‘Rocky’ Statue Returns Home

PHILADELPHIA (September 6, 2006) — Rocky Balboa is headed back to his old stomping grounds.

The city’s Art Commission approved a plan Wednesday to return a statue of the big-screen boxer to a site near the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where Sylvester Stallone ran the stairs in the movie as the boxer in training.

By a 6-2 vote, the commission voted to move the statue, currently stored in a warehouse, to a street-level pedestal near the site of one of the 1976 movie’s iconic scenes.

The steps have become a popular tourist attraction for “Rocky” fans, with visitors imitating the boxer’s run to the top and raising their fists in the air.

Stallone donated the statue in 1982, but the city has debated for years what to do with it. It spent a few months on the museum steps, then was moved to the Spectrum sports arena in South Philadelphia before going into storage.

The 8-foot, 6-inch bronze statue is now expected to be in place in time of a dedication ceremony planned Friday.

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