Iconic ‘Forever Marilyn’ statue’s move to new display location set to take place in the coming days
The famous 'Forever Marilyn' statue that stood tall along Museum Way is on the move again, set to be cemented into its final location on Wednesday. There is no exact time set for the official move, but several crews, including a crane operator, have been staged in the area ahead of the big transition.
'Forever Marilyn' isn't going too far away, in fact, she's moving about 100 feet to the north of her current location, inside the park nearby.
On Tuesday, crews conducted a 'test flight', hoisting the 17 ton sculpture hundreds of feet into the air. The test was conducted to ensure the equipment would hold up during the transition. The statue stands more than 26 feet tall, and is made of pure concrete, steel, and aluminum.
The spectacle drew a crowd on Tuesday, with hundreds of passerby's huddled around the construction zone to catch a glimpse of the lift.
"“I like to see things moved, and how they move it," said Larry Hoffman, a part-time resident here in Palm Springs. "I love seeing the more mechanical end of it. It's very interesting for me.”
One local street vendor, Leonard Foster, runs a food cart business at the corner of Belardo and Museum Way. He relies on the foot traffic created by 'Forever Marilyn' to survive.
"We get a lot of tourists at this spot, of course, naturally," said Foster. "It's one of the highest count tourist spots in the city."
Although Foster is glad the statue is staying here in Palm Springs, he worries about visibility and vandalism in its new location, which is dark and blocked by trees.
"I'm glad that she's not going anywhere," said Foster. "There is some activities that go on at night, after dark, and there's even a police substation right there, and it just still doesn't stop certain things. There are some idle hands in every city, but there are some here, and I see them, and I see kids come up and run their bikes up on her, and dangerously through the crowds. So when the sun goes down again, it's a different situation.”
Hoffman and is wife Olwen are concerned about graffiti damage.
"I am a little disappointed that she's being moved," said Olwen. "I'm concerned also that she won't be seen quite as freely by people. I really liked where she was before."
"She is going to go 100 feet to the north, it's not a whole lot, but she's amongst the trees a little bit," said Larry. "And there's always the problem of maybe some graffiti showing up, or some characters doing something bad to her.”
News Channel Three's Tori King spoke with the Palm Springs Police Department about what it's doing to ensure Marilyn stays safe.
"The city of Palm Springs Impact Team, they deal with a lot of the public," said Mike Villegas, a Lieutenant with the PSPD. "Nuisance or, you know, the unhoused populations, stuff like that. So it will be on their radar to, you know, to constantly monitor if there's any issues that come from it.”
