Description: “From Africa’s deepest recesses to the rarefied peaks of Tibet, heir to his father’s legacy and the world’s darkest mysteries. Jonathan Chase, master of the secrets that divide man from animal, animal from man… Manimal!” So goes the intro narration for the short-lived action-adventure series, Manimal. Created by TV hit maker, Glen A. Larson, Manimal was anything but. The show only lasted eight episodes and has been widely panned as one of the worst shows of all time, but has managed to carve out a cult following over the years. The show centered around Jonathan Chase, who had the ability to transform into animal form, and used that ability to fight crime. Hey, we told you it was bad.
Description: When you think of Sonoma, California, road racing is probably one of the last things on the list, but that all changed in when two friends conceived the idea of a racetrack while on a hunting trip in the southern Sonoma Mountains in 1967. Located at Sears Point in Sonoma County, California, the original 2.520 mile road racing course was constructed on 720 acres and opened on December 1, 1968, with the hosting SCCA Enduro. Featuring 12 turns on a hilly course with 160 ft. of total elevation change, the track is still considered one of America's greatest road racing tracks. The track was renamed Golden State International Raceway, and saw a couple more name changes decades later, but is still in operation today as the Sonoma Raceway.
Description: C.B. McHaul was a line of 3" action figures and vehicles introduced in 1977, the name being a play on country musician C.W. McCall. Featuring a line of good guy and bad guy truckers, along with their respective 18-wheelers, the line played into America's fascination with C.B. radios and truck driving in the '70s. The trucks featured a built-in C.B. style microphone that allowed kids to speak into it and come out of the speaker in the cab. Sadly, the C.B. craze was a rather short-lived national phenomenon, and by the time the line hit the market, the fad was already on its way out. As a result, production ended early, making these really rare pieces for toy collectors to seek out.
Description: The Youngbloods were an American rock band that formed in 1965 and consisted of Jesse Colin Young (vocals, bass, guitar), Jerry Corbitt (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica), Lowell "Banana" Levinger (guitar and electric piano), and Joe Bauer (drums). Despite receiving critical acclaim, they never achieved widespread popularity, with their only U.S. Top 40 entry being the amazing 1967 cover of Chet Powers' a paean to universal brotherhood, "Get Together." As a result, The Youngbloods are often remembered as a one-hit wonder.
Description: In the early days of skateboarding, flexible skateboard decks were highly desirable, and in 1975, Powerflex came up with one of the most flexible decks yet. Made with what they described as pull-truded, high-mat, roving-content fiberglass, these decks were not only flexible, but could withstand over 2 tons of weight without breakage. Powerflex proved this in several ways, but the most memorable was having an elephant plant a foot on a complete skateboard. In addition to making decks, they also made some pretty innovative wheels using their own unique compounds and offered them in more colors and sizes than other manufacturers at the time.
Description: The Gay Ranchero is a 1948 American Western film starring Roy Rogers that was filmed in Wildwood Regional Park in Thousand Oaks, California, and despite its campy title, is one of the more action-packed Roy Rogers movies. The story follows criminal Vance Brados as he seeks to take over the profitable Mazanita Springs Spa and Airline, and uses sabotage and murder to make it happen. Sheriff Roy Rogers steps in to try to stop the sabotage of the planes. Aided by Nicci Lopez, Roy sets up a trap to try to catch Vance and his gang, but things get complicated when Vance becomes suspicious.
Description: T&H Van Works Unlimited got their start in the early '70s, riding the wave of custom van fever and offering a huge selection of custom parts from porthole windows and sunroofs to side pipes and flare kits. From their Los Angeles, California showroom, they also operated a thriving mail order business, with ads in all the major vanner magazines instructing people to write them for a free catalog. In the early '80s, custom vans had died down considerably, and T&H expanded their offerings to support the booming mini truck craze, but by some time in the '90s as mini trucks began falling out of favor, T&H called it quits.
