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The Bruin, a bronze bear about 10 feet long and 6 feet tall, stands in Bruin Plaza on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles. Sculptor Billy Fitzgerald made it, and the UCLA Alumni Association gave it to the university in 1984 for its 50th anniversary.
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UCLA bear
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Site-level location · 34.0715° N, 118.4448° W
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The story
ASUCLA's 2025 Rivalry Week guide says that in the week before the UCLA-USC football game, UCLA covers iconic statues such as the bronze bear in Bruin Plaza to protect them from vandalism by USC students.
Known as The Bruin or the Bruin Bear, it was unveiled on 30 September 1984 as a gift from the UCLA Alumni Association to mark its 50th anniversary, in front of a crowd of nearly 1,000 alumni. UCLA's centennial timeline gives its size as 10 feet long, six feet tall and three feet across, weighing more than two tons, and says it was billed at the time as the largest bear sculpture in the United States. Artist Billy Fitzgerald was paid $10,000 and the casting cost $37,000.
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An outdoor bronze in a plaza on the UCLA campus, popular for photographs. In the week before the UCLA-USC football game, UCLA covers the statue to protect it from vandalism (ASUCLA, 2025).
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Bruin Plaza, 308 Westwood Plaza, UCLA campus, Los Angeles, CA 90095 (UCLA Alumni Association, 2022). Outdoor plaza on a university campus; the Alumni Association's 2022 anniversary event there was free and open.
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