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Ascot Park, originally named Los Angeles Speedway, later, New Ascot Stadium, and more commonly referred to as Ascot Speedway, was a dirt racetrack located near Gardena, California. Built on the site of a former garbage dump, the main track was a 1/2 mile dirt banked oval, The infield track was a quarter mile dirt banked oval with provisions for figure eight racing. Ascot Speedway was operated between 1957 and 1990, hosting over 5,000 events, including numerous national tour and Grand National races.

Los Angeles Airways (LAA) was a helicopter airline founded in October 1947 in Westchester, California, which offered service to regional airports throughout Southern California. LAA began with airmail service on October 1, 1947, followed by scheduled passenger service in November 1954, making it the world's first scheduled helicopter airline. The main hub was Los Angeles International Airport where passengers were flown to and from local area heliports, including several resorts, hotels, and theme parks. Service was later expanded to Ontario and San Bernardino, allowing the fleet to grow with four new Sikorsky S-61's in March 1962. Despite LAA's popularity, making a profit became increasingly difficult, ceased operations in 1971.

During the late 19th century, bicycle companies were rapidly moving to motorize their bikes, while simultaneously designing new purpose built motorcycle designs. Instead of starting with bicycle production, Champion cyclist Louis Cottereau formed Motorcycles Cottereau in 1891 in Dijon, France. Most of Cottereau's motorcycles used Minerva engines, and were known for their precision construction and reliability. The firm was highly productive, adding bicycles and automobiles to their portfolio of products, but were bought out by a competitor in 1910.

When you mention Florida, most people think of beaches, theme parks, and cruise ships, but what people don't usually know is that Florida also hosts America's biggest single concentration of spiritualists, psychics, and mediums. Roughly 50 miles from Orlando's theme parks, Cassadaga is an idyllic Central Florida enclave with streets tunneled with oak trees, and brightly-painted Victorian-style homes. From the large spiritualist camp founded in 1894 to shops in town offering everything from tarot and numerology, to rune stones and psychic readings, Cassadaga has it all. One such purveyor from the town was Mystic Mayank, who offered his services for over three decades, giving his clients a glimpse into the future and the great beyond.

Golden Moth Chemical is a fictional industrial chemical manufacturing company based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and owned by Chinese businessman Duane Chow. Golden Moth Chemical was the chemical supplier to Gustavo Fring's illicit organization, primarily supplying phenylacetic acid to his superlab for the purpose of manufacturing premium methamphetamine.

Hussmann & Roper Freight Lines was founded in St. Louis, Missouri in 1927 as a general trucking interest. They were one of the first trucking companies to offer regular overnight service, eventually advertising themselves as 'the overnight, every night line.' Initially serving all of Missouri, and eventually all of the Midwest, by the time Hussmann & Roper was sold to a larger trucking company in 1963, they were operating multiple terminals and nationwide routes.

Fast food mascots had some interesting sidekicks over the years, and The Burger Thing is no exception. In TV spots, The Burger Thing was portrayed as a 3D painting of a cheeseburger in a gilded gold frame that was more than happy to chat about his favorite food... which happened to be cheeseburgers. Seriously, try not to think about it too much.

Class of 1984 is a thriller film that ruffled plenty of feathers when it was released in 1982, resulting in the film receiving various 18+ ratings as well as being banned in several countries. Today, the movie is considered an '80s exploitation classic, thanks to the over the top '80s fashions and period correct soundtrack. The story focuses on a new teacher as he arrives at his new school, only to find out he's gotten more than he bargained for. The school is overrun with graffiti, vandalism, violence, drugs, and gangs. Long story short, he has to take matters into his own hands to stop the gang who has chosen to cross some rather serious lines.

Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station (TMI) was originally built by General Public Utilities Corp. (GPU), and operated by Metropolitan Edison Company. Construction began in 1968 and the plant was commissioned in 1974. Located on Three Mile Island in Londonderry Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania on Lake Frederic, a reservoir in the Susquehanna River. With two reactor units and four cooling towers, TMI was capable of producing more than 800 megawatts of carbon-free electricity. In 1979, a partial meltdown of the Unit 2 reactor (TMI-2) released radioactive gases into the environment, making it the worst accident in U.S. nuclear power plant history. The Unit 1 reactor (TMI-1) continued operation until it was shut down in 2019.