Description: Double Dragon II: The Revenge is a side-scrolling beat 'em up video game produced by Technōs Japan. Originally released as a coin-operated arcade game in 1988, it is the first sequel to Double Dragon, released the previous year. The sequel involves Billy and Jimmy Lee in a mission to avenge Billy's girlfriend Marian after she is shot to death by the Black Warriors leader, Willy, who is retaliating against the Lee brothers after his defeat at the end of the previous game. Double Dragon II was initially developed as an upgrade kit for the original Double Dragon, but evolved into a stand-alone game due to an increase in memory size, resulting in the developers reusing assets for both games.
Description: Reggie 'Rat' Dennison, was a custom chopper builder and owner of Rat's Chops, a custom motorcycle speed shop that ran out of Oakland's Acorn neighborhood throughout the '70s and well into the '80s. Unlike a lot of shops that were always trying to build the next crazy thing and gain prestige through awards and magazine features, Rat didn't play that game. Rat and his crew built choppers to ride, not to fawn over in magazines. In addition to all the typical old school chopper customizations, Rat's Chops also specialized in making them fast, and were one of the first shops to manufacture their own superchargers, turning choppers into veritable land rockets.
Description: Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains is a 1982 film that sees the media and disaffected teens mistake the acerbic rants of an obnoxious teenage punk rocker as a rallying cry for the women of America, launching her and her talentless punk band, The Stains, to national stardom. The Stains are depicted suffering the derision of male audiences and peers, but their dedication—and the fiery public persona of lead singer Corinne Burns—gains them a strong female fan base that ultimately eclipses their antagonists. The closing scene is a triumphant professional music video, indicating that the band had finally achieved rock stardom.
Description: In 1906 the first "W. T. Grant Co. 25 Cent Store" opened in Lynn, Massachusetts. Modest profit, coupled with a fast turnover of inventory, allowed the stores to grow to almost $100 million annual sales by 1936. By the time Grant died in 1972 at age 96, his chain of W. T. Grant Stores had grown to almost 1,200. At the company's end, headquarters were atop One Astor Plaza, a prominent building of New York City's skyline on Times Square. Grant's stores were slower than others to adapt to the growth of the suburbs and the change in shopping habits that this entailed, and the attempt to correct this was belated. W. T. Grant's bankruptcy in 1976, which was the then-second biggest in US history.
Description: Kurtzer Flying Service was founded by legendary Seattle pilot, Alana Kurtzer, at Boeing Field in 1928. Kurtzer would later relocate the business to the south end of Lake Union in 1931. Serving routes throughout the Pacific Northwest, from the Mt. Rainier and the San Juan Islands, to destinations in British Columbia, including Vancouver and Nanaimo, Kurtzer Flying Service got cargo and passengers to their destinations for years. Kurtzer eventually renamed the business Kurtzen Marine and Flying Service School, and began teaching pilots the ins and outs of operating seaplanes. Alana Kurtzer's school continued to operate for decades, training thousands of pilots that would follow in his footsteps, and only closed in 1988 after his death.
Description: SuperVan is a 1977 American vansploitation film that features a very heavily modified van central to the storyline. It is an action adventure comedy road movie and is rated PG. The story follows Clint Morgan as he goes to The Invitational Freak-Out for custom van enthusiasts intending to enter his van, The Sea Witch, in a contest. In saving a runaway, Karen, from a bike gang, Clint loses his van. He goes to his friend Bosley, a rebel designer, who lets Clint and Karen enter his solar-powered laser-firing custom van, Vandora, in place of The Sea Witch. Based on a stock Sportsman van, some of SuperVan's most unusual features are solar panels, the ability to emit laser beams, and a complete custom body.
Description: Founded in Hollywood, California in 1967, Dimetrics Inc. was an innovator in the development of automated orbital welding equipment for use in precision welding of pipes and tubes. Initially using third party welders with their custom automation systems, Dimetrics would eventually produce their own welders and power supplies that would become known as some of the best in the business.
