Mister Ed's Elephant Museum + Candy Emporium

After a night spent in Gettysburg, I couldn’t pass up a 20-minute detour to see what is billed as the “Gettysburg area’s most unique attraction.” Mister Ed’s was opened by “Mister Ed” Gotwalt in 1975 and he sold the business to his granddaughter Nicole and her husband Isaac in 2014.

The 82-year-old Mister Ed is something of a local celebrity—he stayed up 76 hours during the nation’s bicentennial and stages elaborate Fourth of July fireworks displays and Christmas celebrations. He received his first elephant as a wedding gift and the collection grew as he started to receive elephants as gifts and donations. The museum part of the general store can be viewed free of charge and now contains more than 12,000 elephant figurines.

In July of 2010, the store caught fire and was destroyed. More than 2,000 elephants were lost in the fire, but Gotwalt received thousands of donations from across the world and opened a new store in February of 2011. Outside the store is an elephant graveyard, full of the broken bits of figurines that couldn’t be saved.

In addition to the elephants that can be found nearly everywhere on the property, Mister Ed’s also has a lovely garden with Bigfoot, Jon Deer and a stairway to nowhere. I don’t really care about teapots, but I do love novelty architecture so I was charmed by Miss Pat’s (Ed’s wife) teapot museum shaped like a big teapot.

They sell more than 900 different candies, make more than 100 flavors of fudge and roast their own jumbo peanuts. Every Thursday is peanut day at Mister Ed’s and they roast at least five small batches of Virginia jumbo peanuts in a small shed outside. Sadly we didn’t visit on peanut day, so I’ll just have to believe Mister Ed when he says that “there are few things better than the smell of good nuts roasting.”

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Mister Ed’s
6019 Chambersburg Rd
Orrtanna, PA 17353

Farnham Colossi

When my mom and I returned from our South of the Border road trip last year, I discovered that we had been literally ten minutes away from the Farnham Colossi. I obsessively scan maps on Roadside America and elsewhere to plot my road trip destinations but this area has so many states so close together—West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania—that I hadn’t thought to check a WV map. The Farnham Colossi is located in Unger, West Virginia, just over the border from Virginia, and it shouldn’t be hard to see why I planned our entire August road trip around it.

The Farnham Colossi, also called the Farnham Fantasy Farm, is located on the private property of George and Pam Farnham. George, a former DC lawyer, moved to West Virginia in the 1980s. Both George and Pam are collectors—the house and garage are filled with old magazines, nudie calendars and naughty hot sauce bottles. They both also share a love of “big things” and they bought their first Muffler Man on eBay from a Midas muffler shop in California. He’s the first Muffler Man I’ve seen that is actually carrying a muffler, which—despite the name—seems to be rare.

It turns out that rural West Virginia is the perfect place to have a strange collection, "You live in West Virginia and you have no zoning—nobody can say anything!" George says. "So we can get away with it and nobody cares." In 2005 they came across Brian, a "beach dude" statue for sale in Cincinnati. He so big—taller than the 25-foot-tall Muffler Men—that he was moved to the Farnham's property in pieces, on two flatbed trucks.

They added a Big John statue soon after the Brian was delivered, and a (questionably styled) UniRoyal Gal (the sixth I’ve seen) joined their family in 2008. Michelle Sommers, a local artist, works with the Farnhams to restore some of the statues and periodically gives them a fresh coat of paint (her handiwork is particularly noticeable on the totally woke Big John, the second of only a handful remaining that I’ve seen).

The Muffler Men—yes, they have another one in the back of their yard, a plaid-wearing Bunyan with visible chest hair like the Camp Bullowa Bunyan—are anchored in concrete so they’ll be in Unger for a while. On the other side of the house are even more statues, including a roly poly hamburger guy, a train full of Simpsons characters, a small dinosaur, seahorses, a shark and several clown heads.

The Farnham Colossi is probably not a main destination for many people, but it’s a total goldmine if you seek out Muffler Men and other big, fiberglass statues like I do (even if the sun was in an awful position for photos when we arrived). Unfortunately, the Farnhams weren’t home when we visited but, according to a neighbor, they love visitors—which is the only logical position to take when you have such a large, whimsical collection.

