Description: Pro Wings are an off-brand athletic shoe label that first hit the market in 1979. The low priced sneakers were known for being made poorly and with cheap materials that reportedly caused foot odor. And since middle schoolers are just terrible, Pro Wings became a point of ridicule for many kids who couldn't afford the brand names, and even decades later, those who had to wear them have trauma over them. Somewhat ironically, sneaker collectors have found an affinity for Pro Wings, and new in box kicks can climb pretty high at auction.
Description: Sacred Mountain Trading Post opened in the late 1930s along Highway 89 in Flagstaff, Arizona. Operating as a gas station and convenience store serving travelers along the long highway as well as selling handcrafts from various tribes. The trading post takes its name from San Francisco Peaks located behind the property. Known as Sacred Mountain, these peaks have considerable religious significance to more than a dozen local American Indian tribes. The peaks are associated with the color yellow, and they are said to contain abalone inside, to be secured to the ground with a sunbeam, and to be covered with yellow clouds and evening twilight.
Description: WBCN 104.1 FM went on the air in 1958 as a classical music station in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1968, a new rock format was implemented that would stick around for the next 41 years. WBCN became a legend in the industry for breaking many new bands through an eclectic mix of modern, alternative, and classic rock genres, eventually becoming known as "The Rock of Boston." In addition to rock music, WBCN began supporting non-mainstream investigative reporting and alternative news coverage, including live reports from demonstrations and highly produced montage news reports. The 2000s saw older listeners leaving in droves, and WBCN played its last record shortly after midnight on August 12, 2009, leaving WBCN as a legend of American rock radio.
Description: Released on July 20, 1981, Escape, stylized as 'E5C4P3' on the cover, is the seventh studio album by American rock band Journey. It topped the American Top 200 chart and features four Hot 100 singles. The record quickly became a rock radio staple, and was certified Diamond for at least ten million sales in the US, making it the band's most successful studio album and second most successful album overall.
Description: Semi-Tough is a 1977 American sports comedy film set in the world of American professional football. Semi-Tough follows the story of pro football friends Billy Clyde Puckett and Marvin "Shake" Tiller, who have a third roommate, Barbara Jane Bookman. A romance develops between Shake and Barbara Jane when he becomes self-confident after completing a self awareness course called "B.E.A.T.", at which point Billy Clyde slyly makes a play to win her for himself. The film received mixed receptions, with some reviewers praised its parodies, while others lamented the film's departure from the novel.
Description: Monsters was a syndicated horror anthology TV series that ran from 1988 to 1991. The show grew out of Tales from the Darkside, though unlike Tales, which sometimes featured science fiction and fantasy stories, Monsters was strictly horror-based. As the name implies, most episodes featured a different monster that the story was centered around, from the animatronic puppet of a fictional children's television program to mutated, weapon-wielding lab rats. In the show's self-referencing title sequence, a suburban family of monsters look for something to watch on TV before finally settling on Monsters, saying that it was their favorite show.
Description: Early B.S.A. cars were traditional rear-wheel drives, but from 1929 on, they produced front-wheel drive three-wheelers. These lightweight trikes were popular, especially during the Great Depression. The four-wheeled FW32 was later added, followed by the Scout in 1935. This new two-seater sports car used the same powertrain as its siblings, and with it's low center of gravity and front wheel drive, was said to be a spirited car with remarkable cornering. The Scout was built through four series but did not re-emerge after World War II, as B.S.A. made the decision to concentrate exclusively on motorcycle production.
Description: Wasted Youth (also known as LA's Wasted Youth) was an early '80s hardcore punk band from Los Angeles, California that was highly influential to many SoCal bands. The band was a prominent and popular act among the Los Angeles punk underground, and footage of the original lineup can be seen in the Slog Movie, a film documenting the Orange County punk scene.
Description: In 1923, Pierre Marchal started an electric lighting company focused on high-performance automotive lighting in Pantin, France. While they had no problem getting their lighting products picked up by manufacturers and aftermarket suppliers alike, the brand experienced its first big successes in 1926 as a motorsports sponsor at the Monaco Rally, Paris-Nice, Rudge-Whitworth Cup, and Le Mans. These races demonstrated the resilience of their products and had more people than ever wanting them on their cars. In the late '40s, Marchal began adding other high performance electrical products to their line, most notably of which was their spark plugs. By the ’50s, Marchal was the top brand of aftermarket and OEM electrical accessories in Europe.