Description: In 1932, L.J. Skaggs opened PayLess Drug Stores in Tacoma, Washington, which soon expanded across the western United States. Some stores were sold to his brother Samuel "L.S." Olnie Skaggs, along with some colleagues. L.J. Skaggs retained California PayLess Stores, which eventually became part of Thrifty PayLess. The remaining PayLess stores were renamed Skaggs Drug Stores in 1948, and Skaggs Drug Centers in 1965. The chain grew through both acquisition and internal expansion. By 1984, PayLess Drug Stores was the largest independently owned and operated drug store chain in the United States. In 1986, there were 225 PayLess stores, and by 1990, PayLess operated in nine western states before being acquired by a larger national chain.
Description: Founded in 1987 by a former owner-operator, Florilli Transportation was a family-owned trucking company with contract hauling business of dry, refrigerated and frozen food industry leaders. Based out of Iowa, Florilli provided service out of Midwestern states including Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and eastern Nebraska with primary traffic lanes to eastern Pennsylvania, Georgia, northern Texas and California.
Description: Strange Adventures was a series of comic books first published in the fall of 1950, and published continuously until November 1973, for a total of 244 issues. It began with an adaptation of the film Destination Moon and was home to one of the last superheroes of the pre-Silver Age of Comic Books era, Captain Comet. Other notable series included Star Hawkins which began in issue #114 and the Atomic Knights which debuted in issue #117. This one is our take on issue #79 from April 1957, Invaders From the Ice World. In this tale, two boys build snowmen during an unseasonal snowfall, only to discover their creations missing the next morning. During the night, the snowmen had been possessed by energy beings from the ice planet!
Description: Seven Santini Brothers (also Santini Brothers, Inc.) was a full-service American moving, storage, and relocation company that was founded by seven Italian immigrants. The seven brothers were Pasquale, Pietro, Paride, Rinaldo, Agostino, Goffredo, and Martino, five of whom started the business in 1905, with the last two others joining in 1907. Ultimately, the Seven Santini Brothers grew into one of the world's largest moving, packing and shipping organizations, with offices and warehousing facilities from coast to coast and in six foreign countries. The Santini family eventually sold the company to another moving and storage outfit in 1988 that decided to dismantle and sell the various operations and by 1993, the company was dissolved.
Description: Founded in 1911 as Electric Autolite in Toledo, Ohio, the company produced generators to power early day buggy lamps. In 1927, they acquired an automotive battery manufacturer, and in 1935, Electric Autolite decided they should get into the business of manufacturing spark plugs. In 1936 the first spark plug was produced at their Fostoria, Ohio plant. Electric Autolite's products were expanded further to include starter motors, ignition systems, and wire and cable products. With a full range of automotive electrical goods in their stables, Electric Autolite began securing supply contracts with leading car manufacturers, providing their products as OEM installations, and allowing Electric Autolite to move into a phase of explosive growth.
Description: In the early '80s, parody cartoon shirts were big things, and if you frequented head shops or jam band shows, you're probably no stranger to the Shroomy Tunes series. These designs featured many childhood favorites enjoying smoking joints, taking bong rips, and otherwise living the 420 lifestyle. Named after the highly potent marijuana from female plants that are specially tended and kept seedless by preventing pollination in order to induce a high resin content, Sinsemilla Sam is the cannabis cowboy who is prepared for any potential opportunity to smoke.
Description: Rigor Mortis was an American thrash metal band that formed in 1983 in the DFW Texas area. The band created some of the heaviest thrash metal of the era, often flirting with death metal, cutting a demo in 1986. As one of the only major thrash bands from Texas, Rigor Mortis is often credited with creating the lone star state's underground metal scene. When thrash metal started to be seen as commercially viable, Rigor Mortis got a major label deal and released a self-titled first album in 1988. Releasing an EP in 1989, and a second LP in 1991, the band called it quits later that year. 23 years later, they would reunite for a final album in 2014 that would not only be crowdfunded by fans, but end up being considered their most brilliant work...
Description: Snakes on a Plane is a 2006 thriller that follows FBI agent Neville Flynn as he boards a flight from Hawaii to Los Angeles, escorting a witness to trial. An onboard assassin releases a crate of deadly serpents in an attempt to kill the witness. Flynn and a host of frightened passengers and crew must band together to survive the slithery threat. The entire premise of the movie is pretty absurd, but that is part of the campy charm that made Snakes on a Plane successful on its own terms.