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The Farnham Colossi
14633 Winchester Grade Road,
Unger, West Virginia 25411

Gettysburg Dime Museum

The Gettysburg Dime Museum opened in May of 2016, and sadly it is set to close for good in November. The owner and curator of the museum is Mark Kosh, an Air Force veteran and retired Pennsylvania state trooper, who had spent nearly two decades collecting hundreds of oddities with the hopes of eventually opening up a museum.

Dime museums were popular during the 19th and early 20th centuries and were so named because admission cost ten cents. The “museums” featured oddities, curiosities, strange taxidermy, wax figures and anything else you might find in a sideshow. It’s never clear which items are real and which are completely made up, which is the fun of the dime museum (predecessor to the cheesy, but still entertaining Ripley’s Believe it or Not! tourist traps).

My mom and I spent quite a while gawking at the collection, which includes medical oddities, taxidermy hybrids, a full-size wax replica of Jesus and his disciples during the Last Supper, the World’s Largest (and only) Ball ‘O’ Ties and a room filled with mementos and art from notorious serial killers such as John Wayne Gacy. Because this is Gettysburg, Kosh’s collection also includes Abraham Lincoln’s last bowel movement and a plaque containing the Gettysburg Address spelled out with alphabet soup noodles.

Unfortunately, not everyone appreciates such a low-tech, out-of-the-ordinary experience and Kosh is closing the museum after just two years. He told us that tourism in Gettysburg as a whole has declined over the years and the museum—despite the $7 admission price, not exactly a dime, but still very reasonable—has been losing money since it opened.

Kosh will be selling off most of his collection when the museum closes in November, although a lot of the more desirable pieces have already been claimed (like the serial killer memorabilia). When he asked me which of the pieces I was interested in, I found it impossible to specify (I can’t make that Sophie’s Choice!). He advised that I check his Facebook page for updates, but I’m just happy that we were able to take a tour while we still could.

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Gettysburg Dime Museum
224 Baltimore Street,
Gettysburg, PA 17325
Open Saturdays only, 10am-5pm through November 17th, 2018.

Muffler Man: Arnold's Half Wit

The Happy Half Wit, manufactured by International Fiberglass, was originally called Mortimer Snerd after ventriloquist Edgar Bergen's puppet. The Half Wits have faces that resemble Alfred E. Neuman of MAD magazine and they are a variant on the classic Muffler Man (others include Cowboys, Indians, Texaco Big Friends and UniRoyal Gals).

The Half Wits (a name coined by Roadside America) were produced for mini golf courses along the east coast and Ohio. They came in one of two color schemes: yellow shirt with suspenders and blue pants (with patches) or red shirt and yellow suspenders with blue pants (no patches). They also have one of two hat styles: a round farmer-type hat or a conductor hat that was made by modifying the round style.

The Half Wits are much more rare than the traditional Bunyan Muffler Men and I just recently met my third one (my first was at the Magic Forest in Lake George and my second was at Mr. Bill’s in New Jersey). There were once two Happy Half Wits on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, NJ and both were damaged by Superstorm Sandy in 2012. In 2014, one was restored and moved to Oaks, PA where it currently sits outside of Arnold's Family Fun Center.

The Arnold’s Half Wit lost his suspenders in the renovation, but he’s still the best Half Wit I’ve seen. While the one at Mr. Bill’s does have the suspenders, his complexion is a bit off—and the Amish-style Half Wit at the Magic Forest begs many, many questions. While Arnold’s Family Fun Center might not be worth the price of admission—one review is titled “What a dump!”—luckily you can see their Happy Half Wit (and his giraffe pal) free of charge.

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Arnold’s Family Fun Center
2200 West Drive 
Oaks, PA 19456

Muffler Man: Woodstock Hippie

My first thought after buying tickets to see Steve Martin and Martin Short’s variety show in Bethel, New York was that we’d finally get to see the Hippie Muffler Man. Bethel is located about two hours northwest of the city in the Catskills region of New York. In 1969, the Woodstock music festival took place in Bethel—not 60 miles north in Woodstock, NY—on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm.

