Known simply as the Lions of Amboy, these Chinese guardian lions (the other one is a few tenths of a mile down the road) stand all by themselves in the Mojave desert, several hundred feet off the side of Route 66, near the town of Amboy. Like so many of the other desert art installations, no one really seems to know why they’re there or even how they got there. It seems they were first noticed around 2013, but who knows how long they’d sat there before that. They’re essentially hidden in plain sight, and easy to miss if you’re keeping your eyes on the road ahead.
Some have speculated that perhaps they were placed there by one of the previous owners of Amboy, or by a real estate venture looking to add interest – or perhaps a bit of luck – to the area. If either of those are true, no one has ever said. Regardless, it seems there’s always something going on with the statues. In 2016, someone shot one of the statues with a rifle, before realizing they were a treasured local feature. The person left an apology note! In 2018, the female statue vanished, only to be returned to its position in 2020. Again, no one knows who or why.
Besides the lore, what struck me is how big they are! Including the base, the whole thing stands almost 6 feet tall. And yes, they’re actually made of marble. While years of tourists stopping by and feeling the need to leave their mark have not been kind to the statues, they’re still in surprisingly good shape – at least this one is. Having seen them multiple times, I decided I need to capture one of them at night as a memento.
To capture this image, my friend Mark held a light off to the side to illuminate the statue – though passing cars (even at 4AM!) also helped. I then captured the sky separately using different filters to create the image you see here.
More next week!
–Dan Thompson