Pink Flamingos | 1972


- Locations |
- Maryland
- DIRECTOR |
- John Waters
The John Waters legend starts here in Baltimore, with a film that makes other attempts to shock an audience look as subversive as High School Musical, and with an art department budget of no more than $200.

The invitingly luxurious home of Connie and Raymond Marble (Mink Stole and David Lochary) looks almost exactly as it did in 1972 (apart from the disappearance of shutters from the windows). It’s 3900 Greenmount Avenue at East 39th Street, a couple of miles directly north of downtown. At the time the house was shared by director Waters himself and co-star Mink Stole.
But the place you’ll really want to see, of course, is the site of the movie’s infamous coda, as Babs Johnson (Divine) unarguably earns the title of Filthiest Person Alive.

The epilogue kicks off with the strains of How Much is That Doggie In The Window? as the hungry Babs and her two pals, Cotton (Mary Vivian Pearce) and Crackers (Danny Mills), round the corner of West Read Street and Park Avenue in the Mount Vernon district (metro: State Center). The Tavern seen in the background of the scene is now The Drinkery, 203 West Read Street.

The trio head northwest along West Read Street and turn left into Tyson Street, where Babs licks her lips at the prospect of a satisfying snack.
The spot where Divine went way beyond the call of duty and scoffed down a mouthful of doggie poo, is the empty lot alongside 892 Tyson Street.
One of the most notorious spots in cinema history – and not a commemorative plaque. Nothing. Baltimore – shame on you.