It's the Trashiest Place on Earth!

[edale]

Kings Island and Cedar Point both can attract pretty trashy clientele.

But Gatlinburg absolutely takes the cake here. I rented a pretty nice cabin in the Smokey Mountains with some friends for a long weekend several years ago. We hiked and white water rafted and had a really great time. But one of my friends suggested we 'go into town' one night, so we went in to Gatlinburg, and it was fucking awful. Like every hillbilly stereotype you can think of was there in abundance. I don't think there was really anything redeeming about it.

I also have been to Myrtle Beach once, and that too was pretty gross. A step up from Gatlinburg, but just barely. Airbrushed t-shirts and jean shorts seemed to be the town uniform.

[deja vu]

I've never been to Gatlinburg, but my wife's friends have family there. I found this freshly-posted walking tour video... looks like a blast . Watch til near the end for a very uninspiring spider-man sighting.

• Video Link

[mrnyc]

none of the places posted here so far beat this one .... bejeebus!


https://www.politico.com/news/magazi...cinated-500784

[mrnyc]

for ohio geneva-on-the-lake is the traditional poor man's cedar point. its a small waterfront cheapy lake erie resort area, is mostly torn down, has seen better days and is often full of bikers, or used to be. in other words it's eternally pretty cool actually lol.

[Don't Be That Guy]

Originally Posted by DCReid

As for Rehoboth, DE, the boardwalk is kind of tacky as the traffic clogged and over-retailed Delaware Route 1 that runs through it. But the side streets and most of the residential neighborhood are quite nice. Still a 6 lane highway going through it is ridiculous!

DE 1 is a 6-lane hellscape with impossibly bad traffic. It's just awful. However, nearly Lewes is super quaint and the town part of Rehoboth is fabulous!

[AviationGuy]

As for a purely disgusting place, the large community of Kihei on Maui should be on the list. I reserved a place at a hotel there, but when I arrived, the beach town was so run down and trashy I went to another part of the island. I lost a deposit, but it was worth not having to ever be there again. I got lucky finding another place in a nice part of the island.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by 202_Cyclist

Yes, I was thinking about Venice Beach but once you get two blocks off of the beach, and especially along the canal, the homes are very nice and expensive. I think a lot of tech and media companies are moving to Venice Beach.

Yea, most of Venice isn't trash at all. Those giant modern beach homes south of Washington Ave, Washington Ave, Abbot Kinney (ritzy shopping area) Rose Ave, canals, etc. Alot of those narrow residential streets have been transformed into modern houses for millonaires. I dont think most visitors are aware what most of Venice actually is.

The board walk sucks, I'm not crazy about it. I usually do Abbott Kinney and Washington Ave, or Main Street near Santa Monica. Those are fun places.

[ChiSoxRox]

I have been to the Wisconsin Dells several times. I read the thread title and immediately thought, "Heh, a thread about Branson."

[giallo]

Angeles City, Philippines might just be the trashiest city on earth.

[Crawford]

What about Canadian tourist traps? Niagara Falls, obviously, but any others?

[Centropolis]

hard to top Branson. the last memory I have of the place is a t-shirt shop with Obama in a turban shirts hanging up outside. its a shame since Table Rock Lake is one of the clearest impoundments in the south - people actually dive in it.


insidecolumbia.net

[glowrock]

Has everyone forgotten about Solvang, California?

Aaron (Glowrock)

[glowrock]

Originally Posted by plinko

Solvang, CA, though they pretend well since it's Santa Barbara County and all...

I oddly have to add Pismo Beach to this as well, though that is a tale of two halves. One half is a perfectly normal beautiful central coast beach town. The other half...WTF?

It seems many of these places are very nearby natural places of amazing beauty.

So thankful Solvang is being mentioned here. Perfect tacky tourist town, albeit in one of the most beautiful areas of California and with some pretty damned good food as well.

I remember going there starting at a very young age, as my mom absolutely LOVED the place. Santa Barbara and Solvang made for one very nice day (and picturesque) drive away from Simi Valley! Haha

Aaron (Glowrock)

[suburbanite]

Originally Posted by Crawford

What about Canadian tourist traps? Niagara Falls, obviously, but any others?

I honestly can't think of any Canadian equivalent to a Gatlinburg or Wisconsin Dells. It seems to me a uniquely American phenomenon to have a tourist town with no real natural or historical attraction. It's just there because it chooses to be and no one else can tell it otherwise. The closest thing that comes to mind to me is some of the faux Bavarian/Swiss architecture that you see in the ski villages in Blue Mountain or Mont Tremblant, but they're no different than any ski resort really, and they obviously serve a purpose beyond just being a tourist attraction in of themselves.

I do wonder if a place like Wisconsin Dell arises due to America's unique historical combination of an outsized middle class, but relatively low affinity for international travel. Like from the 60's onwards, the average American was extremely wealthy by international standards, but if you lived West of the Appalachians, you probably weren't flying to Europe for the kids' summer vacation. You've got a place where people had ample disposable income, typically didn't travel thousands of miles away from their homes, and on average had 2 or more kids. Give them a place where they can eat, spend, and keep the kids occupied, and you have a pretty good recipe for success I guess.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Some of these beach towns have tacky boardwalks but are nice overall. Ocean City, NJ has a super-cheesy boardwalk with all the stereotypical Jersey Shore touches, but once you step off the boardwalk, it's a charming, upper middle class town.