This Muffler Man stands on Yasgur’s farm, attached to a telephone pole near the road. Before he moved to Bethel, this Bunyan-style fiberglass giant stood outside of a car repair shop in Albany. He held a large muffler, which was replaced by an ax in 1987 when he was sold to a jeep dealership in Monticello. In 1993 he moved to an ice cream shop which turned into a fish market (he then held a large fish, which I would have loved to see). In the late ‘90s, a Woodstock-loving employee gave the Muffler Man his “hippie” look. 

This Muffler Man is technically on private property and at times there have been ‘no trespassing’ signs posted, but there’s enough room to pull off the road and snap a few quick photos. He has a tie-dye shirt and patched jeans and no longer holds anything. I remarked that his shirt was a strange attempt at representing tie dye, and then as we were watching Woodstock the Movie on Sunday we noticed that Joe Cocker’s shirt looked awfully familiar…

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Hippie Muffler Man
Yasgur Road and 17b,
Bethel, NY 12720

Muffler Man: Camp Bullowa

I'm running out of Muffler Men to see in close proximity to New York, but this weekend I crossed two more off my list. The first one we saw on our way to the Catskills is located at Camp Bullowa, a Boy Scout and Cub Scout camp in Stony Point, New York. Stony Point is in Rockland County, about 45 minutes north of where I live in Harlem.

The Camp Bullowa Muffler Man is one of the early Paul Bunyans made by International Fiberglass in the mid-1960s. The Bunyan has been at the camp since the mid-'90s, and its whereabouts before then are unknown. He was previously located on a steep hill, but mischievous scouts would periodically push him down the hill into the lake. The hollow fiberglass statue would float, but he was moved near the entrance and in view of the ranger's home to discourage similar pranks.

The wooden axe (secured with the largest zip ties I've ever seen) is a replacement of the original, his salt-and-pepper beard is painted that way, and if you look closely you can see curly little chest hairs poking out of his shirt. I'm always happy to find that a Muffler Man is well-loved, and the Camp Bullowa Bunyan could use a little scrubbing but he's in good shape especially considering all of the unexpected lake dives he's taken over the years.  

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Camp Bullowa
15 Franck Road,
Stony Point, NY 10980
Go past the entrance, into the parking lot and the Bunyan is on the left.

Tiny World

Ernest Helm, creator of Tiny World in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, died in October of 2015 at the age of 91. He had been working on Tiny World since after he retired in the early '80s. His first tiny building was a Victorian-style “cat house” for the multiple cats that (still) roam his property. Tiny World includes everything you'd need in a town, inspired by buildings from Helm's life—a gas station, church, mill, general store, water tower, outhouses, a school, log cabins, a restaurant, a barn, fire station and several tiny homes.

Since his death, Tiny World has been maintained by Helm's daughter and son-in-law, Wendell Myers. It's a bit overgrown, the plexiglass windows have clouded. It's a shame because each structure has an equally detailed interior to match its exterior, complete with tiny versions of furniture, food and artwork. Myers worked on the village with Helm, and the two added electricity to the buildings. 

For someone who wasn't trained in carpentry or the arts, Helm certainly had an eye for creating miniatures. I particularly love the tiny shingles (presumably cut down from real shingles), the teeny shutters and decorative railings. I've always had a soft spot for miniatures and I once spent a summer making furnishings for a dollhouse (found in this book) that I never had. I also like things that are bigger than they should be, but miniatures are significantly easier to make and collect.

I don't know if Tiny World gets much day traffic since Helm is no longer creating new structures, but the Christmas lights, decorations and train display still attract a large crowd at the end of each year. In addition to several (very friendly) cats, the property is also home to a few peacocks. Tiny World doesn't charge an entrance fee and although our visit was brief, I made sure to drop a small donation in the box. "We're not doing it to make money, we're doing it because we enjoy it and we like to see people enjoying it," Myers said.

Roadside America has a great article about visiting Helm and his creations—my favorite part is the reason Helm gave for building Tiny World: "It was something to do." I love novelty architecture and big roadside statues, but my favorite part about these road trips is rapidly becoming places like Tiny World. Ernest Helm didn't create Tiny World to become Instagram famous or to please anyone but his cats. He needed a way to fill time and he ended up creating a perfect little place that people can continue to enjoy—even if Helm is no longer a part of our tiny world. 

