Description: Martin (known internationally as Wampyr) is a 1977 psychological horror-slasher film written and directed by George A. Romero about a troubled young man who believes himself to be a vampire. Shot in 1976, Martin was Romero's fifth feature film after 1973's The Crazies. The film did for vampires what he had already done for zombies – create an intense and realistic treatment that follows the exploits of Martin, who claims to be 84 years old and drinks human blood. The story sees Martin arrive in Pittsburgh to stay with his cousin, who promises to save his soul and destroy him once he is finished, but Martin's loneliness finds other means of release. This design is based on the Italian released under the name Wampyr.
Description: Freezers appeared during the 1940s, then known as a 'deep freeze,' but did not go into mass production until after the WWII. People were interested in the economy of freezing foods, but freezers were still considered out of reach of most people at the time. As a result, businesses offering freezer lockers became popular. Acting like a safe deposit box, people could store their food in a locked bin in a walk-in freezer, retrieving items as needed. Once such business was Dyer Frozen Food Lockers in Dyer, Tennessee, which opened up in the '40s. Frozen food lockers began falling out of favor in the '50s as refrigerator/freezer combos became more common, though many rural frozen food lockers continued operating well into the '60s.
Description: Sopwith Camel was a band formed in 1965 that played a big part in the San Francisco psychedelic scene of the late '60s. The band is best known for being the second SF band to get a contract with a national label, and the first to have a Top 40 hit. Their self-titled first album was released in 1967 on Kama Sutra Records. The single "Hello, Hello" became the first hit to emerge from the San Francisco rock scene and reached 26 on the U.S. Hot 100 charts. A second hit, "Postcard from Jamaica," peaked at 88 on the Hot 100 in April 1967. The band was defunct by the end of 1967, but reformed in 1971 with all but one original member to record their second and final album, The Miraculous Hump Returns from the Moon.
Description: At the height of the Great Depression in 1935, William Graves has just lost the family farm. Utilizing the lone asset that he had – a 1933 farm truck – Graves and his four sons formed Graves Truck Service, and began transporting everything from fruits and vegetables to livestock and coal in the Salina, Kansas area. Two years later, the Graves doubled their fleet by buying a second truck, and the seeds of a regional trucking giant were sown. The firm grew into an interstate colossus, with operating territory that stretched from Sioux City south to Dallas and from Kansas City west to Denver. Sadly, William Graves died in 1939, well before the empire had been built, but the company was left in his sons' capable hands.
Description: John Bandimere, Sr. built his first race car in 1937, an old coupe running a flathead V8, which he raced in the Pikes Peak Hill Climb to a ninth place finish. Always known as an innovator, Bandimere went on to become a nationally known expert on supercharging, and began manufacturing and selling speed parts as Bandimere Auto Parts in Denver, Colorado. In 1958, Bandimere purchased land just west of Denver, where he and his family began constructing a drag strip that was to be used to augment their auto parts business. That small drag strip on the hill would become Bandimere Speedway, or as many call it, Thunder Mountain. The drag strip would grow and eventually eclipse the speed shop, with Bandimere focusing on its operation full time.
Description: Louis Marshall "Grandpa" Jones (1913-1998) enjoyed a long, distinctive career in country music. At age 22, he began to play the Grandpa Jones character, with his high-topped boots, bushy mustache, and suspenders. Ramona Riggins (1924-2015), whom he later married, accompanied him on fiddle and mandolin. Appearing regularly on the Grand Ole Opry and the television show Hee Haw, Grandpa Jones became a well-known character with his banjo-playing, old-time stories, songs, and jokes.
Description: In 1946, investment banker Scribner Birlenbach decided that he wanted to get into the trucking business. He began his venture by purchasing a Los Angeles trucking company with 15 tractors and 22 trailers, calling it Transcon Lines, with a plan to turn it into a major transcontinental carrier. By 1962, Transcon had over 1,100 units covering over 14,000 route miles. In three decades time, Transcon had purchased 27 trucking companies, including Kramer-Consolidated Freight Lines in 1978, which made them a true coast-to-coast carrier. Transcon's work force was 3,829 people strong with 5,700 pieces of equipment and 117 terminals in 38 states as of 1981, but as the '80s marched on, Transcon's fortunes began to turn.
Description: The '70s were a high watermark for graphic t-shirts, with countless designs being pumped out and made available through shopping malls and street kiosks everywhere. This 'Give a Sucker a Break' design is one such example, which a deviously cute vampire who is just looking for a nibble.
Description: Based in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, Tor Truck Corporation was originally a crane carrier specialist. The company evolved to produce a wide range of severe service special application vehicles that operate in some of the most extreme conditions on earth. From logging and mining in the great white north to oil field duty in the Middle East, Tor trucks were built to last. In addition to building their own trucks, Tor was also a global supplier of powertrain parts and components to truck manufacturers all over the world.
Description: Wizard Video was a VHS video distribution company that was well-known for its detailed (and often lurid) box art, especially during the time that it sold videocassettes in larger than standard boxes. Los Angeles-based Wizard was a subsidiary of Empire International Pictures, a small film studio. Wizard's videocassettes were originally duplicated by L.A. based Sound/Video Unlimited. Between 1982 and 1987, Wizard released 96 movies on VHS, almost all of which are horror flicks and sex comedies.
