New Jersey’s Wild West

by Annie Scott on

Fancy a trip to the Wild West but don’t feel like leaving the Eastern seaboard? Take a trip to New Jersey’s Wild West City, a theme park in Netcong, New Jersey (right).

At Wild West City, you and your family can stroll down a replica 1880 Main Street (you can even shoot a film there, just get permission), and while there are no rollercoasters, you can take a ride on a stagecoach, a pony, or a train. The $13.50 admission ($12.50 for kids) includes 22 live shows, all the museums and live historical exhibits, a tour of their Barnyard Zoo, and panning for gold. They also have 18 holes of Old West-themed miniature golf if you are in the mood for some quaint anachronistic leisure. Anachrontastic.

Wild West City is currently in their 51st year, and though this season’s over, they have a number of post-season events for both families and the 21-and-over set, including a garage sale (they’re bound to have some quirky stuff!) and several concerts.

Your trip to the Wild West may be just west of the Hudson River. You’ll need a car to get there, but parking is free. It might be worth getting a Zipcar to get your city kids out of the city.

The Western will never die at Old Tucson Studios

by Sean McLachlan on

The Old West was a place where there were gunfights on every street, the bank got robbed every day, and every saloon was filled with girls dancing the can-can.

Well, actually it wasn’t, but that’s the way it seems from the movies, and a lot of those movies were filmed at Old Tucson Studios.

Located a short drive west of Tucson, Old Tucson Studios is the perfect place to film a Western. There’s an entire recreated Western town there surrounded by Arizona desert, with the Tucson and Catalina Mountains providing a scenic backdrop. Oh, and the sunsets are more beautiful than anything you’ll ever see on the screen.

The main attraction at the studios is the town itself, which has provided a backdrop for seventy years of films. Movie buffs will be in a constant state of deja-vu. Wasn’t that saloon in The Outlaw Josie Wales? Isn’t that the ranch from Bonanza? In case you’re having trouble playing Spot-The-Set, there’s a seventieth anniversary exhibit on right now showing never-before-seen production stills from some of the many films that used Old Tucson Studios. A preview video can be seen here. Some of the employees are really knowledgeable, so you might want to go on one of the historical tours.

There’s plenty going on too. Costumed performers rob the bank, there are gunfights full of stunts, and even magic shows and train rides. It’s all a bit hokey, but that’s part of the fun. Kids love it.

Unfortunately there was a bad fire in 1995 that destroyed many of the buildings and irreplaceable movie history, but there’s still plenty left to give you a good dose of movie nostalgia. So saddle up and ride down to Tucson, and while you’re there you might want to see some more of the Old West attractions southern Arizona has to offer, such as the ghost towns, the Saguaro National Monument, and the Old Spanish Trail. Tune in next time when I’ll be talking about Tombstone, a real Wild West town.
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Explore London with Sherlock Holmes

by Katie Hammel on

In anticipation of the Christmas Day release of the new Sherlock Holmes movie (starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law), Visit Britain has developed a microsite to help guide fans to the London locations used in the film. The site also offers possible itineraries for a Holmes-themed tour of London.

The list of London stops on the Holmes tour includes St. Paul’s Cathedral, Simpson’s-in-the-Strand, Freemason’s Hall, Brompton Cemetery, and the Sherlock Holmes Museum. The site also suggests a drink at the Sherlock Holmes Pub (decorated with Holmes memorabilia) or walking tour, “In the Footsteps of Sherlock Holmes”, offered by London Walks.

For those venturing out of London, there are additional filming locations in Manchester. Cheshire, Kent, Leeds and Suffolk in England, plus spots in Scotland and Wales.

World Heritage Sites done in Legos

by Kraig Becker on

The World Heritage Sites are some of the most amazing places on the planet. The list, maintained by UNESCO, spotlights places from around the globe that hold particular cultural or natural significance. Many of the places on the list are amongst the top tourist attractions in the world, so what better way to do them honor, then to replicate them with Legos?

Eco-friendly website Environmental Graffiti has an amazing gallery of some of the most famous sites in the world remade through the use of the popular interlocking bricks. Some of the places that get the Lego treatment include the Acropolis, found in Athens, Greece and the Great Pyramid of Giza, complete with Sphinx, from Cairo, Egypt. Red Square in Moscow, the Statue of Liberty, and even the Taj Mahal, amongst others, are impressively recreated using the iconic toy.

The amount of work that must have gone into these recreations is quite impressive, as the smallest details have been painstakingly added to the models. Personally, I think I’m most impressed by the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but each of them is a work of art in its own right. Perhaps Lego should make a new “World Heritage Series” so that we can all recreate our favorite places when we get home from our travels.

Stripper truck stopped in Sin City

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Commercials don’t work any more, and print ads are all but dead. So, how do you get the word out? If you’re Larry Beard, you have a couple of girls grind in the back of a truck with clear plastic sides while driving around Las Vegas. This isn’t for everyone. After all, Beard is the marketing director at Deja Vu Showgirls — which is exactly what you’d think it is.

Now, he has to stop.

Sin City authorities made him stop toting the strippers around, but the club is ready to fight. His vehicle rolled up and down the strip from 10 PM to 2 AM. Strippers inside gave a taste of what goes on inside the club. And yes, in case you were wondering, the truck had poles for the ladies to work.