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Tiny World
6720 Rice Road
Shippensburg, Pennsylvania 17257

Jack Rabbit Trading Post

Most of the trading posts that we explored on our trip along Route 66 in Arizona and New Mexico have been abandoned for many years. I had been aware of the bight yellow "Here It Is" sign for the Jack Rabbit trading post, but I didn't know until we arrived that the trading post is still very much in business. 

The Jack Rabbit Trading Post was built by James Taylor (not the famous one) along Route 66 in 1949. Along with the owner of the For Men Only store, Taylor drove up Route 66 as far as Springfield, Missouri, erecting billboards on the way featuring hopping rabbits and dancing cowgirls. For more than 1,000 miles, travelers were urged to stop at the Jack Rabbit and the For Men Only store, with the billboards culminating with the iconic “Here It Is” sign (much like my very favorite roadside attraction, South of the Border, with its best billboard proclaiming "Where the Hell is South of the Border?"). 

Most of the other billboards are gone now, but the Here It Is sign remains. The sign still comprises most of the original boards from 1949, and each side is repainted every few years (a recent restoration took 27 days). A version of the Jack Rabbit Trading Post was featured in Disney-Pixar’s Cars in 2006, and Henry's Rabbit Ranch in Staunton, Illinois uses a similar rabbit logo with the tagline, "Hare It Is."

Taylor leased the trading post to Glen Blansett in 1961, and Blansett passed it on to his son and daughter-in-law. They eventually sold it to their daughter and son-in-law, Cynthia and Antonio Jaquez, who still operate the Jack Rabbit today. After a while most of the trading posts begin to blend together—we saw enough moccasins and petrified wood to last us a lifetime—but each of us managed to find several things at the Jack Rabbit that we couldn't live without.

The Jack Rabbit isn't as large or flashy as some of the other trading posts you'll come across, but it was definitely my favorite of all the ones that we stopped into (the ones still in business, anyway). I love the Jack Rabbit logo so much that I bought postcards, a pennant, a pin and a t-shirt and I've regretted not buying a mug every single day since.

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Jack Rabbit Trading Post
3386 Route 66
Winslow, Arizona, 86047

Wigwam Village No. 6

I don't remember exactly when I discovered the Wigwam Villages, but I do remember that I was living in Ohio. I was living a life that was feeling less and less like my own, and I became fixated on the villages. I craved the freedom, joy and whimsy that they represented, but actually staying in one seemed unlikely. A road trip or flight required money, time and a willing companion, and at the time it felt as if I had none of those things. It seems silly and overdramatic to me now that I ever felt that way, but I've realized that when you're miserable in your daily life even the smallest goals can seem out of reach.

Fast-forward a few years and in 2016, I flew back to Ohio to hit the road with my friend JMP, a trip that culminated with a stay at my first Wigwam Village in Cave City, Kentucky. Of the seven original villages, only three remain (Cave City is number two). Even after sleeping in my first Wigwam, the other two still felt impossibly out of reach. But then my friend Jim moved to California, and I immediately began planning our stay at no. 7 in Rialto in December of last year. That left only one Wigwam Village—no. 6 in Holbrook, Arizona. 

JMP and I were already talking about an Arizona/New Mexico road trip earlier this year when Kaylah and Jeff graciously invited us to their wedding at Two Guns, which is less than an hour west of Wigwam Village no. 6. Just a few years ago staying at any of the Wigwam Villages seemed impossible to me—and in just two years I've managed to stay in all three.

My vacation goals (like South of the Border) might seem trivial now that I'm at the age when my Instagram feed is full of people traveling the world (or getting married, having kids, buying houses, etc.), but I try very hard to recognize and celebrate what will bring me the most joy, not what will be impressive to other people.

Arizona motel owner, Chester Lewis, visited Frank A. Redford's original Wigwam Village in Cave City, and bought the rights to his design. He also purchased the rights to use the name "Wigwam Village,"—as payment, Redford received every dime inserted into the coin-operated radios that Lewis placed in every room.

No. 6 was built in 1950, seven blocks west of downtown Holbrook, on old Route 66. The motel closed when Route 66 was bypassed in the late '70s, but remained in operation as a gas station. After Lewis died, his widow and children reopened the motel in 1988. The village has 15 wigwams (numbered 1-16 with no number 13), each containing one or two beds, a small bathroom, a TV and an air conditioner. 

