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Bizarre & Mysterious Statue at Ace Hotel Theatre

A few months ago I went to the Ace Theatre to see Trevor Noah at an interview discussing his new book.  I had never been inside this remarkable theatre and was jubilant to see a lot of the original details still intact.  

The building was the creation of the actors behind United Artists, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin, and the architecture is a riot of styles which has been restored to it 1920's splendor by the folks at the Ace Hotel. Every area held a surprise.

 

According to the La Conservancy's website, the faces of some of th evil Hollywood producers are carved in the columns along side other gargoyles and grotesques.

I was lured through a red velvet curtain (of course) and  drawn  into this powder room glamorously frozen in time.

Did Mary Pickford ever sit here?

The tiles on the stairways are perfect for a home; theatrical and magnificent, yet whimsical and over the top (what are those animals?)

None of the architectural delights were as fantastical and wondrous as this mysterious shrine which greets you as you enter the lobby. Was this original to the theatre?  If not, why, who, what???

 

Yep, that's a corona of fingers with matching staff... 

with a herd of bizarre blue cats at her feet.  Fab shoes too...

A quintessential example of why I both love and hate this city is  that no one else seemed particularly intrigued, delighted, or disturbed by this centerpiece--it just accepted like most things in our city.  No staff I questioned knew anything about him.  I was shocked there was no mmention of this sculpture on either the Ace Hotels site or even the L.A. Conservancy site.  Only when I googles "weird finger statue Ace Theatre" did i get to the answer.

The statue is the work of artist Kevin Willis who created it during the remodeling of the hotel and theatre and  also did other installations at the hotel.

 

It is called Cathedral of Our Lady Fingers. He also refers to him  as the patron saint of feral cats.  No other explanation is necessary in L.A. 

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