Description: Founded by Herman Steinlauf in 1916 as a music store, Herman’s World of Sporting Goods was a large chain of sporting goods stores in the United States. At one time, there was a gentleman’s agreement with west coast competitor, Oshman’s Sporting Goods, that the Herman’s chain would stay east of the Mississippi, while Oshman’s would be dominant on the west coast. Later on, Herman’s did expand west with the acquisition of Salt Lake City-based Sunset Sports Centers, although this was short-lived. By 1992, Herman’s had 259 stores in 35 states, but the entered into bankruptcy in 1993, first closing stores in the New York metropolitan area, then the New York City stores.
Description: Elephant Memory Systems (EMS) was a popular brand of floppy disk media produced by Leading Edge in the '80s. The name for the product was derived because of the common folk wisdom that an elephant never forgets. Elephant was founded in 1980. The brand was originally devised as an inexpensive, mass-market product, and its imposing pachyderm logo paired with bright yellow packaging, which was in stark contrast of the more conservative silvers and blues used by competitors. Investors feared this would undermine the credibility of the product, however, Elephant would become viewed as a premium product, eventually becoming one of the highest-margin floppies on the market and one of the best-selling media brands in history.
Description: Giggles Cookies were an American snack food that came about in the mid '80s, and were most likely based on a similar product sold in the UK for decades prior. They were sandwich cookies made with chocolate or vanilla outsides and two types of cream in the middle, and were named Giggles because the outside cookies had holes in the shapes of happy, laughing faces. Like a lot of the more obscure snack foods, it's unclear when Giggles had their last laugh, but we have seen evidence that they made it into the mid '90s in many markets.
Description: Popular with both locals and tourists alike, Dreadful's Tavern was a pirate themed bar located in Pascagoula, Mississippi. While not exactly a dive bar by definition, it was just divey enough that dive bar aficionados would feel a certain kinship with the place, though better pirate themed bars tend to accomplish this feat routinely.
Description: As legend has it, Racer Brown wanted a better performing cam for his racer, but wanted something different than what was available, and decided to learn how to make his own and actually pulled it off, eventually creating new grinds for friends and club members. Turns out that he was considerably better at making cams than he would have guessed. Each grind he designed for each application was better than the last, and before he knew it, he had a full time business and Racer Brown Cams 1960 became synonymous with high performance racing engines throughout the '60s and well into the '70s.
Description: When you think of Tiki culture, Dayton, Ohio is probably one of the last places that comes to mind, yet back in the '50s as Polynesian exotica was all the rage, The Tropics opened to give the Midwest a South Seas experience of their own. From exotic cocktails and Polynesian inspired cuisine, to live exotica music and topless dancers, The Tropics impressed their guests in tiki culture that attracted locals and celebrities alike.
Description: The Bonanza was a western-themed hotel and casino that opened in July 1967 in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was built right on the strip in between the Three Coins and the Galaxy Motel, both of which served as the Bonanza's lodging as despite the name, the Bonanza didn't actually have any hotel rooms. The casino did however have a luxurious theater that screened classic western films, which was a popular respite from the casino floor. Additionally, the casino became popular for its country music acts, many of whom were big name artists or would go on to be big names. There had been plans to add a high-rise hotel to the casino, but this never materialized. The Bonanza would change hands in the early '70s and towards the end of 1973, was demolished.
Description: Brothers Bernie and Lawrence Nicholson founded Nicholson Bros. Motorcycles in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada in 1933. If you think opening a motorcycle shop during the great depression in a town with few people and fewer motorcycles would end in certain failure, you would be wrong. The brothers imported bikes and support parts for numerous makes to sell from their shop, but also tried their hand at creating a mail order catalog. Given their central location, they were not only able to ship quickly throughout Canada, but also the U.S., and their business took off. While servicing and repairing bikes in their shop, Bernie's knack for explaining, the way motors worked led to him writing the bible of classic motorcycle repair.
Description: East Bay Grease is the debut album by Oakland, California soul and funk group Tower of Power, released in 1970. The record shows the band at an early stage of development, and contains a more ragged, horn-heavy R&B style than subsequent releases. The band tightened up and polished their technique heading into their second record, Bump City, but the notable improvements were in place in time for 1973's self-titled Tower of Power, the group's most successful album.
Description: Innerspace is a 1987 sci-fi comedy about a top-secret test of a sub-miniaturization experiment that goes wildly awry. When industrial spies steal the technology, the daring pilot of the world's first molecular-sized craft is accidentally injected into the bloodstream of a hypochondriac grocery store clerk. Now with only a 24-hour supply of oxygen, the atom-sized test pilot must convince the guy whose body he is in to be a hero. He directs him from within to recover the stolen technology, convince his girlfriend that he loves her, and save both of them from a certain death.
