We’ve all heard that new casino construction “destroys history,” and regular readers know that a casino company tore down my high school. As Perry White might say, “Great Caesar’s ghost!”
But here’s a story where potential casino construction is preventing the erection of piece of monumental architecture. From the Desert Dispatch:
The plan to build a monument to Route 66 made of crushed cars has been postponed indefinitely due to increased land speculation that an Indian casino may be coming to Barstow.
The Carthenon would be a pillared structure that would sit alongside Interstate 15 near Outlet Center Drive.
Wayne Soppeland, a local Realtor and the driving force behind the project, said the owners of three different parcels originally optioned to house the Carthenon are waiting to see whether or not a proposed Indian casino will come to Barstow.
“The [proposed] casino has put the whole project on hold,” he said. “Owners think their property might have some use for the casino.”
Washington-based artist C. Zaxxr Llewellyn designed the Carthenon with pillars of crushed cars. Solar power would light the structure at night. It is intended to connect with historic Route 66 and the car culture of Southern California.
The primary site lay near Outlet Center Drive and I-15, the secondary site near the Tanger Outlet Mall and the third site was in between the two others, he said.
The proposed casino resort, if approved, would be east of Interstate 15 and Lenwood Road and south of the Factory Merchants Mall. Its features would include 50,000 square feet of gaming space, a 180-room hotel, an entertainment venue, a gift shop, an RV park and a restaurant.
However, Soppeland said the Carthenon could still be built if the optioned land parcels were not used in connection with the casino.
“If we get the casino, the project would have more impetus to be completed,” he said.
He also said that most of the funds raised for the project have already been spent on preliminary materials, such as two Cadillac car fenders, engineering, and artwork.
Courtesy of Architectural Alliance, here is a rendering of the Carthenon:
That looks absolutely…unique. I think this would be an incredible boon to any proposed casino project. In fact, I’m surprised that there isn’t a Carthenon slot machine already.
I’m most impressed that the sculpture will apparently cast no shadow, and that it will be accessed through a simple dirt path. I imagine that this monument does not meet the ADA standards.
If they’ve already got the Caddy fenders, what’s holding them up? It seems to not have too much more to it than those.
Here’s a contest: let’s see who can design the best faux monument and, using Photoshop, create a “rendering” of it. I’ll post the best responses. You can send them here.
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