Secret Twin Cities: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

Secret Twin Cities: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

Author: Julie Jo Severson

Publisher: Reedy Press LLC

Published: 2019-09-01

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 1681062607

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Where can you view a rare handwritten letter by Mozart in the same building where a notorious gangster was once chained to a radiator? Whose remains are stored inside a suitcase on the upper shelf of a local German bar? Where is there a park hidden 120 feet below street level, and why is it the subject of an opera? What’s the story behind the world’s largest Lite-Brite and the city bus stop with giant steel flowers sprouting from it? The answers to these and many more questions about Minneapolis and Saint Paul are found within the pages of Secret Twin Cities. The Twin Cities metropolitan area invites visitors and locals to revel in nature, art, science, history, innovation, and—with this book as your guide—a bit of the unexpected. You’ll play a musical sidewalk railing, stand exactly halfway between the Equator and the North Pole, and explore the spot many Dakota people consider as the center of the earth. Weaved into delightful narratives by local writer Julie Jo Severson, Secret Twin Cities is a treasure chest of offbeat, extraordinary gems and legacies. Whether you’re a local or here for a visit, you’ll broaden your Twin Cities itineraries, bucket lists, and trivia vaults.


Secret Oklahoma City: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

Secret Oklahoma City: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

Author: Jeff Provine

Publisher: Reedy Press LLC

Published: 2021-09-15

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 1681063360

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Oklahoma City was called “A City Born Grown” after it went from a population of a handful at Oklahoma Depot to over 10,000 on its first day. Nobody seems to mention how the streets were laid crooked and took 80 years to fix by tearing up half of downtown and that two rival city governments aimed guns at one another until the Supreme Court sorted out who was in charge. And that was only its first six months! Secret Oklahoma City: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure shares the places and stories that you won’t hear in History class, though you probably should! Learn about the Chinese Tunnels that housed hundreds of immigrant workers underground. Visit the Overholser Mansion and see if the lady of the house is still in, sixty years after her death! Gain new respect for animal heroes at the American Pigeon Museum. Find out what a giant milk bottle is doing on top of an old grocery store off 23rd. Speaking of groceries, did you know the grocery cart was invented on the south side of town? Or that the parking meter got its start in downtown Oklahoma City? Oklahoma farm kid-turned-professor Jeff Provine has spent more than a decade learning the lesserknown tales of OKC. Come with him on a tour of the unexpected side of Oklahoma City.


Weird Minnesota

Weird Minnesota

Author: Eric Dregni

Publisher: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 1402739087

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Secret Jacksonville: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

Secret Jacksonville: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

Author: Bill Delaney

Publisher: Reedy Press LLC

Published: 2021-09-15

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 1681063344

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You could call Jacksonville the secret city of Florida because even many natives have a tough time pinning down its defining features and best spots. But for anyone willing to dig beneath the surface, there’s no shortage of incredible sights, hidden histories and unusual relics just waiting to be discovered. Want to see the world’s largest Native American woodcarving, chart the roots of Southern rock, or eat curly fries at the barbecue joint that claims to have invented them? Secret Jacksonville: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure is dedicated to telling the stories behind forgotten, mysterious and just plain interesting spots across Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Fernandina Beach, and the surrounding communities. Here you’ll find out where you can see a long forgotten Florida waterfall with connections to Jacksonville’s founder, and learn why there’s a tombstone in the middle of a neighborhood sidewalk. You’ll hear the stories behind local delicacies like Jacksonville-style garlic crabs, datil peppers, Mayport shrimp, and camel rider sandwiches. And of course, you’ll learn what exactly is up with that orange roadside dinosaur everyone’s always talking about. Jacksonville writer Bill Delaney has a deep passion for his hometown and a keen interest in underrepresented stories. From folklore to history and everything in between, join him to explore a side of the Bold City you can only find by leaving the welltrodden path.


