An excellent sightseeing guide to some of the strangest and most morbid sites in Illinois.

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Product Description

Giant fiberglass wieners atop a hotdog stand. Wild green parrots that live in the city. A double-decker outhouse. A museum dedicated to surgical science. Statues that weep. Find out where these and other eclectic sites are located in Oddball Illinois, an offbeat travel guide that's a mix of Fodors and News of the Weird. There is more between Chicago and St. Louis than cornfields, and plenty of fascinating places in the Windy City that aren't on Michigan Avenue. Oddball Illinois won't point out the hottest club in Chicago, the quaintest small-town bed & breakfast, nor the most scenic hiking trail in Illinois. This book will, however, tell about the locations of America's One and Only Hippie Memorial, Scarlett O'Hara's green drapes, Popeye's Hometown, and several places the local Chambers of Commerce would just as soon be forgotten. Behind all the odd sights is some wonderfully interesting history and a chance to see some underappreciated sites throughout the state.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #202697 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 244 pages

Review
"(Pohlen's) prose makes reading the Oddball guides a delight" -- Salt Lake Tribune

"A romp" -- Arlington Height Daily Herald

"For those who are up to an adventure, but don’t like to venture too far from home." -- The Tri-County News-Williamsfield Times Edition

"Interesting and unusual." -- Chicago Parent

"This in not your parents' travel book, but in the new millennium, all guides will be written like this." -- Chuck Shepherd, News of the Weird

"a veritable smorgasbord of oddities" -- Daily Herald

"one irresistible guidebook" -- Chicago Tribune

"this book demonstrates just how offbeat Illinoisans can get" -- CityTalk, PBS Chicago

"what a great job Jerome Pohlen has" -- Indianapolis Prime Time Magazine

Takes a wry look at some of those little discoveries that can make your travel day. -- The Courier

About the Author
Jerome Pohlen is an editor and educational writer who has written 40 travel guides covering most of the continental United States. His travel writing has appeared in the Chicago Reader. He lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Berwyn Art Mall (from cover)

If you don’t think of art when you think of a mall, perhaps you should visit Cermak Plaza. This shopping center commissioned artists to spruce up the place, and what they created has been upsetting the locals ever since.

The largest piece is called The Spindle. Creator Dustin Shuler skewered eight automobiles on a giant nail in the middle of the parking lot. Along the sidewalk are 20 other visual- and sound-related sculptures in various stages of disrepair, including “Pinto Pelt” (also by Shuler), the skinned gold shell of the flammable Ford. While the pieces may not be as stunning as when they were originally installed, there’s enough to keep you entertained.

Critics have long complained that The Spindle attracts pigeons, but they have quieted somewhat since the work appeared in Wayne’s World. And if the Berwyn police have any input, it will never come down; they use the mall to haze new recruits. Dispatchers send rookies out to the plaza to investigate an “eight-car pileup.”

Cermak Plaza
7043 Cermak Road
Berwyn, IL 60402
(708) 344-9242
Hours: Always visible
Cost: Free
Directions: At Cermak and Harlem Avenues

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Customer Reviews

A thick slice of cheese
If you're into Ira Glass, P.J. O'Rourke, or David Sedaris, you'll get into the humor of this book. It's filled with places you don't normally find in a guidebook like the world's largest bottle of catsup, Hitler's bicycle, and a two-story outhouse with the author's recommendation to "take the one on top." Most of the places have accompanying photos so you can see if The Choo Choo Restaurant is really your cup o' tea and the Chicago section is especially strong. Everyone I've talked to says, "This guy should come to MY neck of the woods", proving that there is enough tackiness in this country to go around.

Are there more like this?
What a great travel book for people who want to see the uncommercialized part of our country. We're going to Illinois this summer, and now we can't wait to get there. The author provides directions and regional maps to interesting and sometimes just plain goofy places that a lot of the local residents probably don't even know about. The author's irreverant descriptions and comments, filled in with little-known historical "facts" about famous and infamous people and places have made us laugh out loud.This book reminds me of the old "On the Road" T.V. series when Charles Karault interviewed interesting people in little out-of-the-way communities. I hope this author has more books about other states. I'd love to have one about my area here in Central California. He'd have a field day.

Fun Read
This book is so fun to read. If you live in Illinois, you will love finding out the very strange things that exist in the Land of Lincoln. I live in Chicago, and there is a VERY large section of this book that deals with Chicago and it's wierdness. From cemeteries to strange house decorations to wild birds living in a local park.........Illinois is so much more than I ever imagined....and I've lived here for over 25 years. Get this book and put it on your coffee table,you will find yourself picking it up over and over again.