Classic Kitsch: Lawn Flamingos

The history of the weird pink plastic garden ornament might say more about us than we imagine. Learn about the history of the kitsch flamingo with The History Guy.
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This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.
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Script by THG
#history #thehistoryguy #flamingos

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

If you are from Massachusetts and your complaint is that I don't pronounce placenames like a local. News flash- I'm not.

[@77thTrombone]

As a Merry-Lander (pronounced that way only by mocking Massachusniks,) I think you at least ought to know Wooster. If only to win some eventual round of trivial pursuit.

[@evanfink2466]

I get it, but it still makes me cringe. Greetings from Worcester. Pronounced as…………..

[@dudeimbusy]

❤

[@jackg.3187]

Haha. Not sure if it's a complaint, more of just a minor question, but it was interesting to hear Divine called a transvestite. I have watched dozens of interviews with him and John, and he usually seemed to call himself a female impersonator or a character actor who portrayed female roles. He didn't even really call himself a "drag queen." In 1960s-1980s terminology some of the same words existed but they seemed to be used pretty differently than they are today.

[@c97f]

I love your content THG and can forgive the pronunciations. It's "lemon" (like the fruit)- ster and Wiss (like Miss) ter.

[@roryregina]

Slow respectful clap for the business that added more flamingos to their lawn every time someone complained.

[@seanwieland9763]

This is the kind of petty that I aspire to.

[@MrThedrachen]

I do the same thing with Pride flags. I haven't had a complaint in a while.

[@sportdriver]

​@@seanwieland9763exactly

[@anthonyborrell1559]

I have a very formal traditional garden with a small pond and fountain including a couple of benches to sit in &a couple of gravel walkways. The tenents of the building look & occasionally smell the flowers and say it's nice. Then I put in flock of flamingos spaced out in the garden. The effects were immediate. Tenents smiled, walked the paths, sat in the benches and even gave them pet names. They turned the garden into a happy fun place forever banishing the somber "don't touch me" vibe into one that people smile and laugh and sit next to for selfies. Even the delivery people love them and smile as they deliver their packages. Best garden $ bang for the buck I ever spent! And I live in a very Victorian neighborhood! 🙂👍🇺🇸

[@drewzero1]

I laughed out loud at the blue flamingo for people whose neighborhoods banned pink flamingos. I love that so much! 💯

[@BrownEyedGirl1367]

It reminded me of the Irish response to being told how their doors should be painted, or their solution to being taxed per window.

[@Dan-56]

In the mid 2000’s I sent my sister who was living in Fairbanks Alaska a plastic pink flamingo for Christmas as a joke. She put it in her yard next to the driveway, only to see people stopping to take pictures of it and leave laughing.

[@BrownEyedGirl1367]

❤❤❤

[@WUStLBear82]

In the 80's I got a pair of the originals as a gag gift on my birthday. About fifteen years ago I found out the original manufacturer made black "zombie" flamingos because of the resurgent popularity of zombie movies and TV shows. I acquired some of those and throughout October I have the zombies chase the normal ones through my yard until they catch them, and by Halloween there are only zombie flamingos dispersed through my other decorations.

[@Lora-Lynn]

I have seen people turn the pink ones into vultures by adding black marabou around the neck and paint the body black, leaving the head pink.

[@alienonion4636]

Funny and very creative.👍

[@BrownEyedGirl1367]

I love this so much!

[@sportdriver]

Awesome

[@ripadipaflipa4672]

Being from the fl Keys flamingo flocking someone’s yard at night is definitely still going strong. Growing up in northern Minnesota however I would love to place a flock in the snow of a neighbor during a full moon night

[@MikeBaxterABC]

Great video THG .. !!!! I am in the northern part of Ontario, Canada .. some 35 years ago I was asked to volunteer in playing a birthday prank on a member of our Softball Team. It involved drinking some beers, making plans, and piling onto a bus (piloted by a non-drinking designated driver) ... And setting up dozens and dozens (yes perhaps 40, I did not count) of Pink Flamingos, on her lawn in the middle of the night :)

[@bluekitty3731]

My mother loved flamingos, we even had a couple of references of flamingos at her funeral and in her Obituary. I asked her once why she loved the birds so much, she replied that yes the birds were silly, useless, tacky but fun, but eveyone knew what they looked liked and they brought a smile to people. And my mom said in a would of sparrows she wanted to be a flamingo!

[@thomsalveson9360]

30 years ago I bought 4 "classic" pink flamingos. We traveled around the country as my employer would relocate me to where I was needed. The pink birds were on display wherever we were. I had several people tell me that the birds were "a sign that said alcohol was available here". I don't know if that is true, but my wife, who is from Florida, says that she heard that too in Florida. We are down to two birds now, while in Texas, the HOT sun bleached two to white, and then they crumbled when moved. Two live on, faded, but still PINK!! Viva la Revolución!!

