If you were young in New York City in the 1960s, 1970s, or 1980s, then you probably remember the thrill of visiting Jonah's Whale at the Children's Zoo in Central Park, with that smiling open mouth you could practically walk into.

Jonah's Whale had been part of the Children's Zoo since its 1961 opening, according to The New York Times. But this star zoo attraction got the boot in the mid-1990s, after the zoo fell into disrepair and the whale was "derided as kitsch," as the Times put it.

"A new generation of sober-minded zookeepers, trained to re-create natural habitats, questioned its educational value," the Times wrote. "And critics wondered whether a sculpture depicting the biblical tale of Jonah, who spent three nights in the belly of a whale, was appropriate in a public park."

In the mid-1990s, Jonah's Whale was carted away to the Rockaways, where it was supposed to live in a happy retirement. But apparently the whale was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, per a 2014 article in Rockawave, which covered an attempt to raise money to rebuild it.

The fate of Whalemina, as the whale was renamed in the Rockaways, isn't clear. But Baby Boomer and Gen X New Yorkers surely are hoping that this zoo icon is safe and in one piece again somewhere.

[Top image: eBay; second image: NYC Parks]