Secret St. Louis: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

Secret St. Louis: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

Author: David Baugher

Publisher: Reedy Press LLC

Published: 2016-03-15

Total Pages: 349

ISBN-13: 1681060396

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Where in St. Louis can you… …picnic at a radioactive waste dump? …learn what West County Center’s famous dove really represents? …visit the grave of the man who burned Atlanta? …join a nudist resort? …view a cube comprised of a million dollar bills? …see a piece from New York’s Twin Towers? …find out exactly what a Billiken is? Whether you are piloting a simulated barge on the Mississippi River, exploring the hidden history of Abraham Lincoln’s bizarre swordfight in St. Charles County or eating a ten-pound apple-pie in Kimmswick inspired by the Great Flood of 1993, it is hard to get bored with a copy of Secret St. Louis: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure. By turns wistful and whimsical, this is a book which answers the questions you never knew you had about St. Louis while taking readers on a whirlwind tour through 97 unique but often little-known spaces and places that can’t be found anywhere else. A tourist handbook for people who thought they never needed one, “Secret St. Louis” provides a scavenger hunt of hidden gems traversing the somber, strange, surprising and silly locales which define the culture and history that make St. Louis such a diverse and amazing place to call home. From Weldon Spring to Wildwood, from Overland to O’Fallon, from Bellefontaine to Bridgeton, this is an exploration of St. Louis’s odds and ends like no other.


Secret Omaha: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

Secret Omaha: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

Author: Ryan Roenfeld

Publisher: Reedy Press LLC

Published: 2021-05-15

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 1681063069

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How did Omaha get its nickname, “The Gateway to the West” and where can you gawk at the footsteps of the first human to walk in space? Just scratch the surface of a city best known for Warren Buffett, college baseball, and a great zoo and find far more than meets the eye. And Secret Omaha: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure is just the book you’ll need to uncover all the stories of Nebraska’s lone metropolis. Omaha rises up out of the low broken bluffs along the west bank of the Missouri River and sprawls west across what was once the prairie grasslands of the Great Plains. The buffalo wallows have been replaced by a more urban mix of grit and gentrification, with tree-lined avenues, boulevards, and varied communities that hold on to their heritage for generations. There’s a giant fork in Little Italy and stories told in stone around what was the world’s largest livestock market. There’s an old blues song by Big Joe Williams about an Omaha intersection that’s now on the National Register, and Irish Nationalists erected a grand monument to the Fenian who invaded Canada twice. Anyone in Omaha can take a gander at Goose Hollow or visit a haven for herons, but now author and Omaha enthusiast Ryan Roenfeld takes you on your own behind-the-scenes tour of the Big O. With his book as your guide, you’ll discover a whole new side to the city that’s inspired him for years.


111 Places in the Twin Cities That You Must Not Miss

111 Places in the Twin Cities That You Must Not Miss

Author: Elizabeth Foy Larsen

Publisher: Emons Publishers

Published: 2021-05-19

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 9783740813475

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- The ultimate insider's guide to the Twin Cities - Features interesting and unusual places not found in traditional travel guides - Part of the international 111 Places/111 Shops series with over 170 titles and 1 million copies in print worldwide - Appeals to both the local market (more than 3,8 million people call Minneapolis and St. Paul home) and the tourist market (nearly 31 million people visit Minneapolis and St. Paul every year!) - Fully illustrated with 111 full-page color photographs - Revised and updated editionWhen most people think of Minneapolis and St. Paul, they think of frigid winters and thousands of lakes. So most people who come explore the Twin Cities are in for a surprise. The truth is that this metropolis is where history, the arts and world cultures combine to create a dynamic community that is constantly reinventing itself. Bonded by the Mississippi River and studded with lakes, creeks, and waterfalls, this Midwestern destination is a place where nature meets the city with a flair unmatched by any other urban area in the United States. The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are packed with secrets and adventures. Visit the sites of St. Paul's nefarious mobster past or paddleboard down a hidden canal that looks like a Monet landscape. Take in a show at the Minneapolis theater where Prince played his first solo gig, ski on a lake decorated with ice luminaries, and sample lefse and lingonberries in a Norwegian market. Discover 111 places in the Twin Cities that will amaze and delight you, whether it's your first visit or fifteenth, or you are a native daughter or son who is lucky enough to call this land of sky-blue waters your home.


