Thieves who took bronze had brass

She said she had feared the historic statue would get stolen. "But then it's so heavy and it's such a busy intersection, I thought, 'Well, maybe he's safe.' "

She estimates that the statue weighed up to 1,000 pounds.

Moore walked right by the park Saturday and somehow didn't notice it was missing. A giant pine tree shades the spot, and some bus benches obscure it from certain angles.

And then Monday she received an e-mail from neighbor Jon Armstrong, father of the toddler who noticed its absence. The Armstrong family anointed the statue "Pizzaman" -- because of the pan.

"I was wondering whether you know what has happened to the statue," Armstrong wrote.

Moore's heart sank. She walked to the park to see for herself. All that was left was the stump of a bolt that had held the miner to his boulder. She crossed the street to see if a bronze bust that Lion had also sculpted was still in its place. It was, but she learned that, a week before, the night watchman for surrounding businesses had scared away someone who appeared to be tampering with it.

Moore sent out an e-mail to the rest of the neighborhood association.

"I'd hate to see this statue melted down and some crook paid a few hundred dollars for the metal," she wrote. "It's been part of the neighborhood for over 80 years! We need to find our gold miner!"

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joe.mozingo@latimes.com

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Times staff writer Andrew Blankstein contributed to this report.