On this date in 1939 The Wizard of Oz premiered at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California. In Chicago’s Oz Park there are statues of Dorothy, Tin Man, Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion. Why? Because this is where the author L. Frank Baum lived in the 1890s when he wrote...
In the middle of Wisconsin’s Northwoods is Fred Smith’s Concrete Park. This is probably the most random place to have an outdoor museum full of hundreds of concrete sculptures, but who ever said life makes sense? A retired lumberjack, Smith built himself the Rock Garden Tavern in 1936. When not...
One of thirty permanent exhibits found at the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles is called “Tell the Bees: Belief, Knowledge, and Hypersymbolic Cognition: An exhibit of pre-scientific cures and remedies”. Supposedly eating a mice sandwich helped cure bedwetting and just about anything else you might be suffering from....
Carhenge, located somewhere near Alliance, Nebraska, is a replica of the infamous tourist attraction Stonehenge (or my favourite Spinal Tap song). Following the death of his father, artist Jim Reinders built a memorial of thirty-eight spray-painted cars where his family farm once stood. To stick with the prehistoric theme, Reinders...
Cross in the Woods is a National Catholic Shrine located in Northern Michigan. Hundreds of thousands visit every year to see what is considered the largest crucifix in the world (31 feet high to be exact). During theses pilgrimages, I hope people also pay their respects to the Nun Doll...
Believe it or not, I am a bowling champion. Okay, more like a high school bowling champion but I have a trophy so that shit counts. Anyway, if I ever find myself traveling through Oklahoma on Highway 169 on my way to Tulsa (which is highly unlikely but you never...
Artist Nina Jordan’s “Homes for Under $50,000” is a collection of large-scale reduction woodcut prints of foreclosed houses across the United States. The artist explains her unusual choice of subject matter: “After the mortgage crisis, I was still looking, as I always had, and seeing incredible deals [in real estate...
A few years ago, I told you guys about Salvation Mountain, an art installation piece created by Leonard Knight of nearby Slab City, California, which is located not far from the Salton Sea. Knight was forced to leave his mountain due to failing health, but it lives on as “a...
As much as I can say I’ve been to nearly every museum in the Chicagoland area, one that was always on my to-do list looks to be permanently closed (as you can see from the sign in this photo). We’ve covered museological shut downs here before (the Madison Museum of...
I have a confession to make - I have never eaten at White Castle. I know, I know. Possibly the worst thing someone can do while living in America. Maybe the government should kick me out or something. Anyway, I bet you didn’t know the restaurant has a Cravers Hall...