This.

I don't even think the boardwalk in Rehoboth is tacky. It's not like its miles and miles of rollercoasters and margarita bars. It's like 8 blocks long. Enough to entertain kids for a few hours with ski ball and bumper cars and soft serve ice cream but not much else.

A tear down in Rehoboth east of Rt 1 is $1MM plus. A new build on one of those lots pretty much starts at $3MM and houses can go for as much as $6-$8MM. South of Rehoboth Avenue there is a charming street grid and nearly every home is pristine and the town has managed to maintain a certain amount of its woodsiness (unlike NJ which has scorched earth landscaping in its shore towns) and north of Rehoboth Avenue (where Joe Biden has a home) it feels downright remote and charming.

As for Rt 1, that's what you get in Delaware's one Republican stronghold (Sussex County) which I presume outside of Rehoboth and Lewes is packed full of "small government" conservatives who probably refuse to zone or centrally plan anything.

I'd love to own a vacation spot in Lewes or Rehoboth one day. My only complaint is that even when you are east of Rt 1, the hamlets are not connected in any way. If you live in Lewes and want to get to Rehoboth, you have to go out to Rt 1. It's sort of a nightmare, actually.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

I honestly can't think of any Canadian equivalent to a Gatlinburg or Wisconsin Dells. It seems to me a uniquely American phenomenon to have a tourist town with no real natural or historical attraction. It's just there because it chooses to be and no one else can tell it otherwise. The closest thing that comes to mind to me is some of the faux Bavarian/Swiss architecture that you see in the ski villages in Blue Mountain or Mont Tremblant, but they're no different than any ski resort really, and they obviously serve a purpose beyond just being a tourist attraction in of themselves.

I do wonder if a place like Wisconsin Dell arises due to America's unique historical combination of an outsized middle class, but relatively low affinity for international travel. Like from the 60's onwards, the average American was extremely wealthy by international standards, but if you lived West of the Appalachians, you probably weren't flying to Europe for the kids' summer vacation. You've got a place where people had ample disposable income, typically didn't travel thousands of miles away from their homes, and on average had 2 or more kids. Give them a place where they can eat, spend, and keep the kids occupied, and you have a pretty good recipe for success I guess.

I thought there was a natural feature attraction to the Wisconsin Dells? I've never been there, but I just assumed it was something like Sleeping Bear Dunes, and that's why it was a popular destination. Wisconsin is located in a region that is pretty rich with natural features, so I'm not sure why they would need to fabricate one as a tourist trap.

On a related note, the first time I'd ever heard of the Wisconsin Dells was on That 70s Show. I don't think it pulls in many tourists beyond Wisconsin and Chicagoland.

[UrbanImpact]

Anywhere with tons of mobility scooters, Karen haircuts, and don't tread on me flags.

[Camelback]

<in a bougie voice>
"Anywhere that doesn't live in a similar fashion to my beliefs, opinions and life-style."


giphy

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by suburbanite

I honestly can't think of any Canadian equivalent to a Gatlinburg or Wisconsin Dells. It seems to me a uniquely American phenomenon to have a tourist town with no real natural or historical attraction. It's just there because it chooses to be and no one else can tell it otherwise. The closest thing that comes to mind to me is some of the faux Bavarian/Swiss architecture that you see in the ski villages in Blue Mountain or Mont Tremblant, but they're no different than any ski resort really, and they obviously serve a purpose beyond just being a tourist attraction in of themselves.

I do wonder if a place like Wisconsin Dell arises due to America's unique historical combination of an outsized middle class, but relatively low affinity for international travel. Like from the 60's onwards, the average American was extremely wealthy by international standards, but if you lived West of the Appalachians, you probably weren't flying to Europe for the kids' summer vacation. You've got a place where people had ample disposable income, typically didn't travel thousands of miles away from their homes, and on average had 2 or more kids. Give them a place where they can eat, spend, and keep the kids occupied, and you have a pretty good recipe for success I guess.

i think that makes straightforward sense. also if you take in mind all the post war roadside attractions that popped up everywhere, like for example the bottomless blue hole in castalia or the aforementioned poor man’s cedar point of geneva-on-the-lake on lake erie for northern ohio. these kinds of places all faded away or otherwise are doing so or changing. something to do with the family but not too far. the rise of longer distance travel, disneyland and mega resorts buried that regional cottage entertainment industry. otherwise, it turned into the same corporate kalahari waterpark anywhere you go with little or no local color.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I thought there was a natural feature attraction to the Wisconsin Dells?

yes, the dells are a ~5 mile long section of the wisconsin river with many scenic natural rock outcroppings and narrow tributary canyons that have long attracted visitors to the area, decades before it became the water park, mini-golf, and go-kart emporium that it is today. Boat and Duck Ride tours of the dells are one of the the signature activities of any visit to Wisconsin Dells.


the dells of the wisconsin river:




source: https://www.dellsboats.com/

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I don't think it pulls in many tourists beyond Wisconsin and Chicagoland.

the dells also might have some modest pull from minnesota and iowa too, but yeah, beyond that, it's VERY regional in scope, completely dominated by cheeseheads and FIBS.