Secret Indianapolis: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

Secret Indianapolis: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

Author: Ashley Petry

Publisher: Reedy Press LLC

Published: 2019-09-15

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 1681062402

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Where in Indianapolis can you find a disappearing painting, a towering “ice tree,” or a giant pink elephant holding a martini? What caused the Great Squirrel Invasion of 1822, and why did Hollywood celebrities once flock to an Indianapolis cottage called Tuckaway? Where can you find a hidden museum dedicated to antique fire extinguishers? And what, exactly, is a Recordface? You’ll find the answers to these questions, and many others, in this guide to Indy’s overlooked, offbeat, and unknown. Secret Indianapolis profiles the city’s best-kept restaurant secrets, strangest parks and museums, creepiest urban legends, and weirdest works of art. It also tells the stories of forgotten local heroes, and it reveals the secrets behind beloved Indy landmarks. You’ll discover the only place in the world where it’s still possible to order Choc-Ola, explore the most haunted house in Indiana, and hear about the very dirty prank Hoosiers once pulled on a former president. Written by lifelong Hoosier and local author Ashley Petry, Secret Indianapolis offers a new way to explore the Circle City—from the quirks of local history to bizarre activities you can try today.


Secret Salt Lake City: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

Secret Salt Lake City: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure

Author: Jeremy Pugh

Publisher: Reedy Press LLC

Published: 2021-05-15

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 1681060736

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Where can you find a chunk of the Matterhorn enshrined at a Utah ski resort? What is the origin of Josepa, the Hawaiian ghost town in the desert? And why is Utah called the Beehive State? You hold in your hands the answers to these questions and more in this guide to the oddities, wonders, myths, and legends of Utah’s capital city. Secret Salt Lake City opens a window into the weird, the bizarre, and the obscure secrets of the city, some of which are hiding in plain sight. Founded by religious pioneers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1847, its one-of-a-kind origin story makes Salt Lake City a rich backdrop for frontier grit, culture, and curious relics. Did you know that there is an alphabet hidden in your computer that was invented in Salt Lake City? What is the significance of the religious symbols on the Salt Lake Temple? And how did Sherlock Holmes solve a fictional mystery in London that originated in Utah? Lifetime resident and author Jeremy Pugh and Mary Brown Malouf unlock these mysteries and more to pull back the curtain on the secrets of Salt Lake City. This isn’t your traditional guidebook, and it will enrich your visit to the Crossroads of the West.


Secret Tucson

Secret Tucson

Author: Clark Norton

Publisher: Secret

Published: 2019-09-15

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781681062273

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What onetime New York crime boss spent his last decades in Tucson? Which cutting-edge scientific lab is hidden below a football stadium here? Why does the Beatles' classic song "Get Back" include a nod to Tucson? And what on earth is a "stravenue?" To find the answers to some of the most intriguing and entertaining questions about Tucson, look no further than Secret Tucson: A Guide to the Weird, Wonderful, and Obscure. You'll learn all about the lesser- known sides to southern Arizona's most dynamic city. After all, Tucson has been proclaimed "the world capital of weird""¬‚¬"and Tucsonans take that as a compliment. So if you've ever found yourself wondering where Bill Clinton wolfed down a five-combo plate of Mexican food, where Hollywood stars go to seek secluded rehab in the desert, or even where you might stumble upon a fabulously rich lost gold mine in the Catalina Mountains, let local author Clark Norton answer these and many other questions about Tucson you never thought to ask. After writing more than a dozen travel guidebooks, he knows how to peek into the unexplored corners of the Old Pueblo to help you uncover the best of Secret Tucson.