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Animals!

March 14, 2021 By In Banana Republic History, Stores 2 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 the clothing and giving her the catalogs. She loved the clothes and as an artist she was drawn to the illustrations. She went on to study illustration at art college in BR's hometown of San Francisco and worked for years as a background artist for animation. She is now based in Oakland, CA as a graphic designer and illustrator with Secret Fan Base . She's been collecting and archiving at Abandoned Republic since 2011.

2 Comments

  • Thomas Paul Flood on June 9, 2022

    Robyn, you have made a wonderful site. These stores were wonderful. These animal artifacts are just precious; the jeeps and airplanes were pure genius display/marketing acumen. Thank you for preserving the memories.

    Reply
  • Iaine on January 13, 2023

    Thanks for this blurb. The BR in Miami’s Dadeland Mall had a life-size giraffe in the 80s that I was always fascinated with and I’ve wondered for years what happened to it.

    Reply

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