Description: Donn McMorris founded NationsWay Transport Service, Inc. in 1965 in Denver, Colorado. Over the next three decades, Donn grew NationsWay to be one of the largest less-than-truckload carriers in the country, but by the end of the '90s, life in a deregulated trucking industry was proving unprofitable and NationsWay filed for bankruptcy in 1999.
Description: USA Up All Night was a hosted cable movie show that ran on Friday and Saturday nights from 1989 to 1998. Programming tweaks were made here and there over the years, but for the most part, the show consisted of three movies that would air from 11 pm to 5 am. The show had three hosts during its nearly decade-long run; Gilbert Gottfried hosted Saturday nights, and when the show began Caroline Schlitt hosted Friday nights, but in 1991, Rhonda Shear took over as the host of the Friday night edition. The hosted version of USA Up All Night was brought to an end in 1998 as a result of new management wanting more upscale viewership. The network fired the hosts and started airing mainstream movies throughout the night, instead of B-movies.
Description: 1984's Footloose follows newcomer Ren McCormack as he discovers the small Midwestern town he now calls home after relocating from Chicago has made dancing and rock music illegal. As he struggles to fit in, Ren faces an uphill battle to change things. With the help of his new friend, Willard Hewitt, and defiant teen Ariel Moore, he might loosen up this conservative town. But Ariel's influential father, Reverend Shaw Moore, stands in the way. The Dance Your Ass Off shirt was worn in a key scene by Ariel Moore and speaks to the movie's overarching theme of the love of dancing.
Description: In the early '90s, irreverent designs like this 'I Blame Society' example could be found in record stores and head shops across the country. This one gained some prominence when it was featured in the 1993 indie flick about a group of gay and lesbian teens living in Los Angeles, Totally F***ed Up. Whether you're a '90s cinephile or just someone with a lot of teen angst, this one is for you!
Description: Rupp Industries was born in 1959 when Mickey Rupp began assembling and selling go-karts from his basement in Mansfield, Ohio. Originally called Rupp Manufacturing, the name Rupp Industries was adopted in 1971. In that year Rupp employed 400, with 23 engineers in the R&D department and sales in the millions. In addition to their popular go-karts, Rupp began producing minibikes and snowmobiles in the early 1960s. Mickey Rupp sold the company in 1973 when it ran into financial trouble as the market turned. Although the Rupp would continue to produce dirt bikes, minibikes, and snowmobiles, they would never regain financial stability and by 1978, went bankrupt.
Description: Founded in 1888 with a team of horse-drawn hauling wagons, Matlack Inc. was based in Wilmington, Delaware. Matlack would grow to become the largest tanker line in America, becoming known as the "Pipeline on Wheels." From petroleum and chemicals, to dry bulk, and food grade product, Matlack Inc. had the specialized tanker trailers and terminal network to help get it where it needed to be. Sadly, after more than a century of doing business, the Pipeline on Wheels went into bankruptcy and was bought up and sold off in 2001.
Description: The Vampire Lovers is a 1970 British Gothic horror film based on the 1872 Sheridan Le Fanu novella 'Carmilla.' It is the first film in the Karnstein Trilogy, the other two films being Lust for a Vampire (1971) and Twins of Evil (1971). The three films were somewhat daring for the time in explicitly depicting lesbian themes. The story follows a sultry vampiress who bewitches and preys upon the blood of young virgins in order to prolong her unnatural life. The film plays with the well-known vampire myths and crafts an impressively mounted gothic horror production while still making ample time to highlight ample fleshy bits and gore.
