Olde Trapper Friends- Pierce College, Woodland Hills, CA
Posted by: 
calgriz
N 34° 11.111 W 118° 35.016
11S E 354069 N 3783821
Created by John Ehn, owner of the trappers lodge (now demolished) motel. The statues have been moved and are now displayed on a remote back corner lot of pierce college. The display includes a faux cemetery and many larger than life.
Waymark Code: WM80CZ
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 01/02/2010
Views: 16
John Ehn had been a trapper before moving to California and opening a motel in 1941. He hired a sculptor to make a huge statue of a trapper to publicize the Lodge. Seeing the sculptor at work was training enough for him and he set to work in the mid-1950s transforming the front yard into a history of the Old West with cowboys, cowgirls, gunslingers, Indians and a Boot Hill graveyard. He spent the last 30 years of his life building the statues, using life masks of family members for the faces. The motel office was filled with Western memorabilia, weaponry and pelts. The front of the building was covered with tools.
After Ehn’s death in 1981 (at age 84), the family sold the property to make way for airport expansion. Although his creations were declared a California state cultural landmark in 1984, bulldozers leveled the Lodge in the late 1980s and the statues were endangered. The main sculptures, signs and tombstones were relocated to Pierce College in Woodland Hills, CA by the SPACES organization.
Location description: Next to Agricultural area at Pierce College
Statue's Subject: John Ehn friends
Artist: John Ehn
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Visit Instructions:
Photo of the statue with person sitting on bench next to the statue, standing next to the statue or other-wise interacting appropriately with the statue(face of person does not need to show, gps does not need to be in photo).
Extra credit for having fun!!!