[@b.santos8804]

"I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I do it where there are pink flamingos."

[@juliao1255]

Viva la Famigolucion!!!

[@007Julie]

@@juliao1255🏆

[@ahhamartin]

I imagine the first time someone unfamiliar with these birds saw one, they swore they'd been drnking.

[@Veritas419]

What’s the Cuban revolution have to do with plastic birds?

[@jennyg3894]

"I took the job offer after a great fear of starving to death." 😂

[@Dan-yk6sy]

Same

[@savage.4.24]

Don't we all?

[@katiekofemug]

Being Majestically Awkward myself, I currently have 38 flamingos in my front yard. I grew up in the 60s and my family lived in apartments so we had no lawn, no ornaments. Now I'm an old biddy, the yard full of pink birds make me smile and helps people find my house. My neighbors enjoy the re-arrangement every time we mow. Family and friends add a few to the yard for birthday / holidays which is how I went from 2 dozen to 38. >g< I don't really care if they are trendy or not anymore. They make me, and others, smile every day, good enough.

[@BrownEyedGirl1367]

I love you! ❤🦩🥰

[@pickeljarsforhillary102]

Our collection of yard Flamingos keeps growing because it drives the people across the street crazy.

[@skyden24195]

Do you have any skeleton flamingos among them? Just curious.

[@pickeljarsforhillary102]

@@skyden24195 Yes. We also have ones for every holiday that we put out for extra annoyance.

[@skyden24195]

@@pickeljarsforhillary102 nice. thanks for the reply.

[@JarthenGreenmeadow]

Imagine being this petty and thinking you're in the right.

[@JarthenGreenmeadow]

"I do something specifically to bother my neighbor but clearly I am the protagonist of this story"

[@Kaliko.Kawaii]

I actually found out recently that Don Featherstone is buried a few towns away from where my hometown is. His gravestone has flamingos etched into it and says "Original Creator of The Pink Flamingo" According to Atlas Obscura. The image I saw even had Lawn Flamingos left for him too which is so great. 💖

[@npriorejr]

In 1995 I moved into a new neighborhood where I noticed that one of my new neighbors had a flamboyant of 3 pink flamingos. After several months it was noticed that this flock of pink plastic birds had moved to a new front yard on a different house. In the next two years, these birds had moved to a new lawn at least 3 more times. Some more time had passed when I woke up one morning to find this flock had moved to my lawn. Finally, my wife visited one of our neighborhood friends, whose lawn had once adorned these birds to investigate the migration of the critters. Turns out, there was an unspoken tradition that these lawn ornaments would be moved to a new lawn at the wim of the current flamingos keeper with an understanding that it had to be at least two weeks after the appearance of the flock before they could be moved to a new home. Every year that we lived in this neighborhood, there would be a summer block party, where there was not one conversation about this tradition.

[@caeruleusvm7621]

I love this story!

[@catherinesmith9820]

How fun that must have been 😊

[@alienonion4636]

That sounds like such fun.

[@_Opal_Miner_]

Sorry to be the one to break this to you but your neighbours were swingers.

[@savage.4.24]

​@_Opal_Miner_i was about to say until like the 80s or 90s the flamingo was the calling card rather than an upturned pineapple. My how times change😂

[@garywagner2466]

On my fortieth birthday my buddies somehow convinced an entire flamboyance of flamingoes to spend the day in my front yard, much to the amusement of my neighbours. The flock was generally well behaved, and left that night as quietly and stealthily as they had arrived.

[@maynardcarmer3148]

There is a local company that rents out flamingo ornaments. My brother-in-law found 60 of them on his front yard for his birthday.

[@HollyMoore-wo2mh]

@@maynardcarmer3148 My husband's birthday is coming up ... IDEA. 😂😂😂 The gift that keeps on giving.

[@tomsenft7434]

​@maynardcarmer3148 what a way to make a living.

[@maynardcarmer3148]

@tomsenft7434 Offhand, I can think of a lot of ways that are worse.

[@HollyMoore-wo2mh]

@@maynardcarmer3148 I can come with TEN right off the top of my head. I find it hilarious that he is making money off this. AND it keeps the manufacturer in business. Plus where he buys them from. AND the delivery guy. 😂

[@tgill2943]

I dress up my four flamingos for festive feats. Witches hats for Halloween, Santa hats for ho ho hoing in the winter. Keeps their little pink heads warm. Thank you for your brilliant use of the English language🦩💕🦩

[@skyden24195]

That's awesome. My family puts up black & white skeleton flamingos for Halloween.