No. 6 sits on a desolate stretch of old Route 66 filled with abandoned motels and restaurants. It's a testament to the owners and the design of the Wigwam Villages that it has remained in business. It's been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2002 and I can't think of one reason why you wouldn't want to Sleep in a Wigwam—or Sleepee in a Tee-pee, which is more accurate, but they're called wigwams because Redford, who patented the design in 1935, disliked the word 'teepee.'

If you've seen a photo taken at a Wigwam Village, chances are it was of no. 6. A distinguishing feature of this village is the parking lot, which is the permanent home to several vintage cars, including a Studebaker that once belonged to Lewis. There is still room to park your (probably) ugly, modern car, but the cars from the '30s-'70s really make you feel, even if just for a moment, like you've stepped back in time into the glory days of Route 66. 

There's always a mixture of excitement and sadness when I visit a place that I've been dreaming of, and that was definitely true when I completed my Holy Trinity of Wigwam Villages. To borrow from Joni Mitchell, although my "dreams have lost some grandeur coming true," I'm hopeful that there will be "new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty, before the last revolving year is through."

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Wigwam Village No. 6
811 W Hopi Drive,
Holbrook, AZ 86025

Albuquerque Statues

I will go almost anywhere if I'm promised a Muffler Man sighting, but in the absence of official Muffler Men, I'll settle for other big statues—whole, or in pieces. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, we met two big partial men—one missing arms, the other missing his entire lower half.

Referred to as the Bunyan Mutant or "Fidel," from far away you might mistake this guy for a real Muffler Man. This 2,000 pound fiberglass statue is perched on a customized steel beam 25 feet above the ground. His arms were damaged in a windstorm sometime after 2013, but he once held an axe just like a traditional Bunyan statue.

He originally stood outside of the Duke City Lumber Company store in the early 60's. The space is now home to a Vietnamese Cafe, and it's located on the corner of Louisiana Blvd and Central Avenue (old Route 66). He would be illegal to build today, but remains standing thanks to a grandfather clause in the Albuquerque sign ordinance. 

The second statue is a blobby concrete cowboy, who isn't missing anything but was only constructed from the waist up. He sits outside of Aesop's Gables, a cabinet company located just off the Pan American Freeway in Albuquerque. Our GPS was very confused trying to get us to this guy, and we circled around a few times before we finally found him.

The best part about this statue is how he appears on Google Maps. Before most trips, I try to look up attractions on street view just to verify that the address I have is correct. I know that Google's algorithm can't distinguish from real people's faces and statues, but I still laughed when I zoomed in on this guy and I wonder if I should feel bad now for violating his privacy. 

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Bunyan Mutant at May Cafe
111 Louisiana Blvd SE A,
Albuquerque, NM 87108

Half cowboy at Aesop's Gables
4810 Pan American Fwy,
Albuquerque, NM 87109

Muffler Man: Dude Man

After a long day on (and off) the Mother Road, exploring trading posts (both open and abandoned) in Arizona, we crossed into New Mexico and headed to Gallup. We had a room booked for the night at the El Ranchero and I was eager to meet another Muffler Man.

But as we pulled into Gallup, I realized that I was feeling overwhelmed by all of the roadside delights that we had seen that day, so I intentionally drove past the Muffler Man, saving it for the next morning when I could fully appreciate him. I trace my awareness of this phenomenon to my first trip to Italy—after days and days of seeing important works of Art, I eventually reached a saturation point where I just couldn't absorb any more. Since Muffler Men are basically the American version of the David, this has happened to me on nearly every road trip I've taken. Luckily, all I need is a good diner breakfast or a few hours of sleep and I'm ready to enthusiastically collect delights again. 

After seeing the very first Muffler Man ever made in Flagstaff, AZ I was slightly disappointed that there was only one left to see on our agenda for this trip. There are hundreds of Muffler Men spread out around the country but I get frustrated sometimes that I will probably never see them all at the pace I'm going. The Gallup Muffler Man (nicknamed "Dude Man") is the 19th fiberglass giant that I've met, but I might have better luck seeing every UniRoyal Gal since they're much more rare.