Description: If you were a kid in the late '60 or early '70s, you were likely introduced to the comedic stylings of W.C. Fields by way of a mascot known as W.C. Frito. Ironically inspired by the vaudeville comedian known for his love of alcohol and dislike of children and dogs, the cartoon mascot would show up in spots in between cartoons to extoll his love of corn chips. In addition to the TV commercials, some chip bags included W.C. Frito prizes like pencil erasers and stickers. They also had mail order promotional offers for other cool W.C. Frito items that kids could send points from their bags in to exchange for.
Description: Dyno was a BMX company founded in 1982, focusing on apparel and accessories, and eventually making their own bikes. In '88, the new catalog came out, but one bike stood out from the crowd - a Pro Compe Team with Dave Voelker kneeling behind it. By the time new models hit shops, the Pro Compe Team didn't look like the one in the catalog as several parts were swapped out, but the most significant change was that the cool graffiti decals never made it to production bikes. The unicorn bike was truly one-of-a-kind, becoming known as the 'Catalog Voelker-Build.' Over the years, many Dyno fans have recreated the iconic freestyler, including their own graffiti style graphics which were the inspiration for the design we have here.
Description: Don Kirshner's Rock Concert was an American television music variety show that ran during the 1970s and early '80s, created and produced by Don Kirshner and syndicated to television stations. It premiered on September 27, 1973, and its last episode was in 1981. Kirshner had been executive producer and creative consultant on the 'In Concert' series which debuted with two shows in November and December 1972, in the 11:30 p.m. time slot, and became a bi-weekly series in January 1973. In September 1973, Kirshner left In Concert to launch his own syndicated "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert." It premiered on September 27, 1973, and The program featured many of the popular performers of the day during its run and other notable guests.
Description: The Mirage was a 3,000-room Polynesian-themed hotel and casino located on 3400 South Las Vegas Boulevard on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. Opening in 1989, the Mirage was home to an infamous volcano, an exotic atrium located in the middle of the casino, a dolphin habitat, and numerous entertainment residencies. At the time the grand opening, it was the world's most expensive resort, completed at a cost of $630 million, and was also among the world's largest hotels. The Mirage was the first megaresort to open on the strip, and is credited with launching the family-friendly era of Las Vegas in the '90s, with the openings of multiple hotels and casinos that accommodated families with non-gambling and drinking fare.
Description: Based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Priceman-Fox Transport Company specialized in hauling of perishable foods in their state of the art dry ice refrigerated trailers pulled by International KR-11 tractors. While Priceman-Fox was just getting started when WWII broke out, they got a boost by getting a contract to haul food supplies to military bases throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic region.
Description: Founded by Tony Anderson and Paul Wexler in the mid '40s, A&W Bearing Service was a Seattle machine shop specializing in babbitt bearings. While now largely obsolete, Babbitt bearings were a custom bearing made from babbitt metal that was common in just about every pre-war automobile engine. While the shop started out doing basic replacements, as post war hot rod culture and drag racing took off, A&W got into doing more performance oriented work, including complete race balancing, which involved meticulously balancing a crankshaft, pistons, push rods, and other components to optimize performance. A&W continued to be the go to shop for old school machine work in the Pacific Northwest, including babbitt bearings, into the early 2000s.
Description: Dyno was a BMX company founded in 1982, focusing on apparel and accessories, and eventually making their own bikes. In '88, the new catalog came out, but one bike stood out from the crowd - a Pro Compe Team with Dave Voelker kneeling behind it. By the time new models hit shops, the Pro Compe Team didn't look like the one in the catalog as several parts were swapped out, but the most significant change was that the cool graffiti decals never made it to production bikes. The unicorn bike was truly one-of-a-kind, becoming known as the 'Catalog Voelker-Build.' Over the years, many Dyno fans have recreated the iconic freestyler, including their own graffiti style graphics which were the inspiration for the design we have here.
Description: When you open a new business and realize that people are making fun of the name you chose, you can either close up shop and leave town in shame, or suck it up and change the name. Wiener Town of Raleigh, North Carolina found a third option and leaned into the mockery, making their tagline a classic 'your mom' joke and celebrating their love of big wieners. From what we can tell, Wiener Town had a good run of about 15 years, and probably played a part in Raleigh's run up to becoming the number one hot dog loving city in America after consuming more hot dogs than any other U.S. city back in 2022.
Description: Bebe's Kids is a 1992 American adult animated comedy film based on a stand-up routine created by comedian Robin Harris, and is the first animated film to feature an entirely African-American main cast. Originally released theatrically on July 31, 1992, Bebe's Kids was a critical and commercial failure. Although its animation was praised, critics found fault with its story, screenplay and humor. The movie grossed $8.4 million at the box office against a budget of $10 million, becoming a box office bomb. Despite this, it spawned a video game of the same name two years later, which was likewise panned by critics.
