Have you ever wondered how many Buck Atoms you’d have to stack on top of each other to rival the height of the Golden Driller? Well friends, you’re in luck. Because today we have a limited quantity of tote bags available for purchase that answer that very question.
Our Tulsa Is Monumental bags were illustrated by the one and only Hershel Self and depict a helpful taxonomy of Tulsa’s statues, from the humble street penguins to the standard-bearing Driller. They retail for $25 at the This Land Store, and you can also buy them in person at Meadow Gold Mack’s. Printed in the USA, these big ass totes run 18 inches wide 15 inches tall with a three-inch gusset. Perfect for lugging a bunch of library books, or a few groceries.
Here’s the lowdown on each statue.
📍Penguin statues
Straight out of Tulsa lore, the fundraising campaign for the penguin exhibit at the zoo may have ended in the early 2000s, but these dapper statues can still be found on sidewalks and in front of buildings across the city.
📍Buck Atoms
The Mary Beth Babcock Extended Cinematic Universe started on Route 66 with this iconic muffler man. It’s grown since to include Meadow Gold Mack, Cowboy Bob and Stella Atoms.
📍Cry Baby Cry
Did we print this bag complete with destination address before the city started playing hot potato with the much-maligned Crybaby statue? Yes. Do we regret it now? Hell, no.
📍Avalokiteshvara
This iconic statue graces East Tulsa's Tam-Bao Buddhist temple, where it holds great compassion for all under its gaze.
📍Praying Hands
You know it's not AI by counting the fingers. These bad boys are fully bronzed and super-heavy, weighing in at over 30 tons. One hand is cast from the hand of Oral Roberts himself, and the other is cast from the hand of his son Richard, whom you can read about here.
📍Golden Driller
The big daddy. We all know that the 76-foot-tall Driller has been guarding the entrance of Tulsa’s Expo Center for decades, but did you know that the original plan was to build a 40-foot nude goddess of oil statue where the Driller now stands? Now you know!