Dude Man stands on the roof of John's Used Cars, and while it's not technically located on Route 66, it's close enough to consider him a Route 66 attraction. I can't find any information on the provenance of Dude Man, but he appears to be well maintained. He has a cowboy hat and a pistol and wears jeans and a western-style shirt. I love the pennant flags that radiate around him, and the employees of John's were seemingly unbothered by me wandering in and out of their lot to take photos (his back side is visible from a nearby alley). 

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John's Used Cars
416 W Coal Avenue,
Gallup, NM 87301
Gates to the lot are closed after business hours, but Dude Man is visible at all times

World's Tallest Uncle Sam

I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to write a post about the World's Tallest Uncle Sam, but I first met this 4,500-pound, American icon in 2014. We drove to the Magic Forest in Lake George, only to find that it had already closed for the season. I was devastated, but I could see quite a bit of the park from the parking lot, and the parking lot itself has attractions—including a huge Santa and what they claim to be the World's Tallest Uncle Sam. 

I went back to the Magic Forest the following year during the open season, and got to revisit the Uncle Sam along with their vast collection of other fiberglass animals, figures, fairytale structures and rickety rides. As tends to be the case amongst objects with "World's -est" titles, the "tallest" claim is a bit dubious—the Lake George Uncle Sam is 38 feet tall (David included in the photo above for scale), while there is one in Michigan that tops out at 42 feet.

The Magic Forest is a mecca for large statues—they have four Muffler Men variations, including a Bunyan, a clown, Pecos Bill and an Amish (?) happy halfwit. The Uncle Sam originally stood at the Danbury Fair in Connecticut (along with Chief Running Fair). He was purchased in 1981, and has stood at the entrance to the Magic Forest since the following year. According to the sign, he was "repainted with acme base coat clear coat system in 1992," and he seems to holding up very well. 

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Magic Forest
1912 U.S. 9,
Lake George, NY 12845
The park is open Memorial Day-Labor Day, but the Uncle Sam is visible year-round

Muffler Man: Flagstaff Bunyan

Everyone that agrees to go on a road trip planned by me knows by now that if there's a Muffler Man within a reasonable radius, we'll be pulling over. Just a few hours after visiting Don Parks and his yard of stuff—including his own Muffler Man—Jean-Marie and I stopped at the Northern Arizona University campus to meet my 18th (!?) fiberglass giant. 

I think I do extensive research before I leave for any trip, but I inevitably either forget a lot of details before we see the thing or I discover something new about a place we visited only after I get back home. The thing I might actually like most about writing this blog (aka my second job that pays me no actual money) is that it gives me the opportunity to research the places I've been. I've always been someone who loves spoilers—who reads a review only after I've seen the movie—and I love immersing myself in information about places after I've had my own experiences with them. 

Imagine my delight when I discovered as I was researching this particular Muffler Man, that he was actually the very first Muffler Man ever created. This 20-foot-tall Paul Bunyan statue was created in 1962 by Bob Prewitt, whose California business, Fiberglass Animals, made a lot of the roadside animals that can still be found around the country. He received an order for the statue, but when the buyer backed out, Prewitt took his Bunyan on a little road trip along Route 66. He was able to sell the statue to the Lumberjack Cafe, where it stood until the '70s when the restaurant was sold and renamed. 

Now the Bunyan and his axe stand outside of the J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome (home of the Lumberjacks) and he was looking very fresh when we visited. This particular Muffler Man is built as one piece, while later versions were made of four pieces, bolted together. There is actually another nearly-identical Bunyan statue—also from the Lumberjack cafe—at NAU, but he's located inside of the stadium which was closed when we visited. 

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J. Lawrence Walkup Skydome
1705 S San Francisco Street
Flagstaff, AZ 86001

Lumberjack Cafe postcard via Flickr

I hope you've noticed the new navigation at the top of the site—you can see all of my Muffler Man posts now under the "Roadside" dropdown or by clicking the "Muffler Man" tag below.

Muffler Man: Don Parks

Our second stop on our recent trip out West (after fueling up at a soda fountain) was Don Parks's house. We don't know Don Parks, and we didn't meet him, but his yard in Phoenix is full of fiberglass statues, road signs and other kitschy collectables. Parks, a Vietnam Vet, began collecting treasures in the late '60s, after he bought his first house. 

