Lucy the Elephant has attracted sightseers and tourists to Margate, New Jersey for well over a century, but for the first time in a very long time, the six-story-tall relic of kitsch architecture is up for rent.
Come Saint Patrick’s Day, Lucy the Elephant can be rented out on Airbnb for $138 per night, according to the New York Times. That’s one dollar for every year Lucy has stood in Margate, weathering hurricanes, changing tourist trends, lightning strikes, and near-demolitions.
It’s a limited opportunity, for now. Accommodations are available for just three nights to drum up publicity with the help of the global reach of Airbnb’s platform, but operator Richard Helfant said he was open to extending the campaign.
So what do you get for $138 a night in Margate? Airbnb brought in Victorian furnishings, including a red-draped canopy bed. Breakfast is delivered and guests get a gift card to a local restaurant.
There’s only one habitable floor, but stairs lead up to the howdah on Lucy’s back, which offers excellent views of the Atlantic City skyline. The downside is that Lucy doesn’t have any plumbing, so the guests will have to attend to their hygienic needs in a trailer brought in at Lucy’s feet.
Lucy joins a plethora of unusual lodgings available on Airbnb. The company itself has partnered with owners and outside companies to offer other novelty properties before too, including one night in a Goodyear blimp and a Barbie Dreamhouse-themed pad in Malibu. [NYT] — Dennis Lynch