‘Overcome with emotion’: The story behind Vanderpump’s Giggy statue

I got Giggy with it Saturday night.

This is in reference to the giant dog statue at The Vanderpump Hotel. The place is named Gigolo, as was Vanderpump’s beloved Pomeranian.

“Giggy,” for short, looms tall in the chic lounge just off the hotel’s valet entrance. I quaffed a zero-proof cocktail with this well-coiffed pooch. He dominates the scene.

Giggy is charcoal black and stands about 5 feet, 2 inches (62 total inches) tall, the Strip’s biggest dog. He wears a bow tie and a waistcoat. His eyes seemingly follow you around the room. Guests line up to take selfies and pat him on the nose.

The Pom who inspired the statue was at Vanderpump’s side on “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” from 2010 to 2019, and “Vanderpump Rules” from 2013 to 2020.

Giggy died in December 2020 at age 11. But he lives on at Vanderpump Hotel. His statue was a true labor of love for Vanderpump and her business and design partner, Nick Alain.

Vanderpump says she and her husband, Ken Todd, were “overcome with emotion” when they first saw the finished Giggy.

“It was very difficult for me to be objective when it came to creating a statue of somebody that I love so much. I looked at the first rendering, and I stepped back, because I never thought it would measure up to the little man himself,” Vanderpump said. “As we unwrapped him and took him out of his crate, it was a surprise — Ken and I were overcome with emotion as to the accuracy that has been developed over the time that he was created. Nick did all the fine points, and he hit the nail right on the head.

“So yes, he is a replica of that wonderful little man that many people fell in love with.”

Alain described the process of bringing the pooch back to (oversized) life.

“Giggy is a giant resin statue that I sketched from countless photos of him during his life. It was then hand-sculpted into a 10-inch model that was scaled up to a large Styrofoam statue, and then sculpted from that into the size you see today at Gigolo,” Alain said in an email description. “Months of hard work went into this statue — then all the adjustments to the details came; jacket, nose, bow tie, etc.”

Giggy’s face is shown in other areas of the hotel, including the cocktail menu and on the golden coins handed out to guests for a free cocktail at Giglolo’s. He is the inspiration of the club’s Giggy Tonic (a butterfly pea tea gin and tonic).

On the night we visited, the bar created a custom zero-proof mocktail with fresh blackberry puree, simple syrup, lime juice, and FizzyWater. I call it The Montgomery, after a wondrous pet bulldog in my family when I was a kid. We felt about “Monty” how the Vanderpump’s felt about Giggy. Cheers!

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.