Tacky Tourist Photos

SUBMITTED BY: Mariel Backman     LOCATION: Berlin, Germany (2010) People used to run away from the Berlin Wall out of fear of getting shot. Now every last chunk of concrete is a coffee shop prop. The 1989 license plate date, of course, is when the Wall came down, making it safe for hipster artists [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Ari Zackin      LOCATION: Orlando, Florida (2006) It’s wonderful for Disney to take a pro-military stand! Remember when we played with these Little Green Army Men as kids, tossing pebbles at their helpless platoons? Believe it or not, these toys are now “controversial.” Thanks for sticking up for the troops, Pixar! (The Zackin family [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Ilya Mirman   LOCATION: Budapest, Hungary (2008) Oh, like you haven’t converted all your armadillo torsos into guitars? (Ilya Mirman is the co-founder of Tacky Tourist Photos. He encourages you to send your fun flea market finds to tackytouristphotos@gmail.com)

SUBMITTED BY: Tammie Lowry LOCATION: Havana, Cuba (2004) Probably not too bright for a silly Web site to take a controversial political stand, but Tacky Tourist Photos hereby calls on the Obama administration to IMMEDIATELY lift the Cuba travel embargo so we can go see 1950s cars, see some raw baseball talent and eat sugar [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Brian Henderson   LOCATION: Xian, China (2010) Sorry, but when your military is wearing leather skirts and Las Vegas showgirl hats, you don’t scare us. (Brian Henderson is a well-traveled photojournalist with a passion for silly dance poses).

SUBMITTED BY: Meg and Jack Keough    LOCATION: Sedona, Arizona (2003) Chances of this guy kissing the frog and meeting his prince? The body language says it all. (Meg Keough shares family vacation advice at Backpack to Buggy, a blog devoted to “Travel with the kids, not for the kids.” She’s extremely outspoken about the dangers [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Brian Henderson   LOCATION: Mutianyu, China (2010) There are some places where a GPS won’t help you. (Photojournalist Brian Henderson is one of our most prolific Tacky Tourist models, entertaining people from San Francisco‘s Golden Gate Bridge to Uganda‘s Imaginary Equator Line!)

SUBMITTED BY: Alyssa Jamal   LOCATION: Prince Edward Island (2009) The “Anne of Green Gables” series might have turned out dramatically different if author Lucy Maud Montgomery were into science fiction. As an aside, this costume booth may be the only one in the tourist world that doesn’t try to squeeze your wallet dry! (Alyssa Jamal [...]

Why wait until you’re dead to let fans climb all over your likeness? According to the Boston Herald, basketball lovers will soon have a chance to pose with Shaq while he pretends to be a statue in Harvard Square. The groundrules: No talking, no autographs, just snapshots like you’d take with any tourist landmark. Here’s [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Tacky Tourist Photos     LOCATION: Washington, D.C.  (1965) Here’s compelling evidence that goofy vacation photo-ops were commonplace during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration. See the fancy black photocorners, boys and girls?  Long ago, there was a thing called “film” that you would put in your camera to be “developed.”  And the photos would be [...]

Our friends over at I Wanna Go There are sponsoring a “Tackiest Souvenir Ever!” contest that runs through Sunday, October 10. Here’s our entry, a bloodied Rocky Balboa coffee mug commemorating the bruised mug of Sylvester Stallone at the end of both Rocky I and Rocky II. What I especially love about the mug is [...]

The only lingering question about the Naked Cowboy’s campaign for president is will he take a page out of the Obama-Clinton playbook and name the Naked Cowgirl as his Secretary of State? Despite their shared love for shocking Manhattan tourists, the Naked Dynamic Duo are actually bitter rivals. As for offbeat presidential candidates, our pick [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Margaret Ramlow   LOCATION: Nogales, Mexico (2010) A feeble attempt by Americans to sneak across the Arizona border, blend in with the locals, and steal Mexican jobs. (Retired registered nurse Margaret Ramlow reviews movies and writes about nature and politics on her Arizona Buddy blog.)

SUBMITTED BY: Julie Henning    LOCATION: Columbus, Indiana (2010) On first glance, there’s something rather distasteful about encouraging your children to frolic in a toilet bowl, even if it is The World’s Largest Toilet. But let’s face it, the ball pit at your local family-friendly arcade/pizza parlor is teeming with way more germs. It would be [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Kerry Byrne   LOCATION: Freising, Germany (2010) You know what it takes to stay in business for a THOUSAND YEARS? Not being chintzy on the serving sizes. At the historic Weihenstephan Brewery, founded in 1040, there is no such thing as a small! (Kerry Byrne, aka “The Beer Traveler,” is visiting the World’s [...]