Description: Road to Ruin is the fourth studio album by American punk rock band the Ramones, released on September 21, 1978, it was the first Ramones album to feature new drummer Marky, who replaced Tommy. The cover artwork originated by a Ramones fan who illustrated the members performing with a lobster claw coming out of an amplifier and a snake around their feet. Following the drawing's completion in '77, the band decided to make it the Road to Ruin cover. This sketch did, however, include original drummer Tommy, so the drawing had to be modified to depict Marky instead, and was further edited to remove the snakes and lobster claw.
Description: Founded in 1930, Smith's Transfer Corporation was based out of Staunton, Virginia and, inside of 50 years, grew to be the eighth-largest trucking company in America. For decades, you could find their signature 'ST' logomark on their silver trailers traveling from coast to coast until the company was bought out in the early '80s.
Description: The Crawfords Restaurant, Guns & Ammo sign on Main Street in Boonsboro, Maryland was one of the most photographed signs in town for over 40 years. I'm not sure if it was the unusual pairing of offerings, the grandmotherly figure secretly flipping off passersby, or the missing apostrophe in the name, but people loved that sign. Part restaurant and part sporting goods/general store, Crawfords was a true small town gem that served up lunch, breakfast, and dinner with a side of shotguns, jigsaw puzzles, and live bait to locals and tourists alike, all with a down home and rather eclectic vibe like no other.
Description: Broken Hill is a frontier mining town in the far west of New South Wales, in the Australian outback. Known as the Silver City, Broken Hill is situated on one of the world’s richest deposits of silver, lead, and zinc ores. The town sits in a hot and subarid region, and like most places in Australia's vast outback, breaking down between here and there can be a case of life and death for the unprepared. Thankfully, towing operations like Outback Towing provide 24-hour rapid service to retrieve folks who find themselves stranded on the highway due to mechanical breakdown or those who venture a little too far off-road and find themselves stuck in the red silt that covered the region, Outback Towing can get travelers back on the road in no time.
Description: In 1905, Miss Jessie Williams took over an established brothel operating out of a La Grange, Texas hotel. She soon abandoned the hotel, moving to a house on the outskirts of town that would become known as Miss Jessie's. In 1915, Williams purchased eleven acres of land on Rocky Creek Road, which would become the permanent site of the brothel. During the Depression, Williams had to lower prices as customers dwindled and implemented a "poultry standard," charging one live chicken for each sex act. The number of chickens at the brothel soon exploded, and the place became known as The Chicken Ranch, with Williams supplementing her income by selling surplus chickens and eggs.
Description: The Scottish Claymores were an American football team based in Scotland. The franchise played in the World League of American Football (later renamed Europe League) between 1995 and 2004, initially playing all home games at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, and latterly sharing home games with Hampden Park, Glasgow. In ten seasons of play, the Claymores reached the World Bowl on two occasions, with victory in World Bowl '96 but defeat in World Bowl 2000. Their name derives from that of the Claymore, a double-edged sword historically used in Scottish clan warfare.
Description: Named after the 1968 British horror film of the same name, Witchfinder General was a heavy metal band formed in Stourbridge, England in 1979. They were part of the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) scene and have been cited as a major influence on the doom metal genre. Witchfinder General disbanded sometime in 1984 after two albums and three singles were released, amidst controversy of their sexually explicit album covers in the UK. The band's importance was acknowledged after they disbanded, though they did come back together for a third and final full-length album, Resurrected, in 2008.
Description: James Lee Lindsey Jr. (May 1, 1980 – January 13, 2010), known professionally as Jay Reatard, was an American musician from Memphis, Tennessee. Lindsey was a self-taught musician who was writing songs before he even knew how to tune a guitar. As a kid, he'd simply tune the instrument to what sounded right to him and then develop his own chords, later learning and adopting the standard guitar tuning so that he could play with other musicians. Reatard was a prolific songwriter, releasing more than 100 records, 22 of which were full-length albums. In 2009, he relaunched his indie label, Shattered Records, releasing a compilation album titled Greatest Messes, and embarking on an American tour. Sadly, that would be his last tour, as he passed awa
Description: Galaxian is a fixed shooter video game that began showing up in arcades in 1979. The player assumes control of the star fighter Galaxip in its mission to protect Earth from waves of Galaxian aliens. Gameplay involves destroying each formation of aliens, who dive down towards the player in an attempt to hit them. The aliens appear in formation towards the top of the screen, with two escort ships, labeled the "Galaxian Flagship" or "Galboss." Enemies divebomb towards the bottom of the screen while shooting projectiles in an attempt to hit the player. The Galaxip can only fire one shot at a time, and the player must wait for it to either hit an enemy or clear the screen before being able to fire another, due to limitations of the hardware.
Description: Once Bitten is the third studio album by American rock band Great White. It was released on June 17, 1987 and became a commercial success, selling more than one million copies and being certified platinum in April 1988. The anthem "Rock Me" became a hit single, charting in September 1987, and is one of Great White's best known songs. The album is said to have brought Great White a broader audience as they hit their stride with a mix of blues-infused rock and arena rock anthems.