Description: US Logistics Solutions (USLS), was formed in 2021 from the acquisition of Forward Air Solutions by a private equity group who spun off the ground transportation and logistics operations into its own company based out of Humble, Texas. At the time of their closure in 2024, USLS employed about 1,200 people: 864 direct employees, 305 contractors and temps and 57 owners and operators. The company had facilities in Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan and several other states.
Description: Hong Kong Phooey is an animated television series that ran from September 7 to December 21, 1974, and then in repeats until 1976. The main character, Hong Kong Phooey, the alter ego of Penrod 'Penry' Pooch, a dog working at a police station as a janitor. Penry disguises himself as Hong Kong Phooey by jumping into a filing cabinet – in so doing he always gets stuck, and is freed by his cat sidekick, Spot. Once disguised, he gets in the Phooeymobile, a vehicle that transforms itself into a boat, a plane or a phone booth, depending on the circumstances. In fighting crime, he relies on his copy of 'The Hong Kong Book of Kung Fu,' a correspondence-course martial-arts instruction handbook. His successes are either thanks to Spot, who provides a s
Description: Detestation is the debut LP by Japanese hardcore punk band G.I.S.M. Released on Dogma Records in 1984, the album displays a unique blend of musical influences that the band would become notable for, ranging from industrial to glam metal guitar work. The record had a very large impact across numerous musical scenes, and its songs have been covered by many notable hardcore punk and extreme metal bands. Due to limited production numbers, the scarcity of Detestation has given the rare album cult status among fans and record collectors alike.
Description: Located in Casa de Oro, a San Diego suburb at the foot of Mt. Helix, Stratus was SoCal's preeminent under-21 dance club, attracting young adults from as far north as Los Angeles. The club had its grand opening in May 1978, when disco music reigned supreme, and the club's illuminated dance floor took styling cues from the adult discos of the era. While the music evolved since the grand opening, the club's patrons remained highly enthusiastic and came to dance and have a good time. In addition to DJs spinning records, Stratus also hosted numerous live performances from artists across the musical spectrum. After nearly 10 years of being the epicenter of entertainment for young adults in San Diego, Stratus closed its doors on June 3, 1987.
Description: The IoW Festival was a British counterculture music festival which took place annually in England from 1968 to 1970. The 1970 event was by far the largest of these early festivals and the unexpectedly high attendance levels led, in 1971, to Parliament adding a County Council Act preventing overnight open-air gatherings of more than 5,000 people without a special license from the council.
Description: Stuyvesant High School (SHS) opened in September 1904 at 345 E. 15th Street as Manhattan's first manual trade school for boys. At the time of its opening, the school consisted of 155 students and 12 teachers. By 1919, officials started restricting admission based on scholastic achievement, and in the late '60s, began admitting girls, making SHS a co-educational school. Having outgrown their original building, in the '80s, a new building overlooking Battery Park began construction in 1989. When it opened in 1992, students bid farewell to their old digs, and moved on - this design is commemorative of the big move to the new building.
Description: Back in the ’60s, releasing goofy promotional vinyl records for your company was a thing, and Mark 56 Records specialized in producing these custom albums. They were usually just complication records offered as giveaways or sold on the cheap, some even included some content from the brand’s mascot or spokesperson.
Description: Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors is a 1985 cartoon series that ran for 65 thirty-minute episodes, was created to support the Wheeled Warriors toy line. The toy line actually came out first, and featured an array of action figures, vehicles, and play sets. The vehicles featured interchangeable elements, allowing kids to design and build their own creations. The show didn't reflect the toy line very well, which didn't help the already poor toy sales. Due to less than successful toy sales, the series' 65-episode run was not extended, and the series ended unresolved. A movie had also been commissioned along with the series, following in the footsteps of other toy-based animated series, and was intended to wrap up the story.
Description: Founded in the early '60s, Saguaro Ranch was a sprawling cattle ranching operation located in rural the township of Forepaugh in Maricopa County, Arizona. Sitting between Wickenburg and Aquilla north of the Highway 60 and the Arizona and California Railroad, at it's peak, the desert ranch consisted of thousands of acres of range land.
Description: Walk Together, Rock Together is a studio album by hardcore punk band 7 Seconds, that was originally released as an EP in 1985. In 1986, it was expanded into a full length by adding live songs to the album's B-Side. Considered an essential chapter of early hardcore, the record's harmonies and singalongs are present in full form, along with the well crafted lyrics that the Reno foursome was known for.
