Description: Back in the day, sailors who got shore leave weren't allowed to debark their ship or leave the base in civilian clothes, so that meant you were stuck in your uniform. In cities with Navy bases, so-called 'locked clubs' opened up to help sailors skirt the rules by selling and storing civies so they could enjoy a night on the town without catching the eye of the Shore Patrol. 101 Locker Club was one such place, and an amazing one at that. Open 24/7, this city block-sized place never closed, so a sailor could visit day or night. Aside from renting lockers to store civies, locker clubs sold civilian clothing and Navy uniforms, offered dry cleaning and tailoring services, and sold a wide array of gifts and trinkets.
Description: Devil's Express is a 1976 grindhouse film that mixes blaxploitation, martial arts, and horror genres and does so with great enthusiasm. The movie focuses on a no-nonsense black cop, Warhawk Tanzania, who also happens to be a martial arts master, as he tries to put an end to a brutal gang war thats raging in the streets of New York. Along the way he discovers that they aren't his only problem, since a 50,000 year old demon has been accidentally released by a maintenance worker and is now attacking and killing people in the subway tunnels.
Description: Thorn Apple Valley was founded in 1959 as Frederick Packing Company in Detroit, Michigan. The name was changed to Frederick & Herrud in 1969 when they merged with Herrud & Co. The company expanded its presence throughout the Eastern United States by acquiring several smaller packing companies throughout the 1970s. In the '80s, the company wanted to have a more upscale image, which led to the company rebranding as Thorn Apple Valley in 1984. The rebranding was a success and the company continued to grow and expand until 1999 when 35 million pounds of ground beef was recalled, marking the end of one of the oldest and largest meat companies in America.
Description: The Resources Development Administration, or RDA, is the largest single non-governmental organization in the Avatar universe. Much like the Weyland Yutani Corporation, it's power is such that it outmatches most of Earth governments in wealth, political influence, and military capability. The RDA has monopoly rights to all products shipped, derived, or developed from Pandora and any other off-Earth location. This RDA design features their corporate logo along with a tasteful vintage treatment to make it look like you wore it while running heavy equipment on Pandora.
Description: The Impossibles is a series of animated cartoons produced and broadcast in 1966 on American television. The series of shorts (six minutes each) appeared as part of Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles, a Saturday morning cartoon show that ran for two seasons. The show followed a trio of young rock 'n roll musicians who were actually undercover superheroes dedicated to battling evil supervillains of all shapes and sizes. When performing for their adoring fans (usually star-struck, screaming teenyboppers), the lads would play their mod, futuristic-looking guitars atop an equally futuristic bandstand (emblazoned with their "Impossibles" logo) that could convert into a car (the "Impossi-Mobile"), or a jet (the "Impossi-Jet").
Description: A. L. Confer was a railroad station agent who set up a primitive oil refining "still" in his hometown of Reno, Pennsylvania. By carefully controlling temperatures in the heating and cooling process, Confer formulated a better quality of illuminating oil (later known as kerosene) for use in oil lamps. Only a small portion of crude oil was used in making kerosene, so Confer experimented on the formerly wasted oil by-products and produced steam engine lubrication. In 1885 he formed The Empire Oil & Grease Company, and grew the company with oil refineries in Reno, and offices in Oil City, Pennsylvania. Special blends of motor oil were manufactured for automobiles, outboard boat engines, and airplanes, and sold under the Wolf's Head brand.
Description: Sproles Motor Freight Lines was founded in 1926 as a provider of general cartage services throughout the greater Dallas, Texas area. Within two decades, Sproles grew to provide guaranteed overnight freight service throughout Texas, claiming to be the state's only 'gulf to panhandle' trucking company. While other trucking outfits worked to grow with an eye on going national, Sproles Motor Freight Lines remained focused on the Lonestar State and remained a full-service Texas trucking company. In the '50s, Sproles' statewide reach and dependable service caught the eye of Lufkin-based Red Ball Lines, who would eventually acquire Sproles to form Sproles-Red Ball Lines.
Description: Released in 1987, Rock You to Hell is the third studio album by the British heavy metal band Grim Reaper. This was the band's final album for 29 years (until the release of Walking in the Shadows in 2016), and their last one to feature the original lineup. Grim Reaper gained brief mainstream critical and commercial success with this album due to the extensive play of the title track's music video on cable TV and regular rotation on album-oriented rock radio stations.
