"Art installation missing," read the subject line of a tip the RFT received this week. "The hammer and sickle sculpture is missing from 2732 Cherokee Street," continued the email, concluding: "Solve this mystery lol."
Spoiler alert, we didn't, but we were intrigued. Who would want this sculpture to disappear? Who would have the core strength to remove it? And wasn't it more of a bike rack than a sculpture?
The piece was located in front of beloved bar Propaganda, which sadly closed its doors in May, 2019. The Soviet-themed drinkery was started by Tatyana Telnikova, who came of age in Soviet Russia. It followed in the wake of ArtBar, and Telnikova also owns HandleBar, in the Grove.
Location Details
But the bike rack survived Propaganda’s demise, and had become a landmark of Cherokee Street.
And so the RFT put its best reporters on the case. One suggested a “Trump-ish” contingency in the area may have stolen it, while another suggested, less conspiratorially, that the current inhabitants of the former Propaganda space, a bar and lounge called Little Jamaica, simply “may not have wanted a Russian/Soviet symbol in front of their business at this current moment.” (Update: Little Jamaica has reportedly closed.)
Messages to Handle Bar were not returned.
And so, we send this to you, our readers. Do you have any idea what might have happened to this beloved local artwork/sometimes-used bike rack? Please send tips to [email protected]
