Over the years it’s been called the Riverhead Duck and the Flanders Duck, but most people know it simply as the Big Duck. Built by a duck farmer on Long Island in 1931 to attract people who might buy eggs, this whimsical structure is still a startling and exquisite sight beside State Route 24, and it’s part of A PROGRAM ABOUT UNUSUAL BUILDINGS & OTHER ROADSIDE STUFF airing Sunday, July 11, at 8 p.m. on PBS stations across America (but be sure to check your local TV schedule just to make sure).

Babs Bixby, The "Duck Lady"

Ruth Miller at the Shoe House

“You can’t get more odd or more unique than the Shoe House,” says Ruth Miller. She’s given tours and taken care of this slightly silly structure near York, Pennsylvania, for years, and she and the Shoe are featured in a PBS documentary titled A PROGRAM ABOUT UNUSUAL BUILDINGS & OTHER ROADSIDE STUFF. It premieres Sunday July 11 at 8 p.m. on PBS stations across America (although it’s best to check your local PBS station’s schedule just to make sure).

Dennis Blake at the Tail O The Pup

Dennis Blake and his father have owned and operated the hilariously huge hot-dog-shaped building known as Tail O’ The Pup since 1975, and they moved it in 1986 to its current location on San Vincente Boulevard in West Hollywood. “It’s kind of like a dying phenomenon in especially California to see these kind of places around anymore,” Dennis says. Tail O’ The Pup is one of the celebrated sights in A PROGRAM ABOUT UNUSUAL BUILDINGS & OTHER ROADSIDE STUFF, airing Sunday, July 11 at 8 p.m. on PBS (but you know it’s always wise to check your TV schedule to make sure it’s on your local PBS station at that time).

Ivan John at the Wigwam Village

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