Description: Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future is a science fiction-action TV series that merged live action with animation based on computer-generated images that ran for 22 episodes. The story took place on Earth in the 22nd century in the aftermath of the Metal Wars, which led to the subjugation of humanity by intelligent machines. A small unit of human soldiers, survivors of the Metal Wars, lead an underground resistance against the activities of the evil Lord Dread and his monstrous creations, Bio-Dreads, designed to hunt down human survivors and digitize them. A toy line was produced that included unique interactive elements that allowed the toys to interact with a special segment in each episode.
Description: Waddle's was a popular restaurant in Portland, Oregon that opened their doors in 1945. Located on Highway 99 opposite Jantzen Beach Park, approaching the Interstate Bridge between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington, the restaurant that was part drive-in and part dine-in was a landmark eatery. The Waddle's family opened two other Portland locations, but the original was considered the best of the bunch for nearly 60 years before closing in 2006.
Description: Dynamite Magazine from Scholastic is another great reminder of childhood in the 1970s, an age before the home video and video game revolutions. The magazine, published out of Englewood, N.J. was a monthly publication that was filled with interviews with the hottest stars of the day and included fun features that could help pass the hours on a rainy Saturday. In magazine terms, Dynamite had a really good run, managing to stay relevant for almost two decades from it's first issue in 1974 to it's last in 1992.
Description: Late Night with David Letterman was an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman. It premiered on NBC on February 1, 1982 and remained there until 1993 before making the jump to CBS where it was renamed Late Show with David Letterman and ran until Dave's retirement in 2015.
Description: Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids was an American animated television series created, produced, and hosted (in live action bookends) by comedian Bill Cosby, who also lent his voice to a number of characters, including Fat Albert and himself. Filmation was the production company for the series. The show premiered in 1972 and ran until 1985 (with new episodes being produced sporadically during that time frame). The show, based on Cosby's remembrances of his childhood gang, centered on Fat Albert (known for his catchphrase "Hey hey hey!"), and his friends who routinely gathered in a North Philadelphia junkyard to play a song on their cobbled-together instruments.
Description: The Love Boat was an American dramedy tv series set on the luxury cruise ship, S.S. Pacific Princess, which ran May 5, 1977 until Feb 27, 1987, plus, four three-hour long specials aired in 1986, 1987, and 1990. The series revolves around the ship's captain Merrill Stubing and a handful of its crew, with several passengers—played by various guest star actors for each episode—having romantic and humorous adventures. It was part of ABC's popular Saturday-night lineup of the time, which also included Fantasy Island until that series ended two years earlier in 1984.
Description: "If you think prime time sitcoms and soaps are a snooze, and the movies bore you to tears, then watch the man who will excite you and incite you: Morton Downey Jr.! Weeknights at 9 p.m. on Channel 9!" Those are the word used in the original WWOR-TV spots to promote The Morton Downey Jr. Show back in 1987. Morton Downey Jr., an acerbic, chain-smoking commentator who previously worked in radio, was approached by a New Jersey television station to create his own show. What followed was a nightly talk show where Downey would interview known pundits, politicians, and plenty of wacky guests, all while being openly hostile to them. Hailed as the progenitor of 'trash television,' The Morton Downey Jr. Show aired from 1987 to 1989.
Description: The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), officially designated as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, is a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail closely aligned with the highest portion of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, which lie 100 to 150 miles east of the U.S. Pacific coast. The trail's southern terminus is next to the Mexico–United States border, just south of Campo, California, and its northern terminus is on the Canada–US border, upon which it continues unofficially to the Windy Joe Trail within Manning Park in British Columbia; it passes through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. The PCT was conceived in 1932, and received official status under the National Trails System Act of 1968.
Description: The Brady Kids is an animated television series spin-off based on the ABC live-action sitcom The Brady Bunch that aired from September 9, 1972, to October 6, 1973, and also spun off another animated series, Mission: Magic! This Saturday morning cartoon show saw the Brady Kids form a pop group and go on adventures with their newfound friends: two pandas, a shaggy dog, and a magical bird.
Description: California Motor Express (CME) trucking was founded in the early '30s in Los Angeles, California. As their name might imply, they served all of California and California only. With their primary route being I-5 between SoCal and NorCal, and serving major cities in between, CME really did 'carry California.'
Description: If you lived in Seattle in the late '60s, you probably remember the Emerald City's burgeoning counterculture scene that could be found in the U-District. Within this scene reminiscent of Northern California, numerous hippie run businesses sprang up, one of which was Morningtown Pizza and Subs. Tom Ninkovich, Warren Argo, and Bob Owen were friends who quit their jobs to make a worker-owned cooperative pizza parlor a reality, and Morningtown opened their doors on April Fools' Day 1969. Located in a converted garage at 4110 Roosevelt Way NE, the atmosphere was low-key with a folk music soundtrack, and a staff of hippies making some surprisingly food. The college crowd ate it up, as the U-District was lacking in food options in the '60s.
