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Old 11-22-2005, 04:14 PM   #1
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Why the pink flamingo...

O.K., I just want know what is the story with Airstreams and pink flamingos. I saw an earlier post on the various kinds of pink flamingos people have. We also have allowed ourselves to be sucked into the flamingo fad.



What I want to know is why??? Why the pink flamingo...
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Old 11-22-2005, 04:35 PM   #2
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see
http://sierranevadaairstreams.org/ow...-flamingo.html

synergy!
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Old 11-22-2005, 04:50 PM   #3
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Sorry, I can't help you. My wife was into flamingos before we got the Airstream. Figure that out. The salesman knew it, and presented her with a flamingo-with-a-pinwheel-in-the-middle-lawn-ornament-looking-thing. It's the ugliest thing you ever saw (looks like a pink vulture sitting on a turbine), but he made a friend for life. Shortly afterward, there were socks, pajamas, slippers, salt and pepper shakers, party lights, etc.
Then, we went neon...
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Old 11-22-2005, 05:04 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Leipper
Yes but why??
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Old 11-22-2005, 05:45 PM   #5
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Because they are bright, shiny, tacky?...Portable.???
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Old 11-22-2005, 06:19 PM   #6
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Probably because they Came of age about the same time the Airstream did?

Aaron
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Old 11-22-2005, 06:44 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Buttercup
Yes but why??
To which I reply with another quote by an unnamed person:
Why not?

Elizabeth n Iowa
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Old 11-22-2005, 07:06 PM   #8
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They are much more portable that pink elephants
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Old 11-22-2005, 08:15 PM   #9
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The answer is the same as when people ask why my male dog does what he does.... because he can!
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Old 11-22-2005, 08:27 PM   #10
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You have to own a pink flamingo to understand
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Old 11-22-2005, 09:40 PM   #11
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Pink Flamingo

Consider, first of all, the type of person who owns an Airstream. Terms like “unique, avante garde, unusual, quirky and adventurous… might apply, right”. We certainly appreciate quality, design, and mechanical engineering among other things.

Of course without industry and mechanics and that era (end of war perhaps?) that gave rise to the mechanized age and most of the war machinery, the refined aircraft etc. there may not have been a longing to recover something of nature.

That was then when rows of pink houses with perfectly square, yet barren lawns seemed too sterile. That was about the same time bathrooms and kitchens turned white and that was due to what we learned about germs, cause and effect.

So war, machinery, industry it all seemed so un-nature like and some people thought having animals in there yard (even if they were plastic and one dimensional at first) was close enough. There were ducks, frogs and deer and herons.

This was the 40’s or mid 40’s and in those days the duck put the pink flamingo to shame in fact the later did not show up till the mid 50’s.

Don’t underestimate the effectiveness of advertising and “pop” fad in this case either. Mix into the formula the advent of plastics and endless color in manufacturing and a longing to escape the bland and mundane (that which represented nature).

About the same time a very unusual, you might even say “avante garde” way of life emerged with the help of Wally B.

This was all was pre-sixty’s stuff, long before people ever heard of things like “The Grateful Dead, love ins, peace and love, free love, back to nature and an escape from anything “man-made”. Now the pendulum swung.

Of course no good cultural revolution worth its salt would be with out its dissenters, its rebellious free radicals. During this return to nature, there were people collecting pink flamingos from garage sales and placing them in their yards cause they were different and symbolic or it was because these people simply wanted to irritate their neighbors. They started to rebel against the rebels. They were now the trail blazers and during the 70’s these people experienced the meaning of theft and jealousy. The birds started disappearing, because after all, they were becoming hard to find, like old airstreams, do you see a pattern ?

What better way to say to someone your ID has arrived or that you have found your security than to place a once hated memory of waste and conspicuous consumption, that gaud awful symbol of all that is wrong with modern life on your modern lawn in front of your modern house. Well of course, then came the 80’s and 90’s. As we know, no matter how revolting a thing may become to one generation, it becomes the social liniment from the past for those longing for their own identity. The Arts and Crafts movement in the 20’s, America’s way to say to European design, we have our own, thank you very much. The pink flamingo is “us”, the collective Airstream “us”, saying we have our identity and it centers around our common interest which is based in a remarkable industrial past that defines us and made us who we are. We own a special, refinement from that era, you could even call them art.

Still today there are those who despise and shun the pink flamingo. It kind of reminds me of when I go to a “regular” RV supply or repair place asking for help or a part and when I say “it’s for an Air stream” the guy helping me then says, with a sweep of his arm “NEXT”.

It isn’t easy being special you know. People just aren’t going to take you serious when your special but you know what, I don’t care cause I own an old Tradewind and I plan on gettin me a pink flamingo and I will displaying it even when boon docking in Hell’s Canyon when I am by my self….

So there.
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Old 11-22-2005, 10:17 PM   #12
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Quote:
It isn’t easy being special you know. People just aren’t going to take you serious when your special but you know what, I don’t care cause I own an old Tradewind and I plan on gettin me a pink flamingo and I will displaying it even when boon docking in Hell’s Canyon when I am by my self….

So there.

Here, here ! Well said Jim !

Chris
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Old 11-22-2005, 10:41 PM   #13
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Smile More flamingo kitsch than Florida!

A fave from my pre-Stream days: the kitchy-est kitchen in the North, Maggies of Bayfield, Wisconsin. http://www.maggies-bayfield.com/flash/index.htm

Nobody go there, y'heah? It's already too crowded as it is! It is a couple blocks off the main drag and I'd almost bet you'd find parking in the neighborhood, even if pulling the ol' silver sled. Plan on a wait if you arrive between 11:00-2:00 or 5:00-8:00! This is a fun town to hang around, with beautiful sights, great kayaking and sailors galore.
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Old 11-22-2005, 10:53 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wahoonc
Probably because they Came of age about the same time the Airstream did?

Aaron
This is true.
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Old 11-23-2005, 05:22 AM   #15
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Why pink flamingos?

Simple, the blue ones look dumb!
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Old 11-23-2005, 09:38 AM   #16
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THANK YOU, Jimmy J, that's the answer that explains it all!
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Old 11-23-2005, 12:12 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Leipper
After reading through much of this I have to say that this is a fairly comprehensive list.
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Old 11-23-2005, 10:02 PM   #18
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why the pink flamingo?

Because concrete yard gnomes & christal balls are soooooo much heavier than plastic pink flamingos ( flaminguie, plural? ).
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Old 11-24-2005, 12:07 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by denellen
Because concrete yard gnomes & christal balls are soooooo much heavier than plastic pink flamingos ( flaminguie, plural? ).
Nice - very nice.
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