Gary Isett’s statue is still smiling, but he’s in the backyard now.
As the publicity mounted for the Kip’s Big Boy statue installation on Abrams Road after our initial story (TV, radio and the DMN all ran stories), I had a feeling it would be a matter of time before statue and property owner Gary Isett found himself talking with a City of Dallas code inspector.
Sure enough, that happened earlier this week; thanks to a couple of possible code violations associated with the installation, the Big Boy voluntarily vacated his spot at Abrams and Trammel.
The biggest problem seemed to be potential traffic hazards, Isett says.
“The city was just like, it’s a nuisance, people are slowing down, taking pictures. And they were — I had like 400 people stop and take pictures. I can see what they meant: It was an eye-stopper.”
Keeping the Big Boy in place wasn’t worth fighting City Hall, Isett says, so he took down the statue, the podium and the lighting. All that remains on the corner is a large star formed from rocks.
As for Big Boy, his new home is Isett’s backyard.
“You can still see him from the street,” Isett says.