Sometimes you catch Santa in the act,,, sometimes you catch mom in the act with Santa.

This was a popular design in the '70s among those who like their wardrobe to be a little more on the offensive side and now it lives again.

Beef & Booze is a fictional restaurant in the fictional town of Melonville which was based on a real restaurant in what we hear is a real city in Alberta, Canada, called Edmonton. Beef & Booze's origins come from a late '70s Canadian television sketch comedy show, in which it made several appearances over the years, including a rather hilarious commercial skit about how they literally only serve beef and booze.

The Herculoids is a Saturday morning cartoon series that ran between 1967 and 1969, with a revival in 1981 as part of the Space Stars show. The story takes place on the planet Amzot (renamed Quasar in the revival), the space barbarian family Zandor, Tara and son Dorno fight alongside their giant pets the Herculoids—laser dragon Zok, space rhinoceros Tundro, rock ape Igoo and the shape-shifting Gloop and his son Gleep—to keep their planet safe from invading robots, mad scientists and mutants. The Herculoids themselves possessed human-level intelligence, understood human speech, and often displayed various emotions. The diverse team fought an endless battle against a stream of villains including, the Faceless People, Destroyer Ants, and more.

The good folks who run Ohio's Cleveland Steamer Paddle Wheel Tours have never quite understood why people snicker when they say the ship's name...

Founded in Denver, Colorado in 1960 by Lee Harrison, Computer Image Corporation (CIC) was in the business of making analog computer graphics in the early '70s. These unique machines included the Animac, CAESAR, and Scanimate graphics systems, though it's without question that Scanimate that is Harrison's crowing achievement. As the final and most advanced system created by CIC, Scanimate was an analog computer animation system (video synthesizer) created in 1969. Scanimates were used to produce a significant portion of the video-based animation seen in TV commercials, show titles, and other graphics. Since they could create animations in real time, this helped the system to supersede film-based animation techniques for television graphics.

Strawberry Fields Pop Festival was a music festival held at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada, about 100 kilometers east of Toronto. The event featured 23 bands and solo artists over three days between August 7 and the early morning hours of August 10, 1970. A three-day ticket for the festival sold for $15.00, and the audience has been estimated at between 75,000 and 100,000 people. Several thousand more American music fans might have been in attendance, but were turned back by Canadian border agents as they were unable to provide proof they had sufficient funds to look after themselves while visiting Canada or produce adequate identification.

The Mouse and the Motorcycle is a children's novel written by Beverly Cleary, illustrated by Louis Darling and published in 1965. It is the first in a trilogy featuring Ralph S. Mouse, a house mouse who can speak to humans (though typically only children), goes on adventures riding his miniature motorcycle, and who longs for excitement and independence while living with his family in a run-down hotel.

Originally a leather bar with an obvious western theme when it opened in 1974, this West Village gay bar eventually played host to a rather diverse crowd with campy drag shows in it's latter years up until it's closing in 2014. This design celebrates Boots & Saddle's earliest incarnation that would end up becoming a 40-year old icon of New York's diverse LGBT scene.

Hitting stores in 1986, Legions of Power was a series of toys that you assembled yourself to form the various outer space combat vehicles featured on the box. The basic core frames of the vehicles were usually a dull gray color, but kids accessorized them with various detail pieces that were in either blue or red, as well as some that were glow-in-the-dark. More importantly, certain pieces were motorized, and when attached wheels, tires, legs, and other pieces, you would be able to actually make your vehicles move. With action figures, robot and mecha themes, and a functional building set, Legions of Power hit on all cylinders as a true cross segment toy.