[@maryerb6062]

​@@skyden24195HAHAHA HAHAHA SNORT HAHAHA LOVE IT

[@juliapalmer2344]

Me too🦩🦩🦩

[@joiedevivre2005]

I LOVE Pink Flamingoes - they are punk AF. And the fact that the sculptor who designed them was named "Featherstone" just adds to their pink mystique.

[@juliao1255]

@joiedevivre2005 Yesssss! Right?

[@naturalnashuan]

more irony - Don Featherstone told me that he originally worked with concrete lawn animals.

[@morgangallowglass8668]

As a retired History Prof. , THANK YOU for making History FUN!

[@acbenepe]

In Syracuse we had an overzealous neighborhood society who controlled everything from the length of your lawn to the color grey of your roof tiles. I guess there was a 30 day grandfather clause during which my neighbor painted their house bright purple and planted flamingos all over the lawn.

[@ahhamartin]

When we bought our home, I told my wife we could buy a huge house in town with neighbors that woulldn't even let us have flamngos in front of our porch, a decent size house out of town where the kids could pee off the front and back porches without neighbors complaining, or a small house waaaayy out where I could shoot high power rifles off the porches without neighbors complaining. We chose the last, and yes there's a pink flock in the yard.

[@kathrineici9811]

YOU KNEW THE PURPLE HOUSE GUY? I only ever saw that house from somewhat afar on occasional drives, I loved that it was purple

[@alienonion4636]

I just love the plastic pink flamingos. A few months ago my landlord was telling me about how they were going to start making improvements on the building including outside painting. I told her good then I can get all my pink flamingos out of storage. She said it was ok as long as I kept them on my own patio... I laughed and told her I don't really have any pink flamingos or even a storage unit but still was thinking I'd like a pink flamingo or two. I'm a fifties kid and I have always loved the plastic pink flamingo no matter how cheap. They make me smile.

[@juliao1255]

I think lawn flamingos are hilarious! I love them and hope they never go extinct. I love the cheesiness, the pranks, their tacky ostentatious garishness, and the paradoxical nature of their existence. Somehow, the hating of them is perfectly understandable, yet fuels their increase in numbers. Maybe because they are both hated and harmless makes them an anomaly and psychological curiosity. I once snuck my then boyfriend's pair of flamingos along on a family camping trip and set them up outside our tent when he wasn't looking --you know, so our tent could be distinguished from all the others in case he got so drunk he couldn't otherwise find his way "home" . (LOL). It was such a big hit that they ended up being part of our standard camping gear.

[@firstnamelastname5449]

For a birthday during elementary school, I received a book from my parents titled ‘So Now You Know… A Compendium of Completely Useless Information’. One fact it included was, “There are more plastic flamingoes in the United States than real ones.”

[@jonthinks6238]

The good news after the 2023 storm we now have live Flamingos in FL. There is now 116 live Flamingos living in the wild. They live in about 6 areas. Hopefully they will continue to thrive.

[@sheilatruax6172]

Are they descendents of the ones that hung out at Hialeah's pond?

[@kitefan1]

@@sheilatruax6172 There is at least one on Cape Cod, MA. Same reason. Not pink right now. No shrimp.

[@David-bf6bz]

There have been wild flamingos in the pan handle and LA you decades

[@francom6230]

Thanks, I thought they were gone forever.. They do migrate I hear, so maybe food was a factor

[@jeffkiesner9971]

​@@sheilatruax6172 Hurricane blew them here from the Caribbean.

[@richardanderson2742]

You need to do a back story on the white painted tractor tires used as a planter containing geraniums, that have a pink flamingo in the middle.....a sign of good taste in rural America.

[@suecox2308]

In the UK we have a similar phenomenon in the garden gnome. They come in many sizes and styles, from the 1950s 2-foot tall brightly colored version, to more recent diminutive, cement colored gnomes with solar-powered, glittery eyes. The garden gnome is loved, reviled, adopted as an ironic symbol and its appearance in a garden is greeted with either horror or amusement by the neighbors. No one is ever indifferent to a garden gnome.

[@adamheskett6245]

Gnome Solidarity

[@lilivonshtup3808]

We seemed to have adopted them here in the states, also. I bought mine after seeing the movie, Amelie. Now they're at all the garden shops.

[@alienonion4636]

True true. I lived in various places in the UK for a couple of years. I remember visiting a friend while she was in her garden and the first thing she said was an apology for the gnome. I told her he was wonderful but I would keep my distance as I suspected he'd peek up my dress.😂

[@dash6327]

Thanks for sharing. As an American who watches a lot of British television, I have noticed an inordinate amount of gnomes popping up - my favorite being One Foot In The Grave. Classic!

