Description: KXRX 96.5 FM was a major rock radio station in Seattle that hit the airwaves in 1987. The station's relatively short tenure in the Seattle market was a momentous one, with 'The X' as they were known, establishing itself as one of the first major radio stations to play grunge, a wave of popular music originating in the Pacific Northwest and soon spanning the globe. The station helped launch the careers of numerous Seattle bands, and featured a roster of high-profile DJ's. After seven years of feisty, personality-oriented album rock, KXRX was sold in 1994, ending a short, but powerful run.
Description: New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the US, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs and is a global center of finance and commerce, culture, technology, entertainment and media, academics and scientific output, the arts and fashion, and, as home to international diplomacy. With an estimated population of 8,258,035 distributed over 300.46 square miles, the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. This late '50s souvenir design is what the average tourist would have picked up from a street vendor on everything from t-shirts to postcards and depicts a sunset (or maybe sunrise?) over the city.
Description: Secaucus is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey with a population of just over 20,000 as of the 2010 census. The town was originally an agricultural community known for its pig farms in the early 1900s when approximately 55 farms were in the area. Thanks to the construction of the New Jersey Turnpike, the farms eventually moved on, and Secaucus became a commuter town, and in the '80s, residents got their own video store. Video Cove opened in 1981, as an alternative to the chain video stores in the larger towns, and was well received by the good people of Secaucus. Carrying a wide range of VHS tapes from new releases to the classics, Video Cove had it all, including the old school curtained off adult section.
Description: Clue Club is an American animated television series that ran from August 14 to December 11, 1976. The series follows a group of four teenage detectives, the Clue Club – Larry, Pepper, D.D. and Dottie – who solve mysteries with the help of two talking dogs, a bloodhound named Woofer, and basset hound named Wimper. Clue Club mysteries usually involved investigating bizarre crimes, and the series only had one season of first-run episodes produced, which ran on Saturday mornings. In the fall of '77, cut-down versions of the half-hour episodes of Clue Club appeared under the new title Woofer & Wimper, Dog Detectives to showcase the show's dogs which aired as a segment on a Saturday morning package program called The Skatebirds.
Description: Formed in Birmingham, England in 1978, Charged GBH were early pioneers of British street punk, a genre commonly known as 'UK 82.' Charged GBH went on to influence countless punk musicians, but their influence has been especially far-reaching in metal and thrash. The band's name was originally 'Charged GBH,' a reference to being charged with grievous bodily harm (G.B.H.), but was eventually shortened to just 'GBH.' GBH embarked on several English and mainland US tours during the early '80s, and would go on to release a dozen studio albums, all while maintaining their signature sound.
Description: Gordons Transports Inc. was founded in 1933 by A.W. Gordon in Memphis, Tennessee. Gordons initially ran daily service between Memphis and St. Louis, but would soon expand their offerings to include direct service to Chicago, Jackson, Hattiesburg, Gulfport, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Birmingham, Mobile, and points in between. Despite growing to be one of American largest direct service trucking companies, deregulation took its toll on Gordons, and in 1983, they closed up shop.
Description: Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, better known as "Fonzie" or "The Fonz," is a fictional character in the American sitcom Happy Days that ran from 1974 until 1984. The Fonz was a stereotypical greaser who rode a motorcycle, wore a leather jacket, and typified the essence of cool, in contrast to his circle of friends. He was originally a secondary character but was soon positioned as a lead role when he began surpassing the other characters in popularity. Fonzie was seen by many as the epitome of coolness and was so popular, that in the second season producers considered renaming the show to "Fonzie's Happy Days." The Fonz is one of only two characters (along with Howard Cunningham) to appear in all 255 episodes of the series ten-year run.
Description: The International Harvester Company (IH) was founded in 1902 in Chicago, Illinois, the result of the merger of the two leading manufacturers of harvesting machinery in the USA. These were the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. and the Deering Harvester Co. IH would soon expand its focus from harvesting equipment to all lines of agricultural equipment, and by the time WWI ended, were producing the world's most popular tractors. Subsequent years saw IH expand into earthmoving equipment and road going vehicles. From pickup trucks and utility vehicles, to heavy duty commercial chassis including Class 8 semi-trucks and school buses. The early '80s saw IH begin to struggle, and everything but their truck and engine divisions were shuttered.
Description: In early 2007, Ron Paul, a libertarian Texas congressman, announced his candidacy for the Republican Party's nomination for president of the United States in the 2008 election. Paul's candidacy drew a significant degree of support from grassroots movements, and supporters worked independently of the official campaign or the GOP to raise Paul's public profile and bring in record breaking campaign donations. A number of supporters have described these efforts as the "Ron Paul Revolution," an allusion to the American Revolution that frequently appeared on placards and t-shirts at rallies and served as a slogan that the official campaign would adopt. Supporters used the letters "EVOL" ("love" reversed) to represent peace and hope.