Description: Superdupont is a superhero from the French comic book series of the same name that is both a satire of French nationalist attitudes and a parody of mainstream American superheros. He is the son of the Unknown Soldier buried under the Arc de Triomphe. He is caricaturally chauvinistic and gifted with superpowers that help him to defend his country against a secret terrorist organization called 'Anti-France.' Anti-France agents are all foreigners and thus speak the fictional language 'Anti-Français.' The physical appearance of Superdupont is a superhero version of a stereotypical Frenchman (specially, as seen by the Anglophone world): he wears a beret, a striped jersey, slippers, a tricolor belt held by a safety pin, a long blue cape.
Description: Pleasure to Kill is the second studio album by German thrash metal band Kreator. Released in March 1986, the album is widely considered a landmark thrash metal classic. The album played a considerable role in the development of many extreme metal subgenres, with many death metal bands citing the album as an influence. The lyrical themes follow those found on their first album, Endless Pain, containing descriptions of macabre scenes of death and horror. And just like that first album, Kreator was a three-piece band during the recording of Pleasure to Kill.
Description: The expression 'hair of the dog' nowadays means having another drink in the morning to quell a hangover, but the term originally came from a method of treating a rabid dog bite. Hair from the dog was placed in the wound to help seal the would and allegedly fight off the rabies. Hair of the Dog is also the breakthrough studio album by Scottish hard rock band, Nazareth. Released on April 3, 1975. The album was recorded at Escape Studios, in Kent, with additional recording and mixing at AIR Studios, London. Hair of the Dog was the group’s sixth album, best known, and highest selling release, with over two million copies sold worldwide.
Description: Dragon Wars is a fantasy role-playing video game published in 1989 that featured a first-rate story and sophisticated graphics. The player starts the game with a party of four characters, who can be either the default characters or ones created by the player. Alternatively, the player could import characters from The Bard's Tale trilogy. The story begins with you and your party sailing across uncharted seas in search of a legendary paradise called Dilmun where the king has declared magic illegal. While docked at a harbor in Dilmun, you are arrested on suspicion of spell casting. Imprisoned and stripped of everything but your wits, you are sentenced to life in a cesspool called Purgatory. Magic is your only salvation.
Description: Located in Castlewellan, Ireland, Mooney Bros. was one of the largest distilleries at the turn of the century, producing several brands of traditional Irish whiskey. St. Donard's, commonly reffered to as 'Donard Dew,' was one of their more popular labels. While the whiskey isn't recalled as being especially amazing, not many bottles of Donard Dew are left out there, so they remain on a lot of collector's grail list simply due to their scarcity.
Description: Camp Thundercloud is a fictional summer camp that was first seen in The Bob Newhart Show S3 E23, Emily Hits the Ceiling, that aired February 22, 1975. The episode focused on Bob's wife Emily as she helps organize a summer camp for two weeks in July. This design is actually a double whammy, as it showed up again several years later on WKRP in Cincinnati, sported by none other than Dr. Johnny Fever. Small world, right?
Description: Debut is the international debut studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk, released in July 1993. It was Björk's first recording following the dissolution of her band, the Sugarcubes. The album departed from the rock style of her previous work and drew from an eclectic variety of styles, including electronic pop, house music, jazz, and trip hop. With a new sound came a new look and the 'CyberBjörk' style logo that would soon become emblematic of the singer's solo persona.
Description: In 2000, Al Gore ran for President of the United States alongside his Vice Presidential pick, Joe Lieberman. Gore and Lieberman represented the Democratic Party, while George W. Bush and his running mate Dick Cheney represented the Republican Party. The electoral race was close and ended controversially with Gore not receiving a recount of the votes in Florida as Bush won the election in the electoral college, despite Gore winning the popular vote. The 2000 election is remembered not only for its controversial finish but also for its deepening of partisan politics in the United States in the early 21st century.
Description: Doxxxology is a fictional washed-up metal band that found fame as a one hit wonder in the early '90s. The band makes an appearance in "Rest in Metal," the fourth episode of the first season of Poker Face. Ruby Ruin is the lead singer of dejected band, and after finding a new musician with a knack for writing songs, the band gets a taste of fame once again. Let's rock!
Description: 'Repeal POThibition' was a marijuana legalization rally that took place on July, 3 1978 in front of the White House in Washington, D.C. The rally's stated goal was to get Americans to defend their rights to 'smoke, grow, and share marijuana.' We have no idea if the event had any effect, as marijuana is still very much illegal at the federal level, but the good news is that decades later many states have implemented various legalization efforts of their own.
Description: When World War II ended, the United States was in better economic condition than any other country in the world as GIs bought houses and started families. Furniture manufacturers went into overdrive to furnish all those new homes. The bulk of those factories were in and around High Point, North Carolina, where an estimated 60% of all American furniture was produced within a 150-mile radius. Seeing opportunity, Dietz Motor Lines (DML) of Hickory, North Carolina was founded in the late '40s as a specialty carrier to the booming furniture industry. DML operated nationally for several major furniture makers, hauling product to furniture showrooms, warehouses, and direct to consumer in many cases into the early 2000s before being bought up.
