27 Items Tagged

Kitsch

Is 'Mele Kalikimaka' Really the Thing to Say on a Bright Hawaiian Christmas Day?

Popularized by Bing Crosby's kitschy pop classic, the phrase doesn't delight everyone. It also makes no sense.

Blair Mastbaum December 8, 2022

Podcast: Meramec Caverns

Join us for a daily celebration of the world’s most wondrous, unexpected, even strange places.

The Podcast Team October 18, 2022

Toronto, Ontario

The Wood Cake House

This knick-knack-covered house (complete with a matching van) is a charming oddity in the middle of a modest downtown neighborhood.

Columbus, Texas

Santa Claus Museum

An entire home filled with over 3,000 pieces of Santa memorabilia in glass cases, walls, on Christmas trees, and even in the bathroom.

roadside attractions

What's the Big Deal With Australia's 'Big Things'?

From pineapples to poisonous toads, Aussies love their enormous roadside attractions.

Tiare Tuuhia November 3, 2021

Hattiesburg, Mississippi

Lucky Rabbit

A parade of interactive nostalgia nestled within a giant brick building in downtown Hattiesburg.

Berlin, Massachusetts

Grave of Don Featherstone

The gravestone of the man who designed the plastic pink flamingo is adorned with his most famous creation.

Seattle, Washington

Elephant Car Wash Sign

This giant pink elephant stood in downtown Seattle for more than 60 years.

Madrid, New Mexico

Connie's Photo Park

A little slice of Florida face-in-a-hole kitsch, unexpectedly located in a small New Mexico town.

Neve Ilan, Israel

Elvis American Diner

In a small town outside Jerusalem, a roadside diner is devoted to all things Elvis Presley.

Brooklyn, New York

Turk's Inn

A Wisconsin kitsch palace from the 1930s lives its second life in 21st-century Brooklyn.

Yermo, California

Peggy Sue's 50's Diner & Diner-Saur Park

Like a kitschy mirage in the Mojave, this eatery serves up classic 50s-style diner meals and a dinosaur sculpture garden.

Video • AO Docs

Meet Piano Pat and the Sip 'n Dip Mermaids

Cave City, Kentucky

Mammoth Cave Wildlife Museum

Amazing taxidermy dioramas from the 1960s in a cement building meant to look like an ice cave.

Bucharest, Romania

Romanian Kitsch Museum

A celebration of all things tacky, garish, and bizarrely creative in the Romanian capital.

Castillo de Lamas

A kitschy Italian medieval-style castle incongruously located amidst one of the most historic towns in the Peruvian Amazon.

Los Angeles, California

The Tonga Hut

Though tiki culture has gone in and out of fashion, the Tonga Hut has always been flying the flag in Los Angeles.

Kingman, Arizona

Hackberry General Store

Don't blink or you'll miss it.