Description: Nowadays you can pretty much get any kind of food you want in any major city you find yourself in, but in post war America, that wasn't always the case. However, if you were Seattle during the '40s and had a hankering for authentic southern barbecue, you were in luck. A man by the name of Jesse Hesse opened Hesse Southern Barbecue on Capitol Hill in 1940, and let the Pacific Northwest get a little south in their mouth. Leveraging the three pillars of southern barbecue - smoke, the right cut of meat, and patience - Hesse delivered slow-cooked meats infused with smoky goodness and tangy sauces that warmed the soul and made customers feel like they were down south if just for a lunch break.
Description: APF Electronics Inc. was a publicly traded company based in New York City that was dedicated to consumer electronics. The company was founded in 1968 to import stereos from Japan and the company name came from the initials of the brothers who founded ir, Al & Phil Friedman. APF moved into calculators after realizing there were high margins and low competition in this area. By the mid-70s, APF had began developing home gaming consoles, with their first release being the APF TV Fun in 1976, followed by the APF-MP1000 in 1978. That same year, the APF PeCos One computer system came out, following by the APF Imagination Machine expansion module in 1979. Fast forward to 1983 which saw the APF Imagination Machine II come to life.
Description: In 1975, Stephen P. Hrobuchak Jr. and his father founded Transcontinental Refrigerated Lines (TRL) in Pittston, Pennsylvania as a family-owned trucking company, starting with two trucks. TRL experienced rapid growth as a result of its focus on service and with its customer base and was soon running a large fleet moving refrigerated goods from coast to coast, or as their tagline said, "from sea to shining sea."
Description: Skateboarding had found its second stride in the '80s, and skateboard companies were producing all kinds of cool new stuff for skaters. RipGrip was one such product that helped give skaters an edge. These small foam finger friendly grip tape appliques provided extra grip for doing various tricks requiring a solid hand hold. For years skaters would just add a small piece of grip tape in areas they wanted better grip, but the harsh texture was hard on skin, so RipGrip solved the problem and saved some fingertips along the way.
Description: Paperboy is an arcade action game released in 1985. The player controls a paperboy as he delivers newspapers for The Daily Sun along a suburban street on his BMX bike. The player has to deliver a week of daily newspapers to subscribers, vandalize non-subscribers' homes, and avoid hazards. The arcade game featured bike handlebars as the controller which were very well received as a unique controller option, though the game's high level of difficulty was often criticized. The following year, Paperboy was ported to PCs and consoles, and a direct to home sequel, Paperboy 2, was released in 1991.
Description: Riley Coventry Limited was a British automaker from Coventry, England that was formed in 1913 from the bicycle manufacturer, Riley Cycle Company, as they changed their focus to becoming a wire-spoked wheel supplier for the burgeoning motor industry. Riley invented the detachable wheel and sold them to over 180 automakers. In 1913, Riley began making their own cars, introducing their first new model, the three-litre 17/30, at the 1913 London Motor Show. The brand was known for creating premium cars that skillfully combined functionality with refined style. The cars were celebrated for their sporty qualities and were beloved by enthusiasts for their speed and handling. The brand’s offerings included small family cars and larger luxury models.
Description: Polaris is an unincorporated community in Beaverhead County, Montana in the Grasshopper Valley southeast of Wisdom. The community takes its name from the Polaris Mine, which operated as a silver mine from 1885 until 1922. The Polar Bar opened in 1946 after the washroom building was purchased and hauled down from the mine. While the bar had power, it never had indoor plumbing, so water was hauled from across the road and if you needed to relieve yourself, you went out back in the pasture. Polar Bar eventually got an outhouse, but most folks still just went in the field. The bar's lack of indoor plumbing was its undoing when the state forced them to close after the better part of 50 years in 1992.
Description: Upon returning from his military service in 1945, Howard Boltz joined his father in his Bottineau, North Dakota variety store business until it was sold in 1951. They then opened the first motel in Bottineau County, naming it Boltz Motel and Package Store, as they also sold packaged liquors to locals and travelers alike from their front office storefront. Howard and his wife Hazel ran the business for sixteen years before selling it to Harold and Ruth Loveland from Wilton in 1967.
