The spindle comes down
BERWYN | Car kabob being dismantled for plaza expansion
(Chris Sweda/Sun-Times)
PHOTO GALLERY
Spindle demolition
The road ran out for Berwyn's Spindle on Friday night as workers began demolishing the towering pop culture icon of eight cars on a spike.
"It's sad," said the Spindle's creator, artist Dustin Shuler, from his California studio. "I think I'll probably have a few drinks tonight."
The piece, erected in 1989 in a west suburban shopping plaza and featured in the 1992 film "Wayne's World," has been the subject of some controversy since last summer, when plaza officials announced intentions to remove it.
The plaza needed to make room for a proposed Walgreens, and officials also cited the Spindle's pockmarks of rust and bird droppings.
Some local preservationists vowed to save the piece but were unable to come up with the estimated $300,000 needed to remove, renovate and re-erect it. Its planned demise attracted national attention.
Workmen used a crane to dismantle the 50-foot-tall car kabob.
"Wayne's World! Party time!" shouted one woman.
Fans using cell phones snapped pictures of the demolition.
Berwyn resident Gilbert Ruiz remembered when the Spindle was built.
"Is it nice? I don't know. It's kind of stupid, but it's different," Ruiz said. "You tell people you live in Berwyn, and they say, 'Where the cars are on the Spindle?' "
Cermak Plaza manager Michael Flight of Concordia Realty said a new version of the Spindle may be built.
The top two cars -- a red 1967 Volkswagen Beetle and a silver 1976 BMW -- were slipped from the spike, eased onto flatbed trailers and sent to storage. If funding can be found, they'll be cleaned up, repainted and returned in a new Spindle, Flight said.
While disappointed about its removal, Shuler said, "I'm extremely proud of having done it.
"I'm glad people fell in love with it when it was still around."
