Got Kitsch?

Yard Ornaments, Augusta, Georgia  © Doug Hickok


For those wonderful people who visit my blog routinely, you probably know that at times I have a fondness for the odd and quirky. So it is not surprising that I find kitschy stuff fun to photograph, wherever I can find it. On our recent road trip, we found an abundance of kitschiness, especially in the South. The place pictured above sells yard ornaments, but Jesus and hubcaps displayed together is somehow so ridiculous that it defies explanation. Not to mention throwing in Botticelli's Venus, seahorses, a few totems, a gargoyle, and the Georgia Bulldog. Who thinks of this stuff?

Anyway, I am wondering if you have any place odd or quirky near where you live? Or, is kitsch mostly a regional American phenomenon? If you've ever been to Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, you'll know what I mean. While driving through these two mega-kitschy tourist traps, we witnessed a giant sinking Titanic, an upside down southern mansion, the Lumberjack Feud dinner & show, dinosaur putt-putt golf, and the list goes on and on... I mean really, who thinks of this stuff?

So tell me, if you please, about your odd or quirky places.