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When we were kids, simple pranks got the laughs. Those of us who have fond memories of trying to pry up a dime glued to the floor, or chasing dollar bills around the house, can’t help but wish it was still so easy. Plenty of classic April Fool’s pranks will be played today – the [...]
As the US highway system began development in the 1920s, road trips became common. With more people traveling for work and more families vacationing the need for overnight accommodations grew. People wanted to stay in a place that was both inexpensive and easily accessible from the highways. This led to the roadside motel, which was [...]
As a kid in the early to mid-1970s I remember boxes and all sorts of products lined up my Grandmother’s kitchen. Cleaners, soaps, shampoos and fragrance bottles were being packed in bags and boxes, ready for delivery. She was a Stanley Home Products representative. SHP was founded in in Westfield, Massachusetts in 1931 by Frank [...]
Originally titled Tonight, NBC’s late-night talk show was a counterpart to the Today show, which aired early morning. Originating in 1953, Steve Allen was the first host of this experimental show which became quite a success. Allen left the show in 1957, and Jack Paar took over. It was Johnny Carson’s success on Who Do [...]
By the mid- to late-1950s television was dominating the American living room. Sponsorship was a networks’ key form of programming support, and there were plenty of big companies willing to spend the money to get their names out there. Texaco, Colgate, Kraft, and many other corporations, sponsored entire programs that came with naming rights. Texaco [...]
A Space Age counterpart to The Flintstones, The Jetsons hit homes September 23, 1962 as ABC-TV’s first color program. As popular as the cartoon was – and still is today – the original series lasted only one year (24 episodes). The Jetsons aired Sunday evenings, featuring a family residing in Orbit City in the year [...]
Nowadays, an early adopter jumps to download new software or buy new gadgets within days of release. When it came to connecting online at home, though, that title was granted to pretty much anyone who sent email or chatted across the globe pre-1990. That was when CompuServe dominated the field, long before America OnLine (AOL) [...]
We couldn’t help but share this fantastic story about a car dealer who took big risks, built an enterprise, protected his employees’ jobs then gave them a hefty bonus. Howard Cooper opened his card dealership – Howard Cooper Import Center – in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1965. At first he sold Volkswagens, then added Audis [...]
A recent quest on squidoo left us hunting for a unique “national” day that also had a rich, retro history. That’s how we found out that August 26th is “Toilet Paper Day”! We discovered quite a few interesting things about this day-to-day necessity, including that someone obtained a patent on the stuff with an accompanying [...]
In traditional diners, coffee shops and shorter-order restaurants, unique terms are used to describe food and drink. At one time, some of these terms were pretty universal. Today, however, many young servers will give confused looks when you order a burger and say, “Eighty-six the onions”. Frequent diners picked up on some jargon, and would [...]
Remember when our imaginations were the driving force behind our fun days? Having to hop across living room furniture to avoid the lava… Operating imaginary cash registers to run a store… Couple the “see the bigger picture” with the traditional lemonade stand and you get Caine’s Arcade, a 9-year-old Los Angeles boy’s Do-It-Yourself (DIY) business. The [...]
Most people know that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876. But did you know that the first public phone was installed in 1878? And it came with a little something extra—an attendant! This was necessary because early pay telephones were not able to accept coins. How it worked was the attendant initiated the [...]
Texaco Service Attendant Hat This is a Texaco gas station service attendant’s hat. It dates from between the late 1960s to the 1970s. It’s a symbol of a past when service attendants filled your gas tank, checked your oil and washed your windshield. This particular version of the Texaco logo was used from the 1960s [...]
A Nostalgic Look at the Sears Christmas Catalog I recall growing up in the 1960s when one of the most anticipated events in the Christmas season was the arrival of the Sears catalog at our home. My brothers and I would take turns (honestly!) going through the toy pages and making our lists for Santa [...]
