Q: I was walking around downtown recently and found a mysterious concrete and metal needle on the corner of 8th and Jefferson. It's about 25 feet high, surrounded by shrubs, and looks like it might be waiting to send or receive signals from Flash Gordon or Ming the Merciless. Quite retro. What's up with that?

You notice things when you walk. I'm going to do more of it. - JEANNIE M., E-MAIL

A: We all should walk more. I've driven by your "needle" countless times without really noticing it. So after getting your question, I stopped for a closer look.

It's quite something, actually - a concrete, art-deco pillar topped by what resembles nothing more than a metal wedding cake with a steel candle sticking out of the top. It's in the parking lot north of the Hoff Building, and as you noted is surrounded by shrubbery.

What could this strange bit of Americana be?

My first attempt to find out was a call to Boise Public Arts Manager Karen Bubb.

"I know it well, but I don't know what it is," she said.

Stressing that she had no idea whether the story was true, Bubb said she'd heard that it was "an element that was supposed to go on the Hoff Building. But when they stopped construction during the Depression, it got put on the corner instead."

That sounds logical. The needle, like the Hoff Building, is art-deco style. It's also painted the same color as the building.

Logical, but wrong. As often is the case, historian Arthur Hart was able to solve the mystery.

"It's from the old Coca Cola bottling plant that was west of there," he said. "When they tore the building down, someone salvaged it. My guess is that the people who were redoing the Hoff Building thought it would be a nice art-deco touch for the parking lot."

The Hoff Building was remodeled in the late 1970s.

The "needle," Hart said, was a street-level finishing piece on a corner of the Coca Cola building.

That's the official story. But personally, I think you're right. It's only a matter of time until we hear from Ming the Merciless.

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