Description: Founded by Ilario Bandini in 1946, Bandini Automobili was an Italian automobile manufacturer based in Forlì, Italy. The first Bandini, the Prima, with a body crafted from aluminum and an engine and chassis from an F1100 sedan Bandini hid from the Germans during WWII. Following on from this, Bandini made the 1100 Sport and the 1100 Siluro. It was the Siluro with its four-wheel disc brakes and tubular steel chassis that gave them their first race victory in the Giro dell'Umbria (not to be confused with the bicycle race of the same name). Bandini, divided his time between design and manufacturing, and as a race driver. He entered and drove Bandinis in more than 60 races both hill climb and track racing events, including the Mille Miglia from 1
Description: Seymour Cray began his career as an engineer for Engineering Research Associates (ERA) and then with Univac when that company purchased ERA. He soon left to become one of the founders of Control Data Corporation (CDC) where he was the lead designer of many of the most powerful computers of the day (e.g., CDC 6600). In 1972, he founded Cray Research and his first computer, the Cray-1 delivered in 1976, became an icon of the supercomputer age. Many other supercomputers followed, and the company became known for producing the fastest computers on the market. After Cray died in a car accident in 1996, the company was sold to Silicon Graphics which later merged with Tera Computer Company in 2000. That same year, Tera re-named itself Cray, Inc.
Description: Originally conceived in 1987, the Rhyme Syndicate was a collective of emcees and producers performing under and associated with Rhyme Syndicate Records. The Hip Hop producers, DJs, and lyricists set out to unite West and East Coast rap, starting with the 1988 compilation album, Rhyme Syndicate Comin' Through. Rhyme Syndicate Records continued to add new releases throughout the '90s, but then went quiet in the 2000s.
Description: San Francisco is a vibrant, hilly city on the northern California coast, known for its eclectic neighborhoods, iconic landmarks, and unique blend of cultures. San Francisco’s neighborhoods, like the artsy Mission District, the historic Haight-Ashbury, and the bustling Chinatown, each carry their own distinct flavor. The city's tech-driven economy, largely due to its proximity to Silicon Valley, mingles with its rich history of counterculture and social activism. Home to the famous Alcatraz Island, diverse food scenes, and the picturesque waterfront of Fisherman’s Wharf, San Francisco attracts visitors from around the globe, making it a dynamic and ever-evolving destination.
Description: B. Dalton Bookseller was an American retail bookstore chain founded in 1966 by Bruce Dayton, a member of the same family that operated the Dayton's department store chain. B. Dalton expanded to become the largest retailer of hardcover books in the United States, with 779 stores at the peak of the chain's success. Located mainly at indoor shopping malls, B. Dalton competed primarily with Waldenbooks. Dayton's sold the chain in 1987, and despite a dwindling mall presence in the ensuing years, it continued to operate as B. Dalton. By 2009, just 50 stores remained, and would be closed down by January 2010.
Description: Dead Man's Party is the fifth album by American new wave band Oingo Boingo, released in 1985. The album contains the only two singles by the band to chart on the Hot 100: "Weird Science" at number 45, and "Just Another Day" at number 85. The album was the band's first to be certified gold for sales of 500,000 units. The album cover is an homage to the Mexican holiday Día de Los Muertos, often referred to as 'Day of The Dead.'
Description: The Patent Machinery Company was established by R. C. Frankie in 1905 on 1st Ave. S. in Seattle, Washington. As the company increasingly focused their work on gearing and gear assemblies, the company was renamed Western Gear Works in 1914, and relocated to a larger facility in 1916, where they remained until 1962 when they built a new waterfront factory complex in Everett. From the world's largest doors at the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center and the revolving restaurant at the Space Needle, to the radio telescopes at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex and a series of highly specialized vehicles for the U.S. military, Western Gear became known for making the impossible possible.
Description: Back in 1988, a young man got a flat tire while driving near Scape Ore Swamp outside of the town of Bishopville, South Carolina. After changing his tire, the story goes that a large, green, lizard-like creature emerged from the shadows and viciously attacked his car as he drove away. The purported sightings and damage attributed to the creature yielded a significant amount of newspaper, radio, and television publicity. Many others have claimed encounters with the legendary Lizard Man, leaving a mark on the small, agricultural town. Decades later, the Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp is a well-established inhabitant of the folklore of Lee County, South Carolina, with many people traveling to the area in hopes of finding the elusive cryptid.
Description: The New York Rocker was a music magazine founded by Alan Betrock in 1976 that focused heavily on the punk rock, new wave, and indie music scene. By 1979, it had a circulation of 20,000, and it's estimated to have doubled by the time the magazine suspended publication in October 1982. The New York Rocker published a total of 55 regular issues during its lifetime, plus a May 1979 issue of pictorial content and two issues of a resurrected version published in 1984 that failed to relaunch the publication.
Description: Don "The Snake" Prudhomme is recognized as one of the greatest drag racers of all time. In 1962, Don first made his mark in motorsports when he won the Top Fuel class in Bakersfield, California. One of the biggest names in all of drag racing, and one of the winningest Top Fuel drag racers in the country, Don has driven dragsters and Funny Cars, earned consecutive series titles, and broke the 250-mph barrier, but it's his work over the years to achieve improved safety through chassis and equipment design standards that has improved drag racing for everyone.