His first acquisition—and in my opinion, his best— was the Paul Bunyan Muffler Man. He purchased the 23-foot-tall giant from a San Francisco gas station, and later sold it to a shoe store in the '80s. When the shoe store went out of business, the Bunyan moved to a lumber company, which also eventually closed. Parks bought the Bunyan back, but in the process his right eye was damaged by a shotgun blast. 

Parks will reportedly give tours if you call in advance, but you can see most of his collection from the sidewalk. He finds treasures at auctions, swap meets, garage sales and thrift stores. When a local amusement park closed down, he was able to purchase several mannequins, statues, bumper cars and bits and pieces of other rides and attractions. 

Parks's collection grew so large that in 2012, when the house across the street was in foreclosure, he purchased it and began filling its yard with stuff as well. He claims that the neighbors (almost) never complain about his collection—everything technically qualifies as lawn art and therefore doesn't violate city code. 

Don Parks is literally living my Pee-Wee's Big Adventure-inspired dream life with his whimsical collection, and I couldn't love people like him more. Life is painfully short and can be full of disappointments and dark days—but imagine driving through a boring residential street and coming across a yard like Don Parks's and not smiling, if only for a second. 

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Don Parks 
8009 West Weldon Ave
Phoenix, AZ

Hillcrest High School Viking

Erik, a 20-foot-tall viking statue has greeted students entering Hillcrest High School in Memphis, Tennessee for nearly 50 years. Several of these statues—some call this style a Spartan—were made for the Viking Carpet chain. Erik was placed on the roof of Hillcrest High (home of the Vikings, appropriately) when he was donated by a family sometime between 1969 and 1971.

Through a hidden speaker system, Erik used to actually speak—saying "good morning" and "good evening" as students entered and exited the building. Originally voiced by the assistant principal, he went silent in the '80s as the school fell into disrepair.

A few years ago Hillcrest became a charter school, and received $600,000 in renovations, including a fresh coat of paint and new supports for Erik. There were plans to make him speak again, but I'm not sure if they ever came to fruition (I visited after school hours). My dad kept insisting that Erik resembled my boyfriend, David, and while I think the similarities are tenuous, at best, it's no surprise that I would seek out my very own, real life Muffler Man.

Graceland

When my dad and I decided to meet in Memphis, the first thing we planned was a tour of Graceland. I wouldn't call myself a diehard Elvis fan, but I do appreciate the worldwide phenomenon that is Elvis. I love historic home tours and I love 70s kitsch, so it's surprising that it took me so long to get to Graceland. My parents actually took me when I was 8 months old, but I don't remember—my dad jokingly said he thinks they left me in the car.

Graceland is a 17,552 square foot Colonial Revival house with 23 rooms, sitting on nearly 14 acres in Memphis. 650,000 people visit Graceland in a year, making it the second most-visited house in the US after the White House. The second floor—including Elvis's personal bedroom, office and the bathroom where he died—is not open to the public.

I was told that Graceland is "much smaller than you would expect" so many times that I wasn't at all disappointed. I would move into Graceland in a second and not change a single thing. My favorite room was the living room with its long white couch and peacock stained glass panels, and although Graceland is objectively a grand home, it still feels very personal and lived-in. 

Graceland is a time capsule of the '70s and the details are fantastic—basket weave wall-coverings, poodle print wallpaper, corduroy drapes, TVs in every room, mirrored hallways, gold accents, and shag carpeting. It's hard to imagine a place where fur lampshades, log slice tables, grass green carpet and tiki statues could coexist, but in the Jungle Room it all somehow makes sense. 

Elvis bought Graceland for $102,500 in 1957 as a gift for his parents, Gladys and Vernon. Elvis lived there until his death in 1977 and while he was initially buried in a local cemetery near his mother, Vernon Presley was able to reinter both of them in the Meditation Garden of Graceland and add a memorial marker for Elvis's twin brother, who was stillborn. Vernon and his mother Minnie Mae were buried beside Elvis and Gladys when they died in 1979 and 1980, respectively. 

Graceland is much more than the house—the property includes a racquetball court, offices, a trophy room, shooting gallery, two planes and a new complex across the street with museums, gift shops and restaurants. Lisa Marie Presley has sole personal ownership of the mansion itself and her father's personal effects including costumes, wardrobe, awards, furniture and cars.

