A 49-ton marble statue commissioned for Coachella Fest has been a local attraction in Joshua Tree since 2015. The Party God was the creation of two Los Angeles-based brothers, Niki and Simon Haas, who, after the conclusion of Coachella Fest, moved the statue to their 10-acre property near the west entrance of Joshua Tree National Park. The brothers recently sold their property and former Z107.7 reporter Dan Stork says the statue is on its way to Los Angeles…
A six-year resident of Joshua Tree moved back to Los Angeles Tuesday. The Party God came to a neighborhood just outside of the National Park after gracing the Coachella Fest in 2015. The 49-ton marble statue of a cartoon-like cat holding a beer can and wearing sunglasses is leaving a Joshua Tree that is not the Joshua Tree it came to. The number of visitors to the Park has exploded over the years, so the 15-foot-tall art piece has frequently presided over a mile-long line of vehicles waiting to get into the Park.
Repeated exposure of JT and some of its peculiar structures in the online and social media have transformed the neighborhood into a magnet for gawkers and vacation home renters. Neighbors of the departed cat may miss his quiet and dignified demeanor, but they will not miss the traffic that his presence drew to their fragile dirt roads.
