the Realist

UNCOMMON KNOWLEDGE FOR MODERNTIMES

BRAKE FOR THE WORLD’S LARGEST…

WELL, TAKE YOUR PICK: How about the 65-foot-high T. Rex in Cabazon, California; the 20,000-pound ball of twine in Cawker City, Kansas; or maybe the 170-foot-tall catsup bottle in Collinsville, Illinois? There are more than 500 of these so-called world’s-largest novelties across the United States. The oldest was erected in 1881—a six-story elephant named Lucy, built by

Pennsylvania entrepreneur James V. Lafferty Jr. in hopes of luring land buyers to lots in Margate, New Jersey. With the 1908 invention of the Model T and the creation of paved interstate roads, like Route 66, more and more man-made wonders began to pop up.

“Small-town businesses did everything they could to get motorists to stop and spend money,” says Joe Sonderman, the author of Postcards From Route 66. And the weirder the sights (a giant frying pan, garden gnome, or can of spinach), the more effective they were at drawing passersby. But if you think this type of attraction is a relic of the past, think again. Soap Lake, a city in Washington, has spent 13 years planning the world’s largest lava lamp. Far out.

Written by

Brandi Broxson

Photograph by

Yasu+Junko

20

THE NUMBER OF DINOSAURSTATUE ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS IN THEUNITED STATES, ACCORDING TODOUG KIRBY, THE PUBLISHER OF ROADSIDE AMERICA.COM.

TRAVELING WITH KIDS? Get a road-trip checklist at realsimple.com/ familyroadtrip.