[@corporalvideo26]

My wife and I have had a breeding pair in our yard for many years now. I don't know where we fit in the hierarchy of social status but we are comforted in having them here.

[@PhantomLover007]

I was cracking up about the business that put all of the flamingos on their lawn. Thanks for a good one THC.

[@DeanStephen]

What makes them popular? They make people happy. It’s that simple.

[@BumbleBB]

My answer too. 💯% agree

[@thecianinator]

Yeah but why do they make people happy? That's where it gets interesting.

[@DeanStephen]

@@thecianinator For each individual it is a different reason. This is a basic of economic philosophy. As you allude to, the key to a business success is in finding a common denominator.

[@BumbleBB]

@@thecianinator Brings a smile to my face whenever I see them. Endorphins??

[@seanRowe-c4m]

If it’s that “simple,” maybe this study isn’t for you. If you’re interested, there’s tons here to question and wonder about supported by a diverse body of cultural production.

[@ronjones1077]

I have a 1956 Chrysler New Yorker St Regis. It is white roof, black sides & PINK in the middle. The interior is the same. Flying home from a business trip from Florida a lady in the seat next to me had a complete diatribe about awful pink flamingos as lawn art. A year later I found a great summer shirt with a pink flamingo on it that I use when displaying my car. Art is up to the beholder.

[@billfast]

I've had two flamingos in my yard for the past 15 years. they remind me of my grandparents who had pink flamingos in their yard as long as I can remember. They make me smile.

[@drgunnwilliams8239]

As a truck driver you learn how where many things are made, where and how transported. I can with the authority say that in my case, pink flamingos in 2002 where made by frogs in Cote-du Coke Quebec 🇨🇦 Exported for further distribution to Buffalo NY. I remember US border guard going down punching into computer, the Items on list in trailer. He pulled down to last item. His eyes and look had suprise. Loudly he said: "10,000 pink flamingos! Where did you get those?" I responded with answer I told you at the start of this. If you own 1 or more, as with EVERYTHING else you own, A truck driver brought it!

[@BumbleBB]

God Bless Truckers!

[@Michael-j4l3d]

We have seedless fruit now because the fruit Jëw noticed people were talking the seeds and growing their own fruit.

[@kennethfischer9092]

I've been making wooden silhouette flamingos for 40 years from boards and copper tubing. I've given them to friends, made a dozen or so for sale in a local shop, and have generally made them my social trademark. When I lived in Mass. I made 10 of them and at 3 in the morning put them on friends lawns. The response was gratifying; I got lots of appreciative phone calls and one friend bought me breakfast. Now in Virginia, I have one on the cupola of my garage and several in the garden. All wood and copper, not plastic but no matter, they make a statement and they make you feel good. And yes, your pronunciation of Massachusetts place names is execrable.

[@thomasdurkin8719]

The lawn flamingo is so delightfully tacky! The flamingo has become my signature style image from socks to shirts to swim trunks.

[@juliao1255]

You sound like my kinda' person -- lol.

[@61rampy65]

For my wife's 60th birthday, her daughter and I called one of those company's and had 40 flamingoes placed on our front lawn. They came in the middle of the night, and the next night, the flamingoes were all gone. At least, the wife got a laugh out of it. Fun video, Lance!

[@robertjensen1438]

Why does a flamingo lift up one leg? Because if it lifted up two, it would fall over. My wife told me to stop impersonating a flamingo. I had to put my foot down.

[@Ritabug34]

😂

[@a.k47-74]

🙃

[@geoffreyrobson4745]

I salute you sir. Bad dad gags rule

[@TRIChuckles]

Ouch!!!!

[@goldenageofdinosaurs7192]

Dad, is that you?

[@cherylb6755]

The History Guy: It’s OK you don’t pronounce things “like a local.” I’m just glad you share. Especially this one: it was fun and pretty… like the one I have on my porch…. 😉💖

[@lightbox617]

I have produced two popup art shows in public spaces i Newark, NJ . I gave pink plastic lawn flamingos to 15 local artis and told them to decorate them however they chose. It went in a public park and another in the courtyard of the Newark Public Library.. The first question I got from the artist was "What if it gets stolen?" I told them "Then you know you did a really good job."

[@juliao1255]

What a fabulous idea! Are there pictures posted?

[@davepratt9909]

A friend of mine (may he rest in peace) put a pair in the fountain outside a Navy Base's Headquarters building. They survived for several days before the Chief of Staff finally noticed them. He put a notice in the lost and found section of the base newspaper. The owner could claim them from him. Nobody ever did.

