Escondido, California: Lawrence Welk Statue and Museum

Lawrence Welk Resort -- a museum and a happy land of polkas, waltzes, and champagne music. Statue stands out front by the parking lot.

The roll of Lawrence Welk fans may get shorter every year (he's been dead since 1992), but the museum at the Lawrence Welk Resort is around for the long haul. It's less likely to suffer the fate of other celeb-specific museums -- such as what befell Liberace and Roy Rogers -- because it's not really a traditional museum. It's the lobby space for the Welk Resort Theatre, displays and memorabilia mounted along the walls for theater patrons to admire. No admission for the public to take a walk through, though the guy at the front desk may be on the phone the whole time, fielding phone calls for reservations to "South Pacific" or whatever musical is performed in the theater that night.

Since it's a no hassle place, we stop in whenever nearby, and try to find another bit of Welk-o-bilia we'd overlooked. Photo of the Corn Palace, perennial Lawrence Welk venue? Another special conductor baton? Disarray in the fake band stand, behind the cardboard Welk? A new Welk photo op cutout? Yes, all that and more...