Tacky Tourist Photos

Gunsmoke: Young Mormon missionaries play dress-up with an elderly tourist.

SUBMITTED BY: Tacky Tourist Photos  LOCATION: San Diego, California (2012)

Would you want this little old lady holding down the fort?

This 1800′s-era musket at Old Town San Diego’s Mormon Battalion History Museum could be twice her height!

SUBMITTED BY: Tacky Tourist Photos  LOCATION: San Diego, California (2012)

The two biggest draws on the Old Town San Diego Trolley Tour are the free Mormon Battalion Museum and the free bottle of souvenir Hot Sauce.

As you might suspect, free religious literature is also available in unlimited quantities.

Were you expecting a docile UCLA Bruin?

SUBMITTED BY: Ben Cole   LOCATION: Los Angeles, California (2012)

Since 1984, UCLA athletes have won more gold medals at the Olympic Games than all but four countries.

And this Bruins mascot has bitten more tourists than all other bear statues in America combined.

We made up that last statistic, but the Olympics thing is true.

Kudos to Ben for his improvisational acting skills!

(Ben Cole is a transplanted New England sports fan living in Colorado).

Just another leisurely airborne Sunday drive through the desert...

SUBMITTED BY: Lisa and John Sarick   LOCATION: Joshua Tree, California (2008)

This airborne antique convertible will never be confused with the Dukes of Hazzard‘s General Lee, but it’s where Lisa and John fell in love: Spin and Margie’s Desert Hideaway, “part boutique Inn, part Mexican hacienda and part artist’s palette.”

Not sure any of those yuppie adjectives are even necessary. Owners Mindy Kaufman and Drew Reese had us at “hello” with their snazzy graphics.

Click on the pic to take a spin with Spin & Margie at the entrance of Joshua Tree National Park.

Yes, graphic design and font choice is our number one criteria in choosing lodging.  But back to Lisa.

“I have been meaning to email this to you for-EVER!” she writes. “This is my husband John and me before we were married back when I would do silly things like this for him. He likes this stuff. He hasn’t gotten me into an Old Tyme Photo yet though!”

Hey Lisa, thanks for thinking of us, and please don’t stop humoring your husband. Tacky Tourist poses are the secret to a long marriage!

(Lisa Sarick is a minister-mom-teacher-counselor from upstate New York who shares her adventures on her Harmony blog)

You can find the Pink Skull Bunny and his gallery of admirers on San Francisco's infamous Haight Street.

SUBMITTED BY: Whitney Matheson    LOCATION: San Francisco, California (2011)

Cute pink rabbit or rodent with a deathwish?   There’s lots of Freudian subtext in what may be the World’s Largest Skull Bunny, the brainchild of artist Jeremy Fish.

What is it about pink rabbits that make us contemplate our own mortality?  Discuss amongst yourselves.

(Whitney Matheson is the Pop Candy columnist for USA Today. You can follow her on Twitter at @popcandy).

May The Force Be With You!

SUBMITTED BY: David Pryke   LOCATION: Carlsbad, California (2010)

We’re usually blown away by the realism captured in most official LEGO sculptures, but the essence of the Evil Empire isn’t looming over LEGOLAND.

Whether they fight with light sabers or their bare hands, our bets are on the mild-mannered guy in the plaid shirt and shorts!

(Photojournalist David Pryke recently captured Darth Vader’s army at the Berlin Wall).

Jelly Belly Reagan: One of several mosaic masterpieces at the California factory tour.

SUBMITTED BY: David C.    LOCATION: Fairfield, California (2010)

Ronald Reagan took on the Soviet Union with a sweet tooth.

We can’t wait to see the Jimmy Carter peanut mosaic, the Bill Clinton “Big Mac” montage and the Barack Obama cigarette sculpture!

(The Jelly Belly Factory Tour also includes jelly bean portraits of Elvis, John Wayne, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and George H.W. Bush!)

The Titanic movie made more than $600 million. Couldn't James Cameron have pitched in with a real movie prop here?

SUBMITTED BY: Monica Brady-Myerov   LOCATION: California

Channeling the spirit of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet in public takes a lot of guts, especially if there is an anxious line of 12-year-olds behind you!

(Monica Brady-Myerov is a senior reporter at Boston’s NPR affiliate, WBUR. She recently interviewed the Tacky Tourist Photos curators on the syndicated “Here & Now” show. The segment airs Monday, Aug. 23 — click here for times and stations near you.)

If you love the “Marrying George Clooney” slideshow, you probably wish you knew the motivation and mindset of each bride.

Wish granted. For the first time ANYWHERE, here are the voices of George Clooney’s brides!

JUDIEANN T. (California) -- Lots of people were passing up the photo op with Mr. Clooney - perhaps to avoid the embarrassment of other people pointing and laughing, but how could I pass it up?!

ALLISON S. (North Carolina) - "I think they should make it Johnny Depp, but I guess I could settle."

BRITTANY T. (California) -- "When we walked up to the scene, my mom was like "Look! It's every girl's dream! You can marry George Clooney!" My boyfriend said, "Luckily for me, Brittany doesn't have that particular dream." To which I replied, "How do YOU know?" After that, all the pictures were of him threatening George."

ILYA (Massachusetts) -- "George is great, but my eye is on the larger prize: every "Oceans 11" star is a target."

VAL S. -- "Nothing will confuse the crap out of people more than a lesbian in a ball cap wearing a wedding dress pretending to marry a dude!"

RON N. -- As Shauna and I both saw George Clooney, at the same time we said he is HOT. That's when Shauna said, "You should pose with him in that wedding dress!" Well, she put me up to the dare and I had to take it. The rest is history!

HILARY M. (North Carolina) -- "We went to the wax museum the day after our wedding in Vegas. That's why my hair was all done up. We got married by Elvis at The Graceland Chapel. I definitely recommend it, way cheaper than a regular wedding!"

ABBEY H. (Illinois) -- "George is not even facing either one of us. He's completely not involved in whatever polygamous drama is going on."

ASHLEY B. -- "I can't even think STRAIGHT!"

(If you have recently married or committed adultery with a wax celebrity, please share the incriminating photos with us!)

Nothing charms a beautiful woman more than a Tacky Tourist Photo…

The TTP curators happened to cross paths with all 53 Miss America contestants last week at a fashion show in Las Vegas — and world peace never came up once in conversation!

Miss Maryland Brooke Poklemba calls Tacky Tourist Photos a "great idea."

Brooke, we appreciate the invite

Miss Massachusetts Amanda Kelly wishes us "safe travels" with a smiley face

Very classy, Amanda!

Miss Kansas Becki Ronen

Becki reminds us that no matter how much we love to travel, “There’s no place like home.”

Miss Louisiana Katherine Putnam

God Bless You, Too, Katherine…

Nicole, you need to plan ahead about how to fit in all those consonants!

Miss Kentucky Mallory Ervin

We know this is worse than telling an NFL quarterback that he throws like a girl, but Mallory, your penmanship looks like a guy’s. Scrap the ALL-CAPS thing and try a few more hearts to dot your i’s.

Miss Indiana Nicole Pollard

Nicole, we’re digging the doodled crown topping your signature.

Miss California Kristy Cavinder was named a preliminary talent winner for her Ballet en Pointe performance to the Slave Maiden Variation from "Le Corsaire."

“Always” is the perfect high school yearbook salutation. Luv ya 4-eva! Don’t eva change!

Anne Michael Langguth plays the Glee card and shows the sexy side of the violin

Tune into this space later this week to find out why Miss Iowa inscribed her picture to Dino Flintstone…

Appetite for Destruction: Is the Golden Gate Bridge as scrumptious as it looks?

SUBMITTED BY; Brian Henderson   LOCATION: San Francisco, California

Those Creature Double Feature monster movies are always attacking New York or Tokyo.

It’s about time another city got picked on!

(Brian Henderson is a photojournalist with an uncanny ability to dance like a Dr. Seuss character).

San Francisco's Lombard Street, the Most Crooked Street in the World

SUBMITTED BY: Charley Ferrari    LOCATION: San Francisco, California  (2007)

The classic 1966 Batman TV series with Adam West introduced us to the mystique of the canted angle, which conveys chaos and confusion. But what does a reverse canted angle (when the earth is canted and you uncant it) mean?

No, these aren’t the Leaning Houses of Pisa. Nor is it the aftermath of a routine San Francisco earthquake.

Charley’s just having fun with one of the steepest roads in the world, the touristy Lombard Street in the Russian Hill neighborhood of San Francisco. MMMMMM… Makes us long for some tilted Ghirardelli chocolate!

Check out these other classic photo-ops at Pisa:

* Straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa
* The Leaning Miniskirt of Pisa
* The Leaning Tourist of Pisa
* The Leaning Goldfish of Pisa

(Charley Ferrari, who has the coolest name ever, sits in a tilt-back chair at a prominent economic forecast company. For months, he has been meaning to launch his blog at http://charleyferrari.com/)

Princess Jasmine cuddles with hundreds of guys a day at Disneyland, but she saves her adoring body language for independent filmmakers.

SUBMITTED BY: Brad Jacques    LOCATION: Anaheim, California (2009)

Just how old do you have to be these days to get hired as a Disney princess? Is there at least a rule that you have to have stopped playing with Barbies?

To celebrate his 40th birthday, independent filmmaker Brad Jacques posed for pictures with Princess Ariel, Princess Belle, and Princess Jasmine, who clearly wants to take him on a magic carpet ride. If only he were 12 or 13 again…

(Filmmaker Brad Jacques just completed “Stanley & Norman,” a short thriller about an alcoholic ventriloquist.)

ALSO SEE: “When Did Buzz Lightyear Become a Symbol of Brute Strength?“