Description: Northwest Airlines was founded in 1926 as Northwest Airways, a reference to the historical name of the Northwest Territory. Like other early airlines, Northwest's focus was not on moving passengers, but in flying mail for the Post Office. Northwest began carrying passengers in 1927, and in 1947, Northwest was the first airline to begin direct service between the United States and Japan. By the '60s, Northwest had regular service to Hong Kong, Manila, Okinawa, Osaka, Taipei, Tokyo, Seoul, making them the world's leading transpacific airline serving the Asian region, formerly known as 'The Orient.' Northwest began marketing themselves as Northwest Orient Airlines in 1969, which included a total rebrand and a fleet refresh with 747 jumbo jets.
Description: Leroy Hurte was a musician, recording engineer, musician, educator, and promoter of African-American culture. He learned the business of manufacturing records while working at Allied Record Manufacturing in Hollywood in the 1930s. In 1939, Hurte opened the Flash Record Store at 623 East Vernon Ave, where he established Bronze Records, one of the first independently owned record labels to record African-American artists. Hurte is credited with having the first self-contained R&B recording and 78 RPM record manufacturing facility inside his record store, and as a result of his tenacity, recorded many artists that otherwise may have never been heard, let alone pressed to vinyl. All told, Hurte recorded more than 100 78's by the '50s.
Description: Roadway Express, Inc. was founded in Akron, Ohio in December 1930. While Roadway began with an owner-operator model and primarily focused on truckload shipments, but by the mid '40s, it had shifted entirely to company-owned vehicles and mostly to less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping. Roadway became a publicly traded company in 1956, and in subsequent years, it expanded across the United States and by 1982 was operating over 500 terminals nationwide. By 2003, Roadway Express was the largest LTL carrier in the US, and held that title until 2009 when they were purchased by a logistics holding company that would merge Roadway into their operations, ending Roadway's nearly 80 year legacy.
Description: Three Amigos, stylized as ¡Three Amigos! in English markets and as ¡Tres Amigos! in Spanish language markets, is a 1986 American Western comedy film. It is the story of three silent film stars who are mistaken for real heroes. The story takes place in 1916, when a bandit terrorizes a small Mexican village, and a local girl reaches out to three unemployed singing cowboy movie stars, mistakenly believing that they are as heroes as seen on the big screen. The actors believe they are going south of the border to perform, but as they arrive in the village, they start to realize that there has been a terrible mistake... hi jinks ensue.
Description: A 19-year-old named Nick bought this cherry red 1975 G-10 from its original owner right off Van Nuys Boulevard in 1977. It was already mildly customized with gold pinstripe work and a set of mags, but Nick wanted to make it his own. Since naming vans was what people did back then, he dubbed it Wild Cherry, and added a set of flares, but didn't have the dough to get them painted. Somewhat ironically, the bright white flares are what really made Wild Cherry pop, and caught the attention of the film crew from the 1979 B-movie, Van Nuys Blvd. They asked if he wanted his van to make an appearance in the movie, and of course, he said yes, so Wild Cherry can be seen in all its glory for about 3 seconds in the movie and in the trailer.
Description: It's hard to believe that at one point you would tell your doctor that you had dandruff, and he would suggest you use cocaine to remedy it. Burnett's Cocoaine Hair Dressing was the invention of Boston pharmacist, Joseph Burnett, choosing the less common spelling of cocaine in the name. The formula may have been intended to exploit the popularity of cocaine-laced medicines flooding the market in the late 1850s, but unlike most of his competitors, Burnett stood out as one of the few fully qualified proprietors certified as a pharmacist. The original product was primarily a 50/50 mix of coconut oil and alcohol, so no idea how much (if any) cocaine was actually in it, but it was touted to stimulate healthy and vigorous hair growth.
Description: Popples were plush toys manufactured between 1986 and 1988. Each toy had a pouch on the back that could be inverted, so the character rolled into the pouch and resembled a brightly colored ball. Popples resembled colorful animals with long, pompom-tipped tails. The name "Popple" is a reference to the popping sound they make when unfolding themselves from such a ball, or pulling objects from their pouches. In the cartoon series of the same name, Popples commonly pulled large items from their pouches that could not possibly fit inside. In the "Popples Alley" episode, one of the Popples' human friends looks inside one of their pouches and sees numerous objects floating in a large void.