[@crazioma6648]

Back in my 60s childhood, I used to hate these cheap looking, plastic pieces of trash popping up in gardens everywhere. About ten years ago however, I began to miss them and find I now smile whenever I come across the flaming pink "up yours" flag.😅

[@timdowney6721]

My neighbor has a small flock. I always look forward to their spring migration from garage to patio. 🦩🦩

[@alfiegrace]

Have you seen the zombie lawn flamingos that come out for Halloween ?

[@HeyBigHead23]

They sell them at the Dollar Tree. They aren't available right now because they are already prepping for fall, but you can get them in the early summer there.

[@BrianDawson-n8n]

This is one of the best episodes I have seen you do sir. The cadence of humor with the history is another lesson in it's self on "how to teach", and your example stands alone in my experience. You are a treasure on the internet.

[@piatpotatopeon8305]

I always hated these flamingo ornaments. I don't anymore. Now that I know the history, I want to buy one for my apartment.

[@cherimonteith7068]

My grandparents always had 2 pink flamingos in the front yard. I'm looking for a pair for my own yard. Special memories, nostalgia.

[@BillFlitcraft-fy6om]

OK. I just clicked on this KZbin video and hit pause. I have no idea of what is about to follow in this video. But, seventeen minutes of LAWN FLAMINGOS???? I gotta watch this!

[@cadencechrome4783]

Thanks so much for the light hearted history of the pink bird. We need the smiles. 😎

[@sptownsend999]

In High School for Band, Choir, and Theatre, we would "flock" someone's front yard overnight, and include a request for a donation, and a place to nominate the next house to be "flocked." It worked surprisingly well, and is definitely preferred over TP or egging.

[@ivertranes2516]

The youth group at my church took "flocking" to another level. You could pay a fee to have someone "flocked" with a dozen flamingos, and they would make a donation to get the birds to move along.

[@ahhamartin]

That's mean. I'd have to tell them to go flock off and fly.

[@erracht]

Lawn flamingos have a special place in my heart. Early in my childhood, when I likely was not yet four, my father showed me a flock of these in someone's garden. If I recall correctly, from a distance, I thought they were a real flock of birds. Later at 12, I came to associate them with an older schoolmate on whom I had a major crush; there were flamingo decorations (including these) at her middle school graduation (which I attended as a member of the school choir) and there were maybe two or three of them on the front lawn of her home.

[@mkjirges5405]

I love my pair! I bring them out for the spring and summer so they greet our seasonal out of state visitors

[@orbyfan]

The 1957 movie "Bop Girl Goes Calypso" was about a college student whose thesis was that calypso would soon eclipse rock and roll in popularity. Missed it by that much...

[@thomaswilson3437]

My unit took Pink Flamingo lawn decorations with us when we deployed to Somalia in 1992. They were placed outside the unit command post. I think they are now probably in some Somali’s house now, but I always smiled a little bit to myself when I walked them.

[@garysarratt1]

“Phoenicopterus rubberplasticus”… Chuck Jones would be proud to hear that!! 🤣🤣

[@tomandjanlambert]

Too many to count in various sizes, colors and poses. We have 8 pair of the traditional, half a dozen or so themed, some of metal, and a good half dozen with solar lights. Neighbors seem to look forward to the spring migration. the down side is fetching them from the yard so I can mow. Upside is the changing configurations. some times they socialize, sometimes not. Sometimes a parade or plain chaos. I have a small sleigh with a bearded bird pulled by our birds at Christmas (of course there's a Rudolph), a couple of zombies, a skeleton, and a pair of black ones. Don't remember when or why it started. I just is. Thanks for the story. I watch most of your KZbin shows. Keep up the good work.

[@bobwatson8754]

There was a period of time, perhaps 30 years ago, when my wife and I would occasionally drive to her parent's house... late at night...and plant a pink flamingo at some random spot in their yard. They never suspected it was us doing it.

[@robertschemonia5617]

Ah ha! I am stealing this idea! My mother in law will have no idea!

[@goodun2974]

In my New England state there's a highway interchange with a sharp rotary exit-ramp to another road, which has a shallow pond adjacent to it, and somebody planted a bunch of wading pink flamingos in the pond. It was kind of distracting, perhaps dangerously so, when you took that sharp curving bend and I'm surprised that it took several years before the highway crew got around to removing them. There was nowhere to park nearby and so whoever originally put them there must have done it in the middle of the night with at least two people so that somebody could get out of the car there and grab the flamingos out of the trunk and the driver could do a round trip and come back 15 minutes later.....

