Boyle Heights is no stranger to change. Shifting community demographics, new housing developments, or changing street names are things the Eastside constantly grapples with.
But a constant in many Los Angeles neighborhoods are the geographic landmarks that dot the landscape. Whether they have withstood the test of time or have been demolished, relocated, or painted over, these cultural references can sometimes be windows into a rich geographic and cultural history.
One Eastside example, a 20-foot-tall, muscular figure, has been casting a long shadow over 580 N Mission Road for decades. His name is Sergio, and he is the Eastside’s last muffler man.
Rafael Cortés, 50, runs Cortés Auto Glass Repair, the business that homes the statue. He attested that having a giant towering over his business has granted him more customers and has become a “point of reference” in the neighborhood.
“I think its importance lies in that [people can say] ‘go to where the giant figure is and there you can find doors for your car, you’ll find someone who can repair your car, change your windshield,’” said Cortés.
“These guys are always, always moving,” said Joel Baker, founder of American Giant. “Some of them, like Sergio, have been there forever. And then you have others that have quite a history of all the different businesses and places and families that they’ve been a part of.”
American Giant is a midwestern based group that restores muffler men and documents their history across the United States. His team can surgically reattach body parts, apply paint for a fresh coat, or facilitate buys of the behemoths around the country.
“They’re very noticeable. Local ones have always been used as references for directions, basically to differentiate a business from others. A tire store with a muffler man in front of it is going to be really easy to talk about to your friends and promote rather than the one that looks like all the rest,” Baker said.
Cortés said he inherited the statue from the previous business owner, a man by the name of Sergio, from whom the giant derives his namesake. He suspects the statue has been on N Mission Road and Gallardo Street for more than 40 years.
Sergio stands with his strong arms outstretched, a tight-checkered shirt painted on his muscular torso. Cortés’ team recently gave Sergio a fresh paint job, painting over a cursive “Sergio” nametag on what might’ve been his first coat of paint. His gigantic boots rest on a wooden foundation, around which Cortés’ employees have built their break room.
The history of the muffler men is just as colorful as the characters themselves, almost exclusively assembled between the years of 1964 and 1972. Many were crafted by International Fiberglass in Venice, and then shipped all over the United States. They were often created in the image of Paul Bunyan, the ax-wielding logger from the northwest.
Businesses usually swapped the ax with whatever they specialized in; oversized mufflers, buckets of fried chicken, tires, and hot dogs alike.
The giants are also associated with the boom of car culture and the completion of US Route 66 – a 2,448-mile-long highway flanked by hundreds of glowing neon signs, hotels, and pit stops marketed towards motorists and road-tripping families. They were also erected in towns across America to honor the local industry or even the local indigenous nations.
But in August, Sergio’s only other Eastside compadre, Tony, the Latino-sized muffler man that bounced around East LA and City Terrace, was sold to a buyer in Lancaster, according to a post on Roadside America.
Now the last of a dying breed, Sergio quietly watches over the thoroughfare, as the slow-moving railcars and traffic pass nearby, reminding drivers that autocare service is just a pit stop away.
AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE FOR BOYLE HEIGHTS’ GIANT
The loss of these geographic landmarks doesn’t just speak to development, but to history the region is losing. Highland Park’s famous Chickenboy had the backing of a community to preserve its right to stand tall over the city. Further cultural monuments like Sergio or Tony sometimes don’t have protections from local or state governments, despite them having cultural value to the communities they stand in.
Baker said muffler men usually come down swiftly and quietly, usually when businesses close or owners retire and sell the giants. And when a 50-foot crane shows up to remove them, Baker said that people usually aren’t very happy.
“Rarely these days are people excited to see it leave. In general, they’re loved by the local community. I always encourage local communities to pay attention to the family that owns him. And if you see that they’ve closed the door to the building and that they’ve retired, start working to ensure or purchase that giant so it stays in your town,” Baker said.
Jay Correia works with the State Office of Historic Preservation in Sacramento. He said that muffler men across California may be eligible for honorary historic status due to their role in the rise of automobile culture in Los Angeles. But even if Sergio could qualify for a historic designation from the state or federal level, the local government gets ultimate building, permitting, and demolition authority.
“If they passed an ordinance that protected historical resources or if the city of Los Angeles or county of Los Angeles designated the historical resource as significant, then it would be afforded some protection at the local level,” Correia said. Until then, Sergio’s fate is up to Cortés.
Correia said that cities like Los Angeles in some ways define 20th century America and that it’s important to allow the built history of the environment to speak to its history. But in some cases, the desire to protect monuments like Sergio goes further than simply “remember the past,” he said.
“I think that preservation has moved towards maintaining a sense of community. When you have too much change too fast, you lose a sense of place,” Correia said. “You lose a sense of community and things that make a place identifiable as unique.”
Could the iconic Pep Boys sign on Atlantic suffer the same fate as Tony, or El Pedorrero, the now-shuttered, striped muffler shop of East LA? What about the tamale building flanking Whittier Blvd? Or should residents perhaps consider establishing protections for El Pino, the towering pine standing tall over the Eastside, a living monument to the culture and history of the region.
Correia said that these landmarks aren’t just used to attract business, but they also make a community what it is.
“We can’t save everything, but we should proceed carefully and save those things that matter, like those places that matter to the people who live in those communities,” Correia said.