Description: The Ritz Theatre was built in 1929 by J.J. Hegman, who owned several movie theaters in Austin, Texas. Originally a long narrow space, the Ritz was the first theater in Austin to be built specifically for the talkies, aka films with synchronized sound. The theater opened on October 13, 1929, and operated continuously as a theatre until closing in 1964. The Ritz was reopened in 1970 as a XXX grindhouse, which closed to make way for a new music venue in 1974. The venue struggled until new management took over the space in 1981 and reopened it as a punk rock club, opening the doors for an influx of punk rock and hardcore into the Austin music scene. Violence inherent to punk rock shows eventually cost the operators their liquor license.
Description: Coulrophobia is a fear (phobia) of clowns. Children and adults who fear clowns may experience extreme, irrational reactions when they see one in person or view pictures or videos of clowns. Lite Clown, however, is a familiar face to those who were children in the late '60s and '70s, and we've never heard of anyone freaking out or otherwise being afraid of this smiling clown, even in a dark room where he glowed brightly.
Description: Schoen's Old Lager was named for Louis Schoen, born in Bavaria in 1876. He came to the U.S. in 1892 as the brewmaster at Heileman Brewing. As an old-world brewer, Schoen insisted his lager be aged nine weeks before it left the brewery, but his meticulous exactitude became problematic in the rush after Prohibition. Heileman couldn't wait nine weeks for a batch of beer, so Schoen had to go. He went to Wausau and helped launch Wausau Brewing Co. where he produced Louis Schoen's Old Lager. Louis Schoen died in 1965, but by that time, the beer with his name on it was already in the hands of others and the brewers making it definitely weren't aging it nine weeks.
Description: Streets of Rage is a beat 'em up video game developed and published for the 16-bit Genesis console in 1991. The trilogy which includes parts one, two, and three, were among the most popular titles of the '90s. Players control one of three former police officers turned vigilantes who battle a crime syndicate. The original release establishes many conventions of the Streets of Rage series, such as two-player cooperative play and an acclaimed techno soundtrack. Streets of Rage maintains a following to this day, with many retro gamers either playing the real deal on vintage consoles (both 8 and 16-bit versions) or playing via unauthorized online ports.
Description: Nu Image Films was a genre film production and distribution company started in 1992 by Avi Lerner. Initially specializing in low-to-mid budget martial arts and action films, Nu Image expanded to include sci-fi, horror, and thriller titles in later years. Much of its output was direct to video and distributed on videocassette by Vidmark Entertainment, New Line Home Video, and Live Entertainment.
Description: Sta-Lube was founded in 1933 in Compton, California with a mission to create high-performance motor oils for use in racing engines. After finding success at the track, Sta-Lube expanded its product offerings to heavy equipment and severe service applications, and eventually to the shelves of auto parts stores for use in daily driven passenger cars. Product lines expanded from just motor oil applications to include greases, gear oils, service oils, additives, and lubrication equipment.
Description: WLOL-FM was the first commercial classical music station in Minneapolis-St. Paul and was co-located with its AM sister. WLOL dropped classical and changed to "beautiful music" in mid-1973, and transitioned to a pop music format. On December 12, 1981, WLOL changed formats again, this time to Top 40/CHR as 99½ WLOL. The ratings effect was quick to take hold; in the spring 1982, WLOL more than doubled its performance and vaulted into third place in the Twin Cities, led by the revamped "Hines and Berglund" morning show. WLOL dominated Twin Cities radio in the '80s, but a new station arrived that would change the local radio landscape and not only unseat WLOL as the top dog, but lead to the station's demise in 1991.
Description: '80 TV was wild, man. Case in point, A.L.F., a sitcom about an alien who loves eating cats crash-lands in a family's garage. They treat him as a guest and allow him to live with them as he comments on the stupidity of mankind. In S1.E8, Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue?, A.L.F. develops a crush on Lynn and starts to sabotage the dates with her boyfriend while trying to come up with something to impress her. His solution? Write a rock song called 'You're The One Who's Out Of This World' and create a music video to show her just how cool he is. Yep, that actually happened.
Description: MI-T-Mart was a regional convenience store chain with multiple locations throughout Los Angeles County in Southern California that opened its doors in 1969. Offering everything from beer and cigarettes to hot dogs and sandwiches, MI-T-Marts were a typical mini-mart style store that were around well into the '90s before they sold off their locations to a national convenience store chain. MI-T-Mart was featured in Fast Times at Ridgemont High after Brad Hamilton took a job there, and while the film took place in the fictional San Fernando Valley town of Ridgemont, the location used for filming was at 11852 Santa Monica Blvd. in LA.
