WOODLAND HILLS : New Paint and Fresh Start for Western Statues

Lonesome George’s social life hasn’t improved a whit over the years; he still sits alone, frowning, on his bench at the bottom of Boot Hill. But with a fresh new coat of paint, he has never looked better.

George is part of a collection of life-sized, Old West characters, which recently underwent renovations to restore them to their original splendor. The works, by John Henry Ehn, are kept at Pierce College and are on the California Registry of Historical Landmarks.

Ehn, a former trapper and self-taught artist who died in 1981, created the works over a span of 30 years to honor the spirit of the American pioneers and the Native Americans they found in the new land, said his youngest daughter, Rosemarie Farish.

Restoring the deteriorated statues to their original condition took several weeks, she said.

“I know that my father would have been happy to see this day,” said Farish, as she showed off the collection of about a dozen statues, which portray various Old West themes. The public can view the statues, which are in a park-like setting on the school’s farm, at no charge.

The display includes a pretend Boot Hill, replete with wooden grave markers inscribed with humorous epitaphs to various, off-color characters. One is Trapper Joe, who was “hanged by mistake by a Burbink mob,” and Red Finn, “who choked on a cork floating in a jug of gin” and who “dyed in good spirits.”

A longtime family friend, Jose Castaneda, did much of the actual renovation, which involved painting and replacing broken parts of the concrete statues.

“I feel very happy, because the renovation of these statues is helping to keep alive the history of the family,” said Castaneda, who worked for Ehn as a maintenance man at a rental complex in Sun Valley, where the statues were kept for many years.

Ehn was a trapper for the state of Michigan for more than 20 years, until he settled in California in 1941, said Farish.

The faces of many of the characters are sculpted to resemble Ehn’s family members, according to Farish. One statue in the collection, Two-Gun Rosie, was modeled after her, she said.