Soviets went down in 1989. For a time, the seven-ton Lenin lay face down in the mud at the Poprad dump — until rescued by American entrepreneur Lewis Carpenter. Carpenter, who admired the artistry, mortgaged his house to buy and transport the statue to Seattle.

Carpenter died in a car accident in 1994. To recover the statue debt, Carpenter’s family arranged to loan it to the Fremont district until a buyer emerged. Asking price: $150,000. In 1995, Fremont put the statue up in the center of town, near a Cold War era rocket also displayed as public art.