At the age of 15, Rocky Panzo and his family moved to Chicago from Italy in 1914. Rocky began working as a commercial perch fisherman to help support the family, and eventually opened his own bait shop. Located on Chicago's famous Navy Pier, long before it would be transformed into the polished tourist attraction it is today, Rocky's Bait Shop was a favorite of both commercial fishermen and amateur anglers alike. Rocky's relic of a shack at 138 N. Streeter Dr. sat amidst the ramshackle area that made up the water’s edge for decades, providing fresh bait and, as Rocky called it, questionable advice. Eventually, Rocky's sons joined up, adding a fried seafood trailer and changing the name to Rocky and Sons Fish House in the early '60s.

Imperial Airways was an early British commercial airline, operating from 1924 to 1939, principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia, and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. On May 1, 1927, Imperial introduced its “Silver Wing” service on the London to Paris route, establishing the first ever luxury in flight service. Operated with a dedicated fleet of three silver Armstrong Whitworth Argosy triple engine aircraft, the planes featured spacious silver and gray interiors with upgraded seating, a full bar, and a steward to serve a four-course lunch during the two and a half hour flight. This design is based on a 1935 advertising poster promoting the London to Paris flights.

Silly novelty tees never go out of style, and this mid-2000s 'shit happens' design is no exception. Beyond the obvious, we're not sure exactly what this cartoon duck's problem is, but it's strangely relatable.

Founded in 1962 by the F. W. Woolworth Company, Woolco was an American retail chain. Unlike Woolworth's five-and-dime stores, Woolco was a full-line discount department store, and the creation of the new format coincided with the expansion of suburbia. At its peak, Woolco had hundreds of stores in the US, as well as in Canada and the UK. Woolworth's flagship stores were still doing well, but the company wanted to tap into the growing discount department store market without diluting its dominant position in the variety store business. The first Woolco was located in Columbus, Ohio, and by 1966, there were 18 in the US, and nine in Canada with plans for 30 stores to be added per year.

Calig Steel Drum Co. was founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania back in 1910. There's not a whole lot of explaining needed as to what they did, since it's literally in their name, but for those who are slow on the uptake, Calig Steel Drum Co. made steel drums. Made with premium Pittsburgh Steel, Calig's drums were first-rate and preferred by a wide range of manufacturers. From petroleum refineries to chemical manufacturers, Calig's steel drums could be found from coast to coast and beyond, and were made for the better part of a century.

Starsky & Hutch is an action television series, which consisted of a 70-minute pilot movie (originally aired as a Movie of the Week entry) and 92 episodes of 50 minutes each, broadcast from April 1975 to August 1979. The show focused on tough Det. Sgt. Dave Starsky and educated Det. Sgt. Ken “Hutch” Hutchinson are plainclothes cops taking on dope dealers, muggers, and other thugs. Aided by their souped-up red-and-white 1974 Gran Torino and informant, Huggy Bear, both bachelors’ private lives played as interweaving threads in the drama.

In the early days of personal computers, most computer stores were small, independent shops, and not exactly friendly to first time buyers. Doppler Computer Superstores attempted to change that in 1993 with a single retail location in Vancouver, British Columbia. Set up like more of a traditional consumer electronics store, the brightly lit, spacious interiors carried everything a PC user could want, and had a knowledgeable staff that was happy to help. From that single location, Doppler grew to become a retail giant with locations in both Canada and the US with sales in excess of $150 million. In the '90s sci-fi TV series, Sliders, Quinn and Wade both worked at the Doppler Computer Superstore, Quinn as a technician, and Wade in sales.

Splicing the '70s slavesploitation genre with supernatural eroticism wasn't exactly common, but The Wild White Witch did just that. How successful it was depends on who you ask, but the novel definitely made some waves when it was released in 1973. Written by author Paul Tabori, written under the pen-name Peter Stafford. The story takes place on a Jamaican plantation in the early 1800s, owned by the aristocratic uncle of the novel’s protagonist, Jeremy. The latter is a young Scot who’s been invited to take his uncle’s place... hi jinks of sex magic ensue!

