El Paso Has a Giant Roadside Attraction Hiding in Plain Sight

I've lived in El Paso long enough to think I have a pretty good handle on the weird and wonderful things hiding around town.

Then the internet introduces me to a giant woman standing on the side of a road in East El Paso. And somehow, I had NO idea she was there.

She's known as the Uniroyal Gal, and after a recent Reddit post put her back in the spotlight, it turns out I'm definitely not the only person wondering how this giant roadside attraction has escaped my attention for so long.

Meet the Giant Woman Hiding in East El Paso

A recent post in the El Paso subreddit shared a photo of the Uniroyal Gal, who can be found along Mager Drive between Bernard Lane and La Von Avenue.

The Uniroyal Gal in east El Paso.
by
u/MentalBus8860 in
ElPaso

Naturally, people had questions.

Some had never heard of her. Others wanted to know exactly where they could find her. One person thought she looked like Peggy Hill from King of the Hill, while another simply described her as "nightmare fuel."

Fair.

But this isn't just some giant woman somebody randomly decided to stick in the El Paso desert. She is actually part of a wonderfully weird chapter in American roadside history.

What Exactly Is a Uniroyal Gal?

If you've ever taken a road trip and spotted one of those enormous fiberglass men standing outside an old tire shop, restaurant or other roadside business, you've probably seen what's commonly known as a Muffler Man.

The Uniroyal Gal was basically their female counterpart.

These giant fiberglass women were produced by International Fiberglass in the 1960s and used as advertising figures, most notably by Uniroyal tire dealers. Even better, the original design was reportedly inspired by Jacqueline Kennedy.

Their outfits could also be changed depending on how a business wanted to use them, which means America's highways were once dotted with giant fiberglass women dressed for the occasion.

The Uniroyal Gals are now much harder to find than their Muffler Man counterparts, which makes the fact that El Paso has one quietly hanging out east of town even more interesting.

El Paso's Uniroyal Gal Has Been Here for Years

While it's unclear exactly when El Paso's Uniroyal Gal arrived, reports on Roadside America show that people have been making the trip to see her since at least 2010.

Over the years, visitors have reported finding her outside an unusual hacienda-like property, sometimes surrounded by little more than open desert.

And despite spending all those years outside in the El Paso sun, visitors have noted that she's remained in surprisingly good condition.

She's even kept up with technology; one visitor noticed in 2020 that someone had painted what appears to be an Apple Watch on her wrist. Because obviously if you're going to spend decades standing beside a road in East El Paso, you at least need to close your rings.

Roadside America currently lists the Uniroyal Gal as "Worth a Detour," and judging by the reaction to the recent Reddit post, plenty of El Pasoans may now be making that detour for the first time.

We've might have plenty of strange pieces of history scattered around the Borderland, but a giant Jackie Kennedy-inspired fiberglass woman wearing a painted Apple Watch? That's a new one for me!