[@2Amend4Life]

These are fundraisers in my area. Local Autism Support group will come and “Flamingo” your yard 50-100 plastic flamingos. If you give a donation you get to pick who is next or you can just call and they will remove them. 95 percent of the people love it and give what they can and send them off to someone else.

[@naturalnashuan]

"getting flocked" is the term for it

[@mikebritton8798]

I was on a hike in the "middle of nowhere" a few years back and realized it wasn't exactly new territory when I ran across a pair of pink flamingos. It was a good laugh. I still love these silly plastic birds.

[@airstreamer]

We travel full time in our Airstream RV. Pink Flamingos are a huge mascot of Airstream owners! We purchase little versions to hand out to other Airstream owners when we see them out "in the wild" camping. Kind of like how Jeep people give each other ducks. 🙂 We greatly enjoyed this presentation, and look forward to learning more history from you! - Jim & Michelle

[@SafetySpooon]

In one of our wilder flights of fancy, my husband & I "designed" a Flamingo Creche, "so it could stay up all year long". A pink flamingo for Mary, a blue one for Joseph - and with the 3 wise men, a purple one for the African king. A white one for the angel, of course, and an EGG for Baby Jesus. There were really only 2 problems with this idea: a) we didn't really WANT to offend the neighbors, one family of which were very devout Catholics, & 2) we're Jewish.

[@dlbstl]

I wish you'd done it, and could report the responses.😂

[@mikeks8181]

I'm so in for This Christmas! I do Both my neighbor's yard and mine. I keep theres classy and mine Tacky! Thank you for the idea.

[@barleyeducated8714]

IDK, if you were to put it up, maybe they would think it would be a chance to convert you! :P My Catholic upbringing would have no problem with this, personally I think the baby Jesus egg is genius....just make sure to swap it out with a small flamingo in swaddling clothes come Christmas morn. :)

[@catherinesmith9820]

Genius

[@jessicamorris4748]

I am half Jewish and half Lutheran and on more than one occasion the Easter Bunny showed up when me and my siblings went to open the door for Elijah at the Seder. I believe it is also worth pointing out that Jesus wasn't Christian, he was actually a reform minded proto-rabbi who probably had no intention of starting a new religion, that was an accident. I also doubt that your Catholic neighbors would have an issue with that, most of the Catholics I have known have a sense of humor. If you have neighbors who are "evangelicals" that might be a different story, but if they use your flamingos as an excuse to put The Great Comission into practice, I would gently point out Jesus's actual religion, direct them to read Mattew's gospel more closely, and then give them a copy of the fascinating book "Jesus, First Century Rabbi" by Rabbi David Zazlow on December 25th.

[@ArisaemaDracontium]

I’m very pleased that you included the little bit about Madison. A silly and delightful local tradition.

[@jarshuagreen]

On behalf of all the Massachusetts people, these guys were invented in Leominster - pronounced “Lemon-steh” - nearby to Wooster - pronounced “Wuss-teh”. Love The History Guy!

[@maryerb6062]

I appreciate that.

[@jeremiahbaker985]

Garden gnomes demand equal time

[@BumbleBB]

LOL 🤣🤣🤣

[@francom6230]

Yea. Noems are everywhere. I think I still have one lurking out there..

[@hueyiroquois3839]

I heard they got their name by guardin' flower beds.

[@BrilliantDesignOnline]

Another winner. I hope Lance wakes up to pink flamingos covering his lawn 🙂

[@MG-im9us]

This is funnier and has much more depth than I thought it could possibly have. I love pink plastic flamingoes (and even more the real bird). None on my lawn so far, mainly because I am looking for a more original looking flamingo, with the feathers. So still looking. But, I do have checks with flamingoes on them. Thank you for giving this summary, I always like your very detailed look at history from an unusual angle.

[@ImprobableGarage]

An elderly neighbor when I was growing up had a pair of cement flamingos in her yard. They still stood on metal legs despite the weight, and when we moved in next door in 1982, they had been in her yard for several decades. I have never seen another pair.

[@CameraBryan]

I was watching MASH not long ago and one of the characters referred to these decorations, invented years after the setting of MASH. The series had a lot of anachronisms like this.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

LOL Yes, invented six years after the end of the war in Korea.

[@tomsenft7434]

​@@TheHistoryGuyChannelThe Korean War never ended, technically.

[@PaulfromChicago]

​@@tomsenft7434You are technically correct, the best kind of correct.

[@ve2vfd]

Plastic flamingos are the good kind of tacky.

