And … Peggy. Courtesy Gary Isett
A fantastical can’t-miss piece is newly on display at our neighborhood’s quirkiest outdoor art gallery. Not an official museum — it’s Gary Isett’s yard — the property at Abrams and Trammel is locally renowned for its waggish exhibitions. Those include, but are not limited to, a seven-foot vintage Kips Big Boy statue, one 10-foot-tall velociraptor, a maniacal French Fry Man, the giant Easter gorilla (carrying a basket and a bouquet of Lillies), retro Dairy Queen signage and a Cowboys-blue Billiken. So when Isett says, “It might be my best buy yet,” you want to do a drive by.
Meet Peggy the Unicorn Pegasus.
In the process of making room for his latest acquisition, our curator needed to sell something. His antique State Fair of Texas sky car went to Truck Yard on Greenville Avenue, an establishment whose owners share Isett’s fondness for pop art al fresco and commitment to cultivating kitsch.
Gary Isett
“Introducing the newest table at The Truck Yard!” Isett posted on Facebook last week, prior to unveiling Peggy.
Isett has an entertaining history with the Truck Yard. It has to do with the beer garden’s past procurement of a certain reptilian sculpture.
Before you can appreciate said backstory, you have to know about Tango Frogs.
Circa 1990, six 10-foot-tall dancing frog sculptures, created by artist Bob “Daddy-O” Wade, topped Greenville Avenue’s Tango nightclub. But due to a signage ordinance, they had to come down. The controversy that resulted in their relocation was so culturally upsetting that it made the New York Times.
At some point Isett tried to purchase the frogs in question, which the Times back then described as “10-foot- tall, steel and urethane creations … dancing and playing musical instruments …” (To be clear, the description has not changed).
He lost that bid. Truck Yard got the frogs.
Now the State Fair gondola is situated in close proximity to Truck Yard’s beloved boot-wearing toads, Peggy has space to spread her wings and, unless we missed something, all is right with the world.
When asked for permission to use his pics, Gary Isett responded, “If I can entertain the neighborhood, I will go to any length.”
