Name That City! — August 12, 2021

This week’s theme is quirky and fun. We’re going to name some flyover attractions and you tell us the city in which they’re located.

Here are the questions:

1. Where would the find The Center Of The Universe?
2. In what city would you find a hotel that features a daily parade of ducks?
3. Where would you find the oldest sanctioned tenpin bowling alley in the U.S.?

And here are the answers:

1. Tulsa, OK—The Center of the Universe is an acoustic anomaly, an open-air echo chamber in which a person standing in its center can speak out loud and his or her voice will echo back. It was manmade but the echo effect wasn’t intentional. The origin: In 1980s, the city’s old Boston Avenue Bridge was badly damaged in a fire. When it was rebuilt, a circular brick-patterned design was added as a metaphor connecting the north and south sides of town. When a person stands in the center of the brick circle, facing any direction, and speaks or sings aloud, their voice sounds perfectly normal to people within earshot, but not to the speaker.
2. Memphis TN—The Peabody Hotel is where the ducks take center stage. Its famed ambassadors are housed in the “Duck Palace” on the hotel roof. Every day at 11 a.m., they are led by the Duckmaster down the elevator to the lobby. A red carpet is unrolled and the ducks march through crowds of admiring spectators to the tune of John Philip Sousa’s King Cotton March. The ceremony is reversed at 5 p.m., when the ducks retire for the evening to their palace on the roof of the hotel. The tradition started in the ‘30s when the general manager had too much to drink and placed three English call ducks in the Peabody fountain. Guests were so enthusiastic about them, it became a daily tradition.
3. Milwaukee, WI—The Holler House is located in an historic, two-story house that features the oldest certified lanes in the country and a main-floor bar with eclectic decorations dating back to the early 1900s. It is also renowned for having nearly 1,000 bras on display because there’s a tradition in which women autograph and hang their bras from various fixtures on their first visit. That tradition began with owner Marcy Skowronski when she was drinking with friends.

Thanks for playing!