Nevada Bob’s Discount Golf opened their first store in Las Vegas in 1974, and 25 years later, had over 230 stores nationwide. That number was comprised of more than 80 company-owned stores and over 150 franchised locations, with the largest single concentration being 30 stores in California. Nevada Bob’s eventually added tennis to some of their stores, calling them Nevada Bob’s Discount Golf & Tennis, but were always very much gold focused. By the year 2000, a downswing in recreational golf appeared to be more permanent, and the company soon found itself in trouble. Bob’s began cutting underperforming stores loose, but ultimately ended up reorganizing in bankruptcy. Things began looking up for a while, but eventually Bob's would fail again.

Windsor Forestry Tools was founded in Milan, Tennessee in 1948, specializing in the manufacturing of products for chainsaws. Often referring to their product line as 'The Windsor Cutting Train' in marketing materials and catalogs, Windsor's primary product line consisted of chainsaw bars, chains, and sprockets for all major manufacturer's chainsaws. The company continued to produce their line for decades until being acquired by a Swedish firm in the mid-'80s, something that would be repeated several times before the company's demise some time around 2010.

In 1921, Harry Zabarsky and his brother, Mickey, started St. Johnsbury Trucking (SJT) with a single truck, and within a few years, had a growing fleet. Based in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, SJT grew to serve the northeastern U.S., and much of eastern Canada. The company grew and expanded heavily through acquisitions of trucking companies, operating terminals throughout Delaware, New England, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. The mid '80s saw fortunes turn for SJT in a post deregulation trucking industry, and by the end of the decade, it was clear the company was in trouble. After more than seven decades of business, St. Johnsbury Trucking officially closed its doors on June 14, 1993, leaving 4,400 hardworking people out of work.

If you were a young boy in the '70s, there is a high chance that you had a shirt and/or pajamas with this 'Astro Pilot' design.

The San Fernando Valley, known locally simply as 'The Valley,' is an urbanized area in Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as several unincorporated areas; and the incorporated cities of Burbank, Calabasas, Glendale, Hidden Hills, and San Fernando. Much in the same way that New Yorkers bag on New Jersey, the San Fernando Valley gets dumped on by those who live in the Los Angeles Basin. Reasons range from "there's no culture" and "it's too damn hot," to "it's too far away" and "everyone who lives there is lame." This '80s 'Nuke The Valley' design was a popular one that L.A. Basin dwellers could be found wearing with pride.

Founded in 1935, Harbor Tug & Barge Company was one of San Francisco Bay's first dedicated tugboat operators. In business for over half a century, at its peak, Harbor Tug maintained a fleet of 15 high-powered tugboats, and over 70 barges. Aside from guiding freighters in and out of the bay, Harbor Tug's barges were used for everything from waterfront construction and demolition projects, to the haulage of bulk materials and garbage.

Schraderbräu is a homebrew beer lagered by DEA Agent Hank Schrader in Breaking Bad, which he says is "brewed to silky perfection." His home brew is a Märzen style beer that measures a 13 SRM, with 26 units of bitterness, and 6.2% alcohol by volume. We're first introduced to Schraderbräu in Season 2, Episode 13, "ABQ," as we find Hank bottling his latest batch in his garage. This is the day he called in sick after receiving a promotion to the El Paso Intelligence Center, which disappoints his wife, Marie.

Mao Zedong introduced his idea of paper tigers to Americans in a 1946 interview with journalist Anna Louise Strong: "...he outcome of a war is decided by the people, not by one or two new types of weapons. All reactionaries are paper tigers. In appearance, the reactionaries are terrifying, but in reality they are not so powerful." A decade later, Mao was interviewed by Strong a second time, and invoked the concept again: "In appearance it is very powerful but in reality it is nothing to be afraid of; it is a paper tiger. Outwardly a tiger, it is made of paper, unable to withstand the wind and the rain. I believe that it is nothing but a paper tiger."

Danger Doom was a hip hop project consisting of Danger Mouse and MF DOOM. Their first album, The Mouse and the Mask, was released in 2005, and followed by the Occult Hymn EP in 2006. MF Doom had stated that he hoped there would be a second Danger Doom album in which he would rap from the perspective of the cartoons and in their voices, rather than simply create stories around them. Danger Mouse was slated to reunite with MF Doom in 2008, though ultimately no reunion projects occurred before MF Doom's death in 2020.