[@leward7788]

aren't they? why, idk, I'm an old Yankee no-nonsense type but they tickle me and i think the only tacky i applaud - except Halloween decorations, please go nuts. i won't but i thoroughly enjoy when others do

[@goodun2974]

​​@@leward7788 Being New England born and raised I can kind of appreciate the humor in pink flamingos on somebody's lawn around here but I failed to understand why people would put plastic deer and plastic Canadian geese on their lawn. Just spread some corn or bird seed and maybe a block of salt and you will have the real thing feeding in your front or back yard before long not to mention flocks of wild turkeys. We had one neighbor, not someone we knew personally know, that used to put big plastic deer near the road on the side edge of his property which was somewhat overgrown and every time that we would come around the corner and turn on to our street we'd find ourselves tapping the brake because we think we are about to hit a deer as it crosses the road. I'm glad they sold out and moved!

[@VidaBlue317]

They're unabashedly tacky, which strangely makes them 😎

[@leward7788]

@@VidaBlue317 I wonder if folks who like the whole pink flamingo thing also like those car dash hula girls. i put them in the same category & wonder if others do as well

[@hueyiroquois3839]

Is there a bad kind of tacky?

[@rickponsetto3443]

During Grad School in the mid 80s, there was a another student, usually in a long green army surplus coat, with a huge Mohawk. He drove a greenish blue late 50s Christine Plymouth with a legless lawn flamingo "sitting" on the back window ledge. It was cool😅

[@jimbeachboard3228]

Put two next to our pond. In the winter they really stood out. My neighbor said one day after a good snow the local school bus pulled up in front of the pond and everyone starred at them. This was a very rural part of TN.

[@myramadd6651]

I am a painter and flamingos are my favorite bird. I have a 3 foot by 4 foot painting of a flamingo that I call big pink. The flamingo is my personal symbol as well

[@capt.bart.roberts4975]

My dad and uncle owned a plastics factory back when I a was knee high to a Lambretta. They made lawn flamingos, I remember the neighbours getting very out of sorts when me and my brother put about fifty of them in the front lawn.

[@Grantthetruthteller]

It is a lot of fun to "flamingo" a friends lawn, especially for their birthday, anniversary, etc. Even though they openly complain about the prank, friends secretly and warmly remember being "flamingoed".

[@sharvo6]

Better than being tp'd

[@skyden24195]

..or egged.

[@kevinvilmont6061]

A lot more things make sense to me about my mother’s obsession with plastic flamingos thank you

[@jameslockard6956]

I grew up off of Del Mabery in Tampa Florida on Oklahoma Ave. Pink Flamingos were in our yard 1962 -1963. The hot Florida sun cooked the color out of them in one year.😊

[@LuvSubbin]

The plastic pink flamingo has become the unofficial mascot of Airstream travel trailers throughout the world. It is quite common for owners to display them at their campsite. What started out as just the lawn ornament has turned into an entire phenomenon as Airstream owners "Flamingo" each other much like Jeep owners "Duck" other Jeeps...

[@hettro-cv6082]

This explains why my Grand father's 1956 pink and black DeSoto! I couldn't imagine why he would want a pink car.

[@juliao1255]

@hettro-cv6082 I couldn't imagine why he wouldn't want a pink car! 🤣

[@ahhamartin]

He had a Desoto, and the COLOR was the problem?

[@Noah_E]

I had an uncle with a pink and white Edsel and when my dad owned an auto restoration business you'de be surprised by how often cars had been pink at some point when the paint was stripped.

[@frankgulla2335]

What a wonderful tidbit about lawn flamingos. Did not realize that they originated in MA.

[@nannettefreeman7331]

My grandparents had a set of CONCRETE flamingos (rebar for legs) in our front yard when I was a kid! ✌🏼

[@jliller]

A friend who was born and raised in Florida moved out of state for work. She bought a couple lawn flamingos and painted them up as skeletons for Halloween.

[@00Mandy00]

One of my earliest memories is of one of those kitschy flamingos mirrors from the early 60s, so I can’t help but have warm feelings when I see these.

[@alfiegrace]

We had a ceramic flamingo by the water feature my husband installed in front of our house in Florida. We moved, yet the flamingo is still there.

[@retirementpirate3665]

You just gave me an idea...

[@timturn]

The county museum near me did an exhibit on the county in the 60s and they decorated the lawn in at least 100 pink flamingos. And in Baltimore near John Waters neighborhood there was the Cafe Hon (closed in 2022) and it had a huge pink flamingo on the outside.

[@erraticonteuse]

I loved when these were included in Fallout 4, which takes place in Boston. Another bit of local flair that I appreciated in that game.

[@venteuse]

This was such an unanticipated delight! I'm going to watch it again immediately

[@2pugman]

In the early 1950's, the flamingos we brought home for our lawn were made from concrete. The legs were welding rods. There were NO plastic flamingos back then.

