Buy your own roadside attraction: Wigwam Village Motel #2 is for sale

There used to be a caricature statue of a Chief in North Bay, Ontario, billed as “probably the largest Indian in Canada”. It was probably built around the same era as the Wigwam Village, but it was eventually removed, not sure when. I think the main difference is that Canada is less likely to grant heritage status to this sort of thing, but appropriation is alive and well here.

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That area of Kentucky, going toward Mammoth caves, is peppered with old roadside attractions and themed motels like that. Sadly many of which have been closed down.

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Then there’s this . . .

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I think I knew that in a vague sort of way, but the two terms have been used interchangeably enough that we forget.

My ancestors built houses underground, at least for the winter. I’ve seen footage of a recent example. I don’t know what they used for the “summer cottage”. I think with time they adapted the tipi, but I’m not certain.

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Kinda disappointed that there was no pictures of the interior of the rooms. Because I’d be genuinely interested in seeing how you’d furnish that kind of space.

As for rebranding ideas, how about a Remulakian overlay?

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I thought of spikes, but sadly, The Cars that Ate Paris did not appear on my biocomputer’s screen. Well played.

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We come from France!

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If you’re paranoid, sleep in a different concretee every night.

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Too bad it’s a landmark. It would be fun to purchase these and convert them into DEVO energy domes.

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For the culturally intensive crew, remind me again how this is any different from the numerous yurt lodges on offer across the US and indeed the whole planet?
I get that the name wigwam is bad, by all means call it by its proper name. But really, is sleeping in a conical tent once espoused by indigenous folk any different than sleeping in a cylindrical tent once espoused by different indigenous folk?

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That’s a good point. I don’t think there’s a lot of trouble with others using the technology. It’s more how it’s presented. I suspect at the time this was built, there was probably a stereotype in the promotion. I can just imagine cartoon kids with feathers “whooping it up”. So the lure wasn’t just the unusual shape, or that they emulate tipis, but a “real indian experience” which of course it wasn’t. It is that which hit me when I saw this story, and that dwared the tioi shaped buildings themselves.

There is nuance to all of this.

I think I’ve told it before, but forty years ago in South Dakita, someone from AIM told my friend Kimberlly that she shouldn’t hang a festher over the door. He never said anything about the tipi.

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Yeah well Pete was still on trainer wheels then. Cars, after all, was supposed to be a low budget comedy. Here’s a gig he did before (circa 1972) with bits you may like:

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The inside is tiny and awful. Here’s a representative pic from TripAdvisor:


ETA: more pics. I want to buy it now. The keys! The tile!

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