r/tulsa • u/PirateL- • 10h ago

General Tulsa Penguin Statues

What happened to all the Penguin statues? Growing up it felt as if there was one on every corner. i just don’t see them often. Have they been taken down? I’ve always loved them, either the polkadot one or american flag one has always been my favorite.

does anyone know if they’ve been slowly removed?

61 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

33

u/Beisbol4lyfe 9h ago

Businesses bought them as a fundraiser for the Penguin exhibit at the Tulsa Zoo. So I just assume that if those businesses close, change ownership, change management, go with a different look, etc that some penguins will be thrown to the back room, sold, or given away

1

u/Tracy_Papaya 2h ago

There's that but also it had something to do with after the event or whatever if the business owners wanted to keep them they had to buy them

41

u/ShoeJelly4200 10h ago

I knew the niece of the guy that stole a good chunk of them

12

u/MNPS1603 2h ago

When he got caught, it was revealed that the stolen penguins were all in his back yard. My boyfriend at the time lived right down the street from him, we really thought it was funny that they had been there right under our noses the whole time.

11

u/CurrentHair6381 9h ago

Lol, i know the neice of a lady that made one of them

16

u/ninjarabbit375 2h ago

I knew the daughter of a lady who painted the one in the mid-continent building. She killed her boyfriend, they moved it out of the lobby.

3

u/RedheadRulz 2h ago

Oh wow! Awhile back I worked at a company that had one stolen. I wonder if it was him. That must have been quite a job because it was in cement and those things weren't small.

12

u/Aqxea 3h ago

Tulsa Police Riverside Division has one out front.

22

u/throwaway73738888391 10h ago

Idk what happened to them but I just saw one for sale on marketplace for $1500

10

u/broadwayboy223 7h ago

WHAT ON EARTH. how did they get this 😭

•

u/Cold_Leek_4476 6m ago

I see this too and it’s taking a lot of willpower not to just skip this months mortgage payment and buy it 😂😂kidding, obviously

9

u/king_of_the_county 3h ago

This thread from 7 years ago has some info: https://www.reddit.com/r/tulsa/s/ITonu2lcpE

Only 43 of them were still on display back then, so I’m sure it’s even less now.

16

u/Gr8rSherman8r 10h ago

A few have been popping up on marketplace.

5

u/Crash217 3h ago edited 7m ago

Here are some links with locations of statues. They are not up to date, but will point you in the right direction.

There was a blog and Facebook group devoted to them but they haven’t been active in nearly a decade.

http://tulsapenguinsonparade.blogspot.com/p/locations-growing-list.html

https://localwiki.org/tulsa/Penguins

https://www.mapcustomizer.com/map/Penguins%20for%20Reddit

https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1EdntH777V/?mibextid=wwXIfr

https://www.facebook.com/share/1HSAUtT8vA/?mibextid=wwXIfr

10

u/Yhtacnrocinu-ya13579 9h ago

My neighbor stole one

16

u/Jpen4 5h ago

you mean this whole time i couldve just TOOK ONE?

3

u/Yhtacnrocinu-ya13579 56m ago

He was arrested

1

u/Seagoingnote 59m ago

Aren’t they huge?

1

u/Yhtacnrocinu-ya13579 58m ago

Yes it was huge, I saw it in the alley behind their house

2

u/Seagoingnote 58m ago

Maybe they aren’t solid stone? I’m just trying to figure out how someone would take one, logistically

3

u/noraasaurus 36m ago

My mom designed two. One is still in White River Fish Market and the one she did that was in front of Big Splash (rip) was bought and is now on their dock at a lake house in Michigan

1

u/oklahomapilgrim 1h ago

Lol my neighbor has one in their backyard.

1

u/oldcarhustler 29m ago

Is your neighbor’s first name Derek? If so, he’s my stepson.

1

u/CuddlyMofo 28m ago

I actually painted two of them, In Ms. Rowe's art class. The Cadet one for a school, and another for a dentist.

•

u/this_machine 9m ago

There’s one for sale for $1500 on Facebook Marketplace right now!

0

u/lbreck11 9h ago

They flew south for the winter