A Giant Memorial ‘Pizza Rat’ Crawls Across the Side of a West Village Townhouse for Halloween
Brooklyn artist Olivia Springberg created a giant sculpture of the iconic “Pizza Rat” and its oversized slice, making the determined rodent look like it was crawling across the side of the “West Village Famous” townhouse in Manhattan. According to the homeowner, this was a loving Halloween memorial, complete with a “ghost of pizza rat” sign, to a creature who symbolized the spirit of New York City.
Halloween homage to that iconic rodent Pizza Rat, who personifies the New York gift of determination and grit.
The original Pizza Rat video, filmed by Matt Little and posted to YouTube in September 2015, went viral within hours and inspired a wave of Pizza Rat Halloween costumes that fall.
While the Pizza Rat’s specific fate is unknown, this species, a wild Norwegian rat, rarely lives more than a year or two, hence the memorial. As Wikipedia explains:
The maximum life span is three years, although most barely manage one. A yearly mortality rate of 95% is estimated, with predators and interspecies conflict as major causes.
The rodent joins other oversized West Village Halloween critters, including a giant pigeon that burst out of the windows of a Bethune Street townhouse.
Eyewitness News ABC7 New York took a closer look at the giant rodent and its slice.
