Benjamin Rizzo
‘Legends of the farm’By: Ben Rizzo
A shotgun wielding mother wards off invaders with a rifle in one hand and a newborn baby in the other. A peg-legged cowboy shoves a knife into an American Indian’s ribcage as a tomahawk is jammed into his shoulder. No, this isn’t the scene at some studio back-lot in Hollywood. This is Cleveland Park, located on El Rancho Drive at Pierce College. What was once a small, grassy hillside area of the farm is now home to various folk art statues constructed by the late John Ehn as a tribute to the Old West. The park is a virtual seek-and-find of folk art. Every statue yields more and more intricacies upon closer examination. Whether it’s a tombstone made of rusty shotgun barrels, or a name plaque spelled out with steel chains, Ehn’s work is not something that is seen everyday. Those commuters lucky enough to have parked in the dirt covered additional lots at the beginning of the semester were sure to have seen these colorful concrete behemoths rising from the shadows behind the agriculture science building and wondered of their existence.”There’s an intriguing story behind it,” says Richard Moyer, current Pierce College professor and vice president of academic affairs at East Los Angeles College. “It’s the embodiment of somebody’s life and dream.”As the story goes, Ehn was a real-life trapper in the Midwest before moving to Southern California. During a visit to Knott’s Berry Farm in 1951, he became enthralled with the giant concrete statues there and hired a sculptor to build him a statue. Ehn watched the sculptor at work and soon taught himself the trade. Using his family members as models, Ehn went on to build numerous works and displayed them at his Sun Valley property which served as a motel and low-income apartment building. He dubbed the land, Old Trappers Lodge. In addition to his statues, Ehn created an Old West themed cemetery entitled Boot Hill. “All old time towns had boot hills,” said Ehn. “Folks all went there at last. Some with their boots on.” Some of the “folks” at Boot Hill include Ironfoot Eva, Bill Boozer and Cattle King Kelly, whose tombstone says he was “Shot in the belly fer sayin nuttin is nuttin 2 sheepman Sam Solefelly.”In 1981, the same year as his death, Ehn’s works were honored when both his Old Trappers Lodge and Boot Hill were registered as California Historical Landmark No. 939. There are only 10 folk art environments in California honored with this designation. So, how did these statues come to call Pierce home? In the mid 1980’s there was a 15 minute special interest series entitled VIDEOLOG, hosted by Huell Howser, which ran on KCET of the California Public Broadcasting Service. One night, Moyer happened to be tuned in as Howser toured John Ehn’s Old Trappers Lodge and told of his exploits. Moyer was intrigued by the program because he grew up in this area and enjoyed going to Knott’s Berry Farm as a child. A couple of years later, around the summer of 1988, Howser revisited the lodge on his program and talked of how the statues were in danger of being demolished. Heirs to John Ehn had sold the land to the Burbank Airport, whose expansion plans did not involve housing concrete folk art statues. Ehn’s family was searching for a new location to display his artworks. At that time, Moyer was associate dean of academic affairs at Pierce. He saw the program and figured, “What the heck.” Moyer presented the situation to David Wolf, then president of Pierce. According to Moyer, Wolf told him that it never hurts to look, so he called Howser and arranged a meeting at the lodge.Accompanied by one of Pierce’s art history professors, Moyer met with Howser and toured the Old Trappers Lodge. “It was unusual,” said Moyer of his experience at the lodge. Ehn’s works were displayed everywhere the eye could see. However strange some of the statues might be they were genuine folk sculptures. In the end, the powers that be decided to go for it. The Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees unanimously voted to accept the gift from the Ehn family. After the statues were deemed structurally safe by an outside engineering firm, a deal was doneInterested in maintaining his legacy, Ehn’s family paid the approximate $60,000 for building and relocation costs.When asked what he thought of the statues, Moyer replied, “I appreciate them for what they are. When you have things like this, you want people to come here to see the ‘community’s’ college,” said Moyer. “It’s a place where you stop and look, it just makes Pierce the special place that it is.”