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Animals!

March 14, 2021 By In Banana Republic History, Stores No Comments

Banana Republic stores often had large fiberglass (or resin) animals on display. I have been told they were produced by artisans that usually worked for the San Francisco Academy of Sciences, although the quality is a little less realistic. Presumably there are examples of this scattered across the country as store fixtures were sold off or carried away by employees.

From the Banana Republic Guide to Travel and Safari Clothes book, these photos of the Beverly Hills store show a full size elephant as well as the famous window jeep and a real bush airplane.
A full size male Rhino head from the Birmingham, Michigan store. Courtesy LJS Collectibles. Contact them if you are an intersted buyer!


His female counterpart from the same store.
This refugee from the San Francisco Grant Ave store now lives in the lobby of the Gap headquarters in SF.

From a newspaper photo, a fiberglass zebra head wall mount. It’s important to state that no real animal taxidermy was used in the stores.


Production Artist Mike Madrid poses with darkroom manager Randy Parsons at his desk at Banana Republic’s Bluxhome Street offices in the mid-1980’s. Livingstone the zebra (fake, of course), wearing a blue aviator’s scarf, keeps an eye on things from above.

These next three photos are courtesy Hepcats Haven, a marvelous retro blog you should check out. He scored them off Craigslist and did a nice restoration job on one.

Kudu

Zebra

Gemsbok

About The Author

Robyn Adams
Robyn’s fascination with Banana Republic began in 1984 when her Alaskan adventurer father began buying their clothing and giving her their catalogs. She loved the clothes, and as an artist, she was drawn to the illustrations. Robyn went on to study illustration at an art college in Banana Republic’s hometown of San Francisco, CA, and she worked for years as a background artist for animation. She is now based in Oakland, CA and works as a graphic designer and illustrator. She has been collecting and archiving at Abandoned Republic since 2011.