Description: Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 2, 1976. The Democratic ticket of former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter and Minnesota senator Walter Mondale narrowly defeated the Republican ticket of incumbent president Gerald Ford and Kansas senator Bob Dole. This was the first presidential election since 1932 in which the incumbent was defeated, as well as the only Democratic victory of the six such presidential elections between 1968 and 1988 and the last time the Democratic ticket would win until 1992.
Description: Stebro Performance Exhaust was founded by race car driver Peter Broeker in 1956. Based in Montreal, Canada Stebro's sole focus was on the design and manufacture of premium stainless steel exhaust systems for European and Japanese performance cars. Stebro became the official exhaust system for many race series and remained popular with enthusiasts and race car builders alike for decades.
Description: In 1963, Joseph Carretta Sr. founded Carretta Trucking Inc. in Paramus, New Jersey. Carretta started out hauling coal and ice up and down the East Coast, but expanded to running dry vans and refers from coast to coast. Three decades later, Carretta was fielding a fleet of over 1,000 trucks, but the '90s saw a lot of profit drain in asset-based trucking companies, so Carretta had wrapped things up and called it quits in 1997.
Description: Released in 1978, Don't Look Back is the second studio album by American rock band Boston. The album reached No. 1 in both the US and Canada, and No. 9 in the UK. The title track helped with the album's success, reaching No. 4 in 1978 on the US Hot 100 and remains one of the band's biggest hits. The album sold over one million copies in the ten days following its release. Don't Look Back was originally to be titled Arrival, however, it was discovered that a Swedish pop group released an album by that name two years prior, so Don't Look Back was chosen. The album received favorable reviews saying that it further refined this group's ability to play hard rock underlined by a sweet, melodic base.
Description: New York City has no shortage of bagel shops, but Absolute Bagels on the Upper West Side rose above with their hand-rolled, kettle-boiled, oven-baked, and always fresh bagels. The shop was founded in 1990 by a Thai immigrant who honed his craft at a couple of venerable bagel shops before striking out on his own to make his mark. With a nondescript storefront, no social media presence, and no website, Absolute Bagels let their food do the talking, and that strategy served them well. Despite not offering delivery and only accepting cash, Absolute was among the most popular bagel joints in New York, with regular lines down the block. Of course, all good things must come to an end, and in December 2024, Absolute Bagels unexpectedly shuttered.
Description: 'Airplane II: The Sequel' is a 1982 American parody film that was released on December 10, 1982, as a follow-up to the 1980 film 'Airplane!' This version of the poster art was used during the film's December release, while alternate versions featured the aircrew hanging off the back of the aircraft. Though haunted by combat memories, heroic pilot Ted Striker agrees to return to the cockpit to man the controls of the XR-2300 lunar shuttle, known as Mayflower One, America's first commercial spacecraft. As soon as the shuttle lifts off, an electrical malfunction sends the ship veering off course. A shaken Striker struggles to guide the shuttle through a treacherous asteroid belt, tame it's failing computer systems, and stop a mad bomber.
Description: The Independent Milwaukee Brewery was an American brewery that was located on the south side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin from 1901 until 1964, when it was closed by G. Heileman Brewing Company which purchased the brewery in 1962. The company was founded by five partners: Henry N. Bills, William Gutknecht, Charles Evers, Emil Czarnecki, and William Jung. During Prohibition, Bills bought out the other partners and brought on his sons and son-in-law into the business. The company survived Prohibition by selling near beer, and post-Prohibition, the brewery produced close to twenty different beers, though their signature label was Braumeister which was first produced in 1933.
Description: Located in Apache Junction, Arizona, the Mining Camp Restaurant & Trading Post sat at the base of the Superstition Mountains for over five decades. Sitting right at the beginning of the Apache Trail and fashioned to look like a traditional Western town, complete with wooden buildings, wagons, and mining-related tools around the property, the Mining Camp was a throwback to the earliest days of Arizona's rich mining history right in the shadow of the Superstitions, which were home to several mining operations and, most notably, the home of the legendary Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine. Sadly, the Mining Camp burned down in 2017, and is still yet to make a comeback.
Description: A liquor store is a retail business that predominantly sells prepackaged alcoholic beverages, including liquors (typically in bottles), wine, or beer, usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom, they may also be called an off-license (in the UK and Ireland), off-sale (in parts of Canada and the US), bottle shop, bottle store (South Africa), or, colloquially, bottle-o (in Australia, New Zealand and parts of Canada), liquor store (in Canada, the US, Australia, and New Zealand) or other similar terms. A very limited number of jurisdictions have an alcohol monopoly. In US states that are alcoholic beverage control (ABC) states, the term ABC store may be used.