Description: The Village of Penn Yan in New York was incorporated in 1833 and is named after "Pennsylvania Yankee." Penn Yan Express (PYE) took the name of the town when the Lake Keuka Boat Company got into the trucking business by acquiring a trucking company and renaming them Penn Yan Express. By the early '50s, PYE ran five terminals across New York and New Jersey. By the mid '60s, PYE had a fleet of 100 trucks and 150 trailers, and a decade on, those numbers doubled. Like with many trucking companies, '80s deregulation changed PYE's trajectory and the company began to struggle. CF Land Services bought PYE in 1983 in hopes of turning them around and bolstering their considerable regional holdings, but in 1989, deemed Penn Yan Express a loss.
Description: It was back in 1957 that Joe Reath opened his speed shop, Reath Automotive, in Long Beach, California. Joe's new joint not only stocked the best go fast goodies in town, but also ran a topflight machine shop, and sponsored several local racers. Located right off the freeway, Reath Automotive became a gathering spot for car meets and clubs, be it ahead of a night of cruising or before hitting the drags at Lions. Sometime in the '80s, the shop made the move to Signal Hill, and kept their doors open for another two decades before closing up shop for good in 2006.
Description: SuperTed is a superhero cartoon series about an anthropomorphic teddy bear with superpowers. The story begins with an ordinary stuffed bear who, upon his creation at a toy factory, was deemed defective and tossed into a storeroom. He is discovered by an alien named Spotty who brings the bear to life using his cosmic dust. Spotty then brings him to Mother Nature, who gives him special powers, transforming him into SuperTed. He and Spotty travel the world to help others in need, and when trouble arises, SuperTed transforms into a superhero adorned with a red suit, cape, and rocket boots, and jumps into action to save the day.
Description: The first Pussycat Theater opened in March 1966 at 444 South Hill Street in Los Angeles, screening a wide range of XXX adult movies and sexploitation films. They were known for being cleaner and fancier than most adult cinemas and became quite popular as a result. The interiors featured red and gold carpeting, velveteen fixtures, beveled glass, mirror walls, chandeliers, oil paintings, and erotic murals. By 1980, there were 30 locations from San Diego to San Francisco, but this would be the chain's peak. With the proliferation of adult movies on VHS and cable, adult movie theaters began falling out of favor and began closing as audiences dwindled. By 1990, fewer than 20 Pussycat Theaters remained, and by 1992, only a dozen were still open.
Description: The Mercury Comet Cyclone is an automobile that was introduced in 1964 as a replacement for the S-22 as the high-performance version of the Comet line and was in production through 1971. The 1968 models dropped "Comet" from their name, though many continued to refer to the model as the 'Comet' or 'Comet Cyclone.' The Cyclone GT's had an upper level body stripe, bucket seats, wide whitewall tires, special wheel covers, an all vinyl interior, and a special handling package. The GT's 390ci made 325hp, though a 428ci option was made available mid-year that made 335hp. The 1968 Cyclone was set a speed record of 189.22 mph at Daytona, making it the fasted production car of the year.
Description: Witch Hazel is a fairy tale witch antagonist with green skin, a round figure, bulbous facial features, and a single tooth who was a recurring character in several Golden Age animated cartoons. Her name is a pun on the witch-hazel plant and folk remedies based on it, and as we learn in an early appearance, is a member in good standing of the Malevolent Order of Witches.
Description: The shopping mall arcade chain that would become known as Aladdin’s Castle began as American Amusements in the early '70s. It was purchased by Bally Manufacturing in 1974 and subsequently renamed Aladdin’s Castle. Over the next several years, the number of store locations grew from 20 in 1974, to over 450 across the US in 1983. The chain was sold in 1989 and rebranded as Cyberstation, marking the end of the Aladdin’s Castle legacy. Cyberstation existed well into the 2000s, but ultimately folded as console and PC gaming took over and malls began to fall out of favor.
Description: Korea Girl were a four-piece indie pop/emo band from San Jose, California that formed in January 1996. They released two self-titled demo tapes in March 1996 before eventually re-recording the songs and releasing them on CD (Korea Girl in 1997; rereleased in 1999 with additional bonus tracks). They released one 7" (Reunion in 1997) and appear on various audio and video compilations. Their sound was generally melodic and understated, featuring both male and female vocals and using clean and undistorted guitars giving them their unique indie sound. While the group broke up in 1999, they did leave a fantastic and incredibly underrated LP behind, filled with tracks that are distinct and varied.
