The giant cigar store Indian outside of Cardinal Liquor Barn in Oak Lawn, Illinois is known by locals as “Big Chief.” And, he’s kind of a big deal. The Indian was built by a company called Creative Display in the 1970s. It was originally constructed as an attraction for a cigar store in nearby Chicago…
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They were quick photos. Late at night. We were taking a day road trip around Chicagoland looking for the best roadside attractions in Chicago and this was one of the final stops: the giant Indian muffler man on the roof of an eye clinic wearing a sandwich board that declares “Eye Can See You Now”….
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Throw on your flats, lace up your sneakers, or secure your boots and head on over to Clayton, Missouri on your next road trip. This roadside attraction will have you kicking up your heels: a ten-foot tall woman’s high heel located outside of the Brown Shoe Company executive offices. What’s so special about this slipper?…
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I don’t know about you, but I can’t function in the morning before I’ve had my daily cup of coffee. And, some days, I need more java than others. On those days, I make more than a few cups in my French Press, and keep them all for myself. Of course, even if I fill…
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There’s an airplane on a restaurant’s roof in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. A Piper Tomahawk airplane, to be exact. But don’t be alarmed! If you find yourself in Habanero’s Mexican Restaurant’s parking lot, you might think you’ve stumbled upon a crash site or a plane had to make an emergency landing (obviously on the restaurant’s roof…
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Today’s roadside attraction isn’t a piece of … The crapduster is an airplane created in 1997 by artist Lowell Davis out of an antique manure spreader and biplane wings and a crash test dummy for a pilot. It flies, propeller spinning in the wind, outside of a Missouri gas station. Site: The Crapduster Location: 13011…
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Antonio Pasin built his first wooden wagon in 1917. They quickly became popular among his clients as he sold the toys around Chicagoland. In 1923, his company was officially born as “Liberty Coaster Company” and, to speed up production and offset costs, he began selling steel versions. In 1930 the company was renamed Radio Steel…
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Once upon a time, there were eight shell-shaped gas stations in North Carolina: seven in Winston-Salem and one in nearby Kernersville. Built in the 1930s by Quality Oil, a local distributor of Shell oil, these Shell Oil gas stations were meant to serve as hard-to-miss advertisements to entice customers to stop by. And boy were…
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Many towns in America profess themselves to be a “home of the white squirrels”: pockets of suburbia where these curious albino squirrels seem to congregate. Olney, Illinois is one of the most boastful. About 200 or so of the tiny mammals currently inhabit the town. At its peak though, there were around 1,000. Every fall…
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Today’s roadside attraction is the greatest thing since sliced bread! Actually…it is sliced bread! Chillicothe, Missouri is the “Home of Sliced Bread.” It’s the town where the one intention every other invention has to live up to was first sold. The Rohwedder Bread Slicer was first put into use there by the Chillicothe Baking Company in…
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