Description: While the '70s can be considered the decade for kung fu movies, the '80s saw a wave of ninja films, leading to the "ninja mania" pop culture phenomenon. 1981's Enter the Ninja is a prime example of these ninja-centric martial arts movies. The film is about a martial artist named Cole, a mercenary and veteran, who completes his ninjutsu training in Japan before visiting his friend Frank in the Philippines. On arrival, Cole learns that his friend is being harassed by the wealthy businessman Venarius who wants Frank's land for the oil beneath it. Frank and his wife are continuously thwarted by Cole who defends them with his martial arts skills. Learning of Cole's presence, Venarius hires his own ninja, and the war is on...
Description: Moving livestock is a serious business that requires powerful trucks that can run all night to get their cargo delivered on time and in top condition. Back in the '80s, Hereford, Texas-based Lonestar Livestock Transport was a small trucking company that built a reputation for getting cattle from point to point in record time, ensuring top dollar at market. Their bright red triple-digit trucks were well known throughout the Lonestar State for about 15-years before the owner sold off the company and most of the drives went the owner/operator route.
Description: When the World Trade Center (WTC) opened in 1973, there were forty-two places to grab a bite to eat in the massive seven-building complex located in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. From sit-down to take-out, formal to casual, the dining options were quite extensive, but one of the more obscure food outlets was likely only known to those who worked in the WTC - Teli Deli. The idea was to have a take-out-only joint that delivered within the WTC, and Teli Deli made it easy for the estimated 130,000 people who worked in the complex. Located off the Sky Lobby level of the North Tower, Teli Deli offered breakfast and lunch menus for individual and group orders as well as catering for larger events and meetings.
Description: Medicinal chemist Dr. Jackson B. Hester Jr. initially developed alprazolam in the late '60s for the Upjohn Company. The patent for alprazolam was granted in 1976, and after obtaining approval from regulatory authorities, was introduced to the market in 1981 as Xanax. The approval marked a significant milestone in the field of anxiety management, as Xanax offered a new approach to alleviate the symptoms of anxiety and panic disorders. Xanax swiftly gained acclaim within the medical community and became one of the most prescribed psychiatric medications in the United States where it revolutionized the treatment of anxiety and panic disorders, providing relief to countless individuals who were previously burdened by these conditions.
Description: Jumping Flash! is a 1995 platformer game developed by Exact and Ultra and released in 1995. Presented in a first-person perspective, the game follows a robotic rabbit named "Robbit" as he searches for missing jet pods scattered by the game's astrophysicist antagonist character Baron Aloha. Robbit must explore each section of Crater Planet to retrieve all of the jet pods, stop Aloha, and save the world from being destroyed. The game was designed as a technology demonstrator and was revealed in early 1994 under the provisional title of Spring Man, and holds the world record as the 'first platform video game in true 3D.'
Description: Mama's Mexican Kitchen opened its doors in Seattle's hip Belltown neighborhood way back in 1974. In the years that followed, Mama's became a neighborhood mainstay, known for its authentic Mexican fare and brightly colored kitsch décor. Making generational recipes inherited from the owner's grandmother - aka 'Mama' - Mama's Mexican Kitchen became a neighborhood mainstay, and for over four decades, Mama's was THE place to get Mexican food, often before (or after) taking in a show at one of Seattle's many music venues.
Description: Black Christmas is a 1974 Canadian slasher film produced and directed by Bob Clark, and written by Roy Moore. The story follows a group of sorority sisters who receive threatening phone calls and are eventually stalked and murdered by a killer during the Christmas season. Inspired by the urban legend "The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs" and a series of murders that took place in the Westmount neighborhood of Montreal, Quebec, Moore wrote the screenplay under the title Stop Me. The filmmakers made numerous alterations to the script, primarily the shifting to a university setting with young adult characters. It was shot in Toronto in 1974 on an estimated budget of $686,000, eventually grossing $4,053,000 worldwide.
Description: Kaelbe Heavy Equipment was founded in 1924 by Carl Kaelbe in Backnang, Germany. The company initially focused on the manufacturing of construction equipment, but a one-off mine truck built for a customer changed its trajectory. Renaming themselves Kaelbe Heavy Trucks, the firm focused on tractors and dump trucks for heavy haulage, construction, and mining, eventually becoming a major supplier for Germany's state railway system.