[@okiedokieartichokie772]

When i was little my family loved reruns of Mama's family. So pink flamingos always remind me of that awesome show (im currently rewatching it right now). But in the early 2000s i stumbled upon 2 classic flamingos at a garage sale and you better believe i snatched them up, making my teenage self so happy. My mpther still has them both in her front yard though they have sunfaded to white instead of pink. I just bought property and you better believe im looking for my own set of flamingos. Never had problems with neighbors as im not stupid enough to live somewhere with deed restrictions. So i can fill the whole.yard with these suckers if i so desire.

[@Nannaof10]

My parents painted their 1957 house, flamingo PINK with charcoal grey accent and had 2 pink cement, not plastc, flamingos in the front yard 😅 lasted for decades

[@markbaker9459]

Well Guy… This was one for the birds… Laughing is good for the soul. Our community had its share of Flamingos when I was a kid. Also found were these big reflective glass marbles sitting in a bird watering stand. The plastic flamingos at least were smart enough to fly up into the basement for the winter.

[@Namchild]

The little known fact about Flamingos is that they are ferocious carnivores. Their coats are red because of the blood of their foes and they were responsible for the dinosaurs extinction.

[@MYJ61]

Packard even had a convertible car in the late 50s called the Caribbean. Pink plastic Flamingos are the “pet” animal of Airstream Camper owners.

[@juliao1255]

@MYJ61 I never knew that, but my desire to own an Airstream just doubled.

[@surfer5352]

Thanks for the memory! I had forgotten that my Aunt had several of these in her front yard when I was younger.

[@killsims]

I learned many interesting things from a 17-minute 42-second video on Lawn Flamingos. That's why this channel is boss! :)

[@Bronwen597]

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. I was having a tough morning and now I’m ready to start my day in a good mood. Thank you. I think I might add to my flock today. 😊

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

You mean, add to your flamboyance?

[@charliemccarthy4300]

I think the first we saw them was 1974.They put about 100 of them on Bascom Halll in Madison Wi. This year they put up about 3,000 of the Flamingos, sort of a welcome home thing around April every year.

[@juliefore]

The UW-Madison Alumni Association uses the flamingos as a fundraiser. Donate some money during the campaign and they will place a pink flamingo on the hill in your name. I don’t remember if you need to pledge a certain amount or not.

[@RetiredSailor60]

Good Wednesday morning History Guy and everyone watching...

[@sallyhamilton7202]

When I was a very young child, circa 1967, my mother had CONCRETE pink flamingos. They were far from new in 1967. Their legs were rebar and they tended to fall over a lot. I know they were concrete because tiny little me could not lift them. Are we sure that concrete flamingos don't pre-date the plastic ones???

[@sharonelaine5419]

You always make smile, laugh, and cry all at the same time.

[@JH-do2eo]

And the price of plastic birds soared after this video

[@juliao1255]

@JH-do2eo "soared"... I see what you did there. 🤣

[@onliwankannoli]

When I saw the title of this video I cleared my whole day’s schedule to watch it! Loved the video! Now I guess I’ll just have to take the rest of the day off.

[@Torby4096]

In 1984, at my college of little significance, hey, they accepted ME, a whole lawn was filled with paper pink flamingos, each one carefully colored in crayon. Years later, I met the artist. No, it was not a prank. It was blackmail! She had been in a minor accident, and at the emergency room, some rather compromising photos were taken. Later, she received one in the mail with a threat to post them all over the campus unless 200 pink flamingos appeared in the lawn in front of the music building.

[@tedecker3792]

I’m also an alumni of ULS

[@Torby4096]

@@tedecker3792 Sorry, WIU here.

[@jessicamorris4748]

I watched a video on prefab housing in the UK post WWII, and then this poped up in my feed. Well played, KZbin algorithm, well played! When I was a kid my dad bought a vacation home for our family in a tony development. The first time he went to stay at the house with some family friends, the friends brought along a plastic flamingo and stuck it on the lawn. Apparently it was noticed because at the next homeowner association meeting a few people complained to my dad. Of course my dad then placed a flamingo on the lawn permanently and even purchased a flamingo shaped lamp that he put in a prominent alcove in the foyer of our tony vacation house. I have an aluminum flamingo in a hula skirt with sunglasses in my yard.

[@ellen4956]

I think people still love them because they are a symbol of summer, vacations, cookouts, poolside and nostalgia. I don't have an outside one because I have to rent now, but I have a little ceramic one made in the '50s by Brad Keeler, when he was starting out. I keep it by a fake potted tropical plant in the living room.