I’m just north of Denver now. Berthoud CO.
If it has a character I’d have to say classic cars. There are a lot of them running around. I love it.
My town had a Jesus too, except he jogged everywhere holding a sign, or occasionally hauling a full-sized cross (with wheels on the base).
I saw him when we lived there.
Anchorage had a perennial political candidate whose name I can’t remember. She had a voice like Julia Child, but was way more annoying. She showed up at every board meeting, council meeting, etc., handing out fliers about how abused she was and constantly complaining about her husband being persecuted (he failed the Bar Exam at least ten times). The local paper generously referred to her as a “gadfly” instead of a PITA.
I’m sure there were many colorful characters there over the years, as the place is loaded with oddballs.
We have Sheriff Joe. Every once in a while I will get an unexplained chill up my spine, I turn around and there’s Sheriff Joe.
I can’t think of any now, but when I was a kid Gypsy Boots was a thing. He was what was called a health food nut. He dressed in a kind of leopard onesie and sandals in all weather … luckily this was in Los Angeles. I’d see him occasionally on local TV shows. He lived until he was 90 (well, he missed it by 11 days).
When I was in college, Wild Man Fischer was a street “performer.” He actually recorded a few records. I have a 45 of “Merry-go-round.” Frank Zappa helped him with the recordings. He’d been diagnosed with several mental health issues, but for years he just wandered around (mostly Sunset Strip) selling his songs for change. I ran into him on the UCLA campus when I was a student. He sold me a belch for a quarter.
Oh, and does Angelyne (of billboard fame) count?
Back in the day, my university had “Holy Hubert”, a street preacher of the most vitriolic variety. He attracted crowds mostly interested in trolling him into a frothing lather.
After my time, the campus had the “Naked Guy”, a student who walked around and attended classes, well, naked.
Cleveland also has a guy that’s more of “a guy” than Tim Misny (who is more of a “figure” IMHO). It’s Jim the Mall Guy.
That article is from 2013 but according to Cleveland Reddit he’s still around.
Born, raised, and still live in CLE and never heard of that guy!
Wonder why there are so few female “characters.”
We used to have the “Creve Coeur jogger” - a woman whoi dressed up in bizarre costumes, wore masks, and jogged down a major road in the suburbs every day. She stayed on the sidewalks, waved at cars (and they honked back) and was generally a refreshing break in the routine commute. A reporter finally caught up to her. She wouldn’t give her name but said she was a nurse and she wanted to stay anonymous so her co-workers and patients wouldn’t freak out. She either gave up the costumes or quit running entirely some years ago.
Toledo used to have Opal Covey, a candidate for office who would speak in tongues during interviews.
I might be the character in my town. or at least the downtown. I moved to Fort Myers in 1999. At that time, FM was such a podunk town that when I went for a walk at break time, I had the entire place to myself. It was an actual event to see another person out on the streets between 8 am and lunch or between 1 pm and 4. Around 2010, I was talking to a guy at my gym who also worked downtown. He told me that I was known all over the downtown as, “That Guy Who Walks Around the Downtown” amongst many of the business. Nowadays, the downtown has redeveloped and there are tourists all year instead of just the winter season. I’ve been here for 27 years. So maybe I’m like one of the street people that everyone recognizes even if teye don’t know who I am.
I was thinking about that last night. Maybe women just aren’t as prone to outrageous antics. Or in some cases are more likely to get offered help for mental issues, especially if they put themselves in danger like the men in some of these stories. It seems more socially acceptable for men to be eccentric in pubic.
I know of one notorious woman “character” in Cleveland’s past: Cassie Chadwick, the Gilded-Age “Queen of Cleveland”: