THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 26, 1995 TAG: 9511220070
SECTION: REAL LIFE PAGE: K4 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: OBSCURE TOUR
LOCAL LANDMARKS THE TOUR BOOKS NEVER MENTION
SOURCE: BY KERRY DOUGHERTY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
THE INDIGNITY of it all.
Hugh Mongous, the 65-foot-tall simian sentinel who welcomed visitors to a Virginia Beach water park for about a decade, lies in state beside a bluff at the north side of the park.
What's left of him, that is. Charred remains.
Hugh Mongous was torched by an arsonist in 1989, and movers hauled him to his final resting place at the park on General Booth Boulevard. There were plans to repair him. But there he lies, on his back, his eyeless face gaping at the sky. Hugh's right leg is severed at the thigh and rests in the mud a few feet away. His lower jaw is missing and a giant chunk of his torso is gone.
The indignity of it.
Hugh Mongous was sculpted in 1978 by Demetrios Mavroudis, a former University of Virginia arts instructor. Hugh was originally crafted for a Richmond bank promotion. Afterwards the owners of the water park - then called Jungle Falls - trucked him down to Virginia Beach.
In a bout of modesty, his new owners painted swimming trunks on the giant gorilla who was a mascot of sorts for the resort city.
For years Hugh was the King Kong of all he surveyed. And when the beloved behemoth was set afire, it was big news.
Last year the owners of Ocean Breeze Festival Park announced that a local artist was building another Hugh - as if there could ever be another.
The new ape has not yet been hoisted into place. He lies in wait inside the gates of the park. So far he's pumpkin colored with mesh hands.
Curiosity may bring you to take a peek at the new gorilla. But we recommend you also pay your respects to the original Hugh Mongous. You can find him about halfway through the park. Make a right into the parking lot across from the Strike Zone and look beyond the hill.
The indignity of it all. ILLUSTRATION: FILE PHOTO/The Virginian-Pilot
Charred remains of the gorilla statue Hugh Mongous lie in state at a
Virginia Beach water park.
by CNB