Thursday, January 22, 2015

Lionel The Lion Got Mugged



Noooo!  Lionel the stone lion, who changes costumes several times each season and is much beloved by the Uptown community, was found Tuesday evening knocked off his pedestal and broken. His owners and dressers are reaching out to see if anyone saw his attackers.

Lionel a few days ago,
in happier times
Lionel has been showing off his fancy duds and brightening days at the corner of Montrose and Dayton since 1998, quite a run (not to mention a labor of love by his owners). Uptown Update has featured him many times; some of those posts can be seen here.

Can Lionel recover?  We don't know.  We've reached out to his owners to find out.  We would sure hate to lose his presence because he's something that always brings a smile and something that makes Uptown feel a little bit homier and more fun.

Please help if you have any information.  You can either post here in the comments or send us an email at uptownupdate@hotmail.com and we'll pass it along to his people.

Update:  About Lionel's future.  Many people have offered their assistance, financial and otherwise.  His owner says, " I won't have a chance to truly assess the damage and my options until this weekend but please convey for me how thankful I am for the kind words. I am very grateful that an outlet for my goofy-ness brings a smile to others. The fact that complete strangers take the time to comment is very much appreciated."

8 comments:

  1. Lionel also has quite the internet following due to his owner's posts! #JusticeForLionel

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  2. Has the Crawford campaign put this on their FB account yet? I can't look.

    Something about a "pragmatic leader with vision who stops crime against concrete lions with real leadership and unifying unity coupled with post toasties cereal and a smug smile."

    Was Lionel made of concrete or some other lesser material? I had an outdoor urn made of a lesser material of similar color and it only lasted maybe five years.

    In any case I will be happy to kick in a few bucks to bring back Lionel. Son of Lionel..........ala son of Svengoolie!





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  3. Good observation I.P. could have something to do with his longevity.

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  4. The vandalism happened in the previous 18 hours to when I first emailed Uptown Update about it.

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  5. I think this should be classified as a hate crime.

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  6. Maybe someone could start a gofundme or kickstarter campaign to raise funds for repairs or replacement.

    #JusticeForLionel

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  7. A pity, a shame.....
    Right on the corner of MY block !!!
    He always brought a seasonal smile !!!
    MUST - BE - CORRECTED

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  8. When dealing with the general public you have to make stuff like this indestructable. The general public is not nice, especially when drunk in the middle of the night. Here's to a stronger more nigh indestructable Lionel in the future. If you think about it, its amazing he made it this long. Such a statue should be untippable and be installed to withstand just about anything a human can throw at it

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