As much as I loved the house, my favorite part of Graceland was the surrounding wall and gates. In 2016, Graceland welcomed its 20 millionth visitor and it seems as if every single one of them has left a message or their name scrawled along the wall. Everyone knows about the jumpsuits and the sideburns and the drugs and the songs, but it's the fans that have ensured that Elvis will indeed live forever.

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Graceland
Elvis Presley Blvd
Memphis, TN 38116

State Line Big John

I just got back from a five day trip down South with my dad—we met in Memphis and took a little road trip through Tennessee, Mississippi and dipped into Alabama for an afternoon. Of course I made a pre-trip map, and we managed to hit all of my stops, and more. When we pulled up to the State Line Big John—so named because he lives just over the Tennessee-Mississippi border—my dad exclaimed "It's not an Allie road trip without a big statue!" (very true).

Built for the Big John grocery store chain based out of Illinois, Big John statues are about 30 feet tall. The stores and statues were named after the 1961 Jimmy Dean song, Big Bad John and the statues originally wore checkered shirts, aprons and blue jeans and carried four grocery bags stuffed full of food.

Big Johns are understandably often confused with Muffler Men, although they're much more rare—of the 30 or so originally produced, only eight are publicly accessible now, according to Roadside America. The State Line Big John stands outside of a Boom City fireworks store and he looks as if he has recently received quite the makeover. His shirt now features the Boom City logo and he is sporting sunglasses, a fedora and even a gold tooth. 

I'm sad that this Big John no longer holds his grocery bags (or even a big firework)—I thought the pole was structural at first, but now I think it's probably for holding a sign. Of course I would have loved to see this guy in his original state, but an extreme makeover (however dubious) is much preferred to losing this classic piece of Americana altogether.

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State Line Big John
9199 US-61
Walls, Mississippi 38680

Hall of Fame

I had no idea that there was an “original” Hall of Fame, until I visited it with three friends back in November. The Hall of Fame for Great Americans was dedicated in May of 1901 at what was then the uptown campus of New York University in the Bronx. It was the brainchild of Dr. Henry Mitchell MacCracken, the Chancellor of the University at the time, and features a 630-foot open-air colonnade populated with bronze portrait busts of the honorees.

The Hall of Fame was designed by architect Stanford White, who also designed the nearby Gould Memorial library, the Hall of Languages and the Hall of Philosophy. It has spaces for 102 busts, and currently houses 98 originals by sculptors such as Daniel Chester French (sculptor of the Lincoln Memorial) and Frederick MacMonnies (sculptor of the reliefs on the Washington Square Arch).

In order to be nominated for the Hall of Fame, someone must have been a native born or naturalized citizen, must have been dead for 25 years and must have made “a major contribution to the economic, political or cultural life of the nation.” Honorees include ten Presidents and other “authors, educators, architects, inventors, military leaders, judges, theologians, philanthropists, humanitarians, scientists, statesmen, artists, musicians, actors, and explorers.”

The last honorees were inducted in 1976, but they don’t have busts or plaques because NYU was suffering financially, along with the rest of the city in the ‘70s. The campus was sold to the City University of New York in 1973 and is currently home to the Bronx Community College. 

The Hall of Fame is supposed to be open to the public for self-guided tours M-F 9am-5pm and Sat-Sun 10am-5pm. We went on a Saturday and ran into some resistance at the front gate, but after pleading our case we were eventually allowed to explore the grounds unattended. The Gould Memorial Library was unfortunately closed, and I would love to go back and explore the beautiful Beaux Arts landmark.

I had no idea when I was listening to the Wizard of Oz soundtrack on repeat as a kid that the line “You’ll be a bust, be a bust, be a bust in the Hall of Fame,” was referring to this particular Hall of Fame—the first of its kind anywhere in the country.

Like a lot of antiquated memorials, the Hall of Fame unfortunately comprises mostly white men—only a handful of busts belong to women or people of color. Thankfully in 2017, Governor Cuomo ordered the busts and plaques of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson to be permanently removed, although the fact that they were ever in a Hall of Fame of Great Americans is regrettable.