Description: Portrayed by Esther Rolle, Florida Evans is the protagonist of Good Times, the 1974 spin-off of 1972's Maude, and the first sitcom featuring two black parents. Florida is the mother of J.J., Thelma, and Michael Evans, and wife of James Evans. As a stay-at-home mother, she's the glue that keeps the family together. With her stern, but loving disposition, Florida does her best to give her often unemployed husband emotional support and be a good mother and role model for their three children. Between the cooking, cleaning, laundry, and shopping, Florida often squeezed in a part-time job to help stretch the family dollar, and even returned to school to get her high school diploma.
Description: Walter Schneider and his partner B.M. Alexander were pioneers West Hollywood, opening their successful bar, The Gallery Room, in 1962, and also ran the hot club of the day, Up Disco. In the late '70s, Schneider and Alexander decided they’d like to live in Venice, and a friend found them a prime location on Abbot Kinney Boulevard to open a new gay bar at the beach. Opening their doors in 1979 under the name Roosterfish, the bar quickly became a gay hot spot on the westside. Roosterfish became a neighborhood favorite, and operated for decades until finally closing up shop in 2016.
Description: Weber City is an incorporated town in Scott County, Virginia, with a population of around 1,300. While larger municipalities had the big name video rental chain stores moving in during the '80s, if you wanted to rent the latest VHS release in a small town like Weber City, you had the local mom-and-pop video store down the street. Located at 227 Highway 23 South, UFO Video had an expansive, eclectic selection that was better than the chain stores, which is probably why they outlasted them. UFO Video continued to rent videos on multiple formats until 2017 when the owner passed away, leaving the building to stand empty as a landmark of a forgotten past.
Description: The Vikings were among the fiercest warriors of all time, and a select few carried a sword nearly 1,000 years ahead of its time. Crafted by a swordsmith by the name of Ulfberht in Rhineland, a region now known as Western Germany, Ulfberht swords were without equal. Made of a superior quality material known as crucible steel, the Ulfberht was a revolutionary sword known to slice through enemy weapons and armor like butter. Produced between 800 and 1000 AD, the Ulfberht is considered by some to be one of the greatest swords ever made, and while only 170 or so are known to exist, it remains a fearsome weapon more than a millennium after it last saw battle.
Description: Feral swine - also known as wild pigs, wild boars, and wild hogs - are descendants of escaped or released pigs first brought to the United States by Europeans as a food source. Unmanaged, they are dangerous and destructive, and their populations have expanded rapidly across the country. As a result, no bag limit hunting of this invasive species has become a popular sport for hunters, and guided hunts on private ranches stepped up to help. Located in Eagle Pass, Texas, W.B. Ranch is a 1,200 acre working ranch with a wild boar population that they would rather not have, so in 1982 they began offering Wild Boar Hunts on their property to help curtail the problem.
Description: The Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam was a massive demonstration and teach-in across the United States against America's involvement in the Vietnam War. It took place on October 15, 1969, followed a month later, on November 15, 1969, by a large Moratorium March in Washington, D.C. This was the first time anti-war protests reached the level of a full-fledged mass movement, with Americans from all walks of life and political leanings protested together against the war in Vietnam. The primary message was simply "end the war," in an effort to get people to work for peace instead of more war and death. Sadly, the America's involvement in the conflict wouldn't come until 1975, after close to 60,000 U.S. casualties.
Description: The 761st Tank Battalion was an independent tank battalion of the U.S. Army during WWII. Its ranks primarily consisted of African American soldiers, who by War Department policy were not permitted to serve in the same units as White troops - the Armed Forces did not officially desegregate until after the war. The 761st were known as the 'Black Panthers' after their distinctive unit insignia, which featured a black panther's head, and the unit's motto, which was "Come out fighting." The unit was deactivated in 1946, but about a year later in 1947, the 761st was reactivated (as an integrated unit) at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and assigned to the Regular Army, where it served until again deactivated in 1955.
Description: Designed as a value brand, Plymouth was well-suited to serve the post-war baby boom youth market as young men (and women) began taking to the streets, but Plymouth knew that customers wanted more. The combination of a line of lightweight vehicles with low price points, and easy access to some serious powertrains would propel the brand’s ascension from economy car nameplate to muscle car legend. Taking these lightweight cars and jamming a 426ci Max Wedge Hemi into them made for instant drag strip missiles, and professional racers saw what Plymouth was going and got behind them in great numbers.
