Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Item
Title
D163776-7
Date(s)
- 1973-09-05 (Creation)
Extent
Name of creator
(1919-1980)
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
B&I Circus Store owner Earl Irwin was a master showman and an expert at promotion. His longest running promotion for the store was Ivan, the shopping mall gorilla; pictured here in September of 1973. The gorilla, acquired by Irwin in 1964, was a permanent resident at the B&I from 1967-1994. He lived in a steel and concrete cage with no contact with others of his species. In 1994, after years of controversy over his captivity, he was donated to the Woodland Park Zoo. The Western Lowland gorilla was on permanent loan to the Atlanta Zoo, where he died on Monday, August 20, 2012
Gorillas; B&I Circus Store (Tacoma);