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Championship Vinyl is the fictional record store from the 2000 film, High Fidelity, based on the 1995 British novel of the same name, though the setting moved from London to Chicago for the screen. Owned by Rob Gordon, and located in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood, he and his employees are archetypal music snobs, the kind who'd sneer when someone picks up the latest hit record. Throughout the film, the crew leverage their encyclopedic knowledge of music to belittle customers, compile "Top 5" lists for every conceivable occasion, openly mock people's musical tastes, and occasionally manage to sell few records. How Championship Vinyl managed to stay in business is beyond me, but hey, it's a movie, right?

The Rotters were a punk band from Los Angeles, California that set out to create vile and disgusting music. The band formed in late '77, though they didn't actually play live until '78, which is the same year they released a single called 'Sit On My Face Stevie Nix.' Random punk bands focused on creating vile music rarely get much attention, but the band not only weaseled their way into L.A.'s biggest rock station, but managed to get their single played on the air before being kicked out. The track was a hit, and people were calling in to request it, and asking record stores to stock it, but not everyone was happy. The then boyfriend of the subject of the song got kind of upset, and started threatening record stores and radio stations...

This simple red, white, and blue parody design made waves back in 2002, and now a well-worn version is back for another round!

"I’d like to rest my heavy head tonight on a bed of California stars..."

Exodus' third studio album, Fabulous Disaster, was released on January 30, 1989, and the thrash metal band promptly hit the road to support the new record with a five-month tour. Starting out with a month of European dates in February, the band returned to the states and kept their live performances going through July that same year. Fabulous Disaster and the accompanying tour, but still failed to gain them a well-deserved place alongside other thrash metal giants of the time.

Known as the "Five Flavor Gum," Fruit Stripe was a fruit flavored chewing gum invented by James Parker in 1960. A character known as the Fruit Stripe Gum Man was used to promote the product; he was an anthropomorphic gum pack with limbs and a face. The Stripe Family Animals, which included a zebra, tiger, elephant, and mouse, were also used for advertising and featured in a coloring book and plush toys. However, the zebra, later named Yipes, outlasted the other characters to become Fruit Stripe's sole mascot. The advertising slogan, "Yipes! Stripes!" has often been used with this character, as he freaks out about the striped gum. Wrappers contained temporary tattoos of Yipes engaging in a variety of athletic endeavors.

On September 13 and 14, 1969, a selection of the finest folk singers and musicians in the world convened on the edge of Highway 1 in Big Sur, California for a rather intimate gathering of peace, love, music, and a farewell to summer. Set to a backdrop of some of America’s most glorious scenery, the sixth annual Big Sur Folk Festival continued to be an 'anti-festival festival,' considered by attendees as the antithesis of the more commercial events, though the artists considered it an antidote to them. The non-profit 1969 event maintained the tradition of staying small through minimal advertising. It's estimated that 5,000 paid to enter the festival each day, and another 2,000 or so listened freely by camping along the highway out front.

Founded in 1929 by John and Katherine Cooper in Holland, Michigan, Holland Motor Express operated a north-south line haul covering Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky, and Ohio. When Congress passed The Motor Carrier Act of 1935, requiring new trucking firms to obtain an operating certificate through the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), Holland's routes were locked in with little worry about competition. "The Big Dutch Fleet" bought up smaller companies and took on their operating authority to expand their reach over the years, and before too long, were the largest trucking company in Michigan, and at one point, were even the biggest in the Midwest.

Nobody expected much out of the '93 Tigers, but when Fielder, Fryman, Tettleton, and Trammell stood at home plate, folks just knew this season would be different. It was like a bolt of lightning struck the team to charge them up for greatness, and sent these four heavy hitters to unleash a 'Thwack Attack' that the opposing teams never saw coming.

Harold’s Club was a casino established in 1935 by Harold S. Smith Sr. and his brother, Raymond. Soon afterward, their father, Raymond I. (“Pappy”) Smith (1887–1967), was appointed general manager and became the public face of the casino. Pappy Smith developed a marketing campaign that made the casino famous, using more than two thousand billboards across the United States advertising “Harold’s Club or Bust,” often written on a Conestoga wagon. By the 1970s, most of the billboards had been taken down because of the Highway Beautification Act. Harold’s billed itself as being both the world’s largest casino, and the first one in Reno, though we’re yet to see either verified anywhere.

The history of chocolate can be traced to the ancient Maya, and even earlier to the Olmecs. While the word “chocolate” may conjure images of sweet candy bars and decadent cakes, the confections of today bear little resemblance to the chocolate of the past. Made from the fruit of cacao trees, which are native to Central and South America, chocolate eventually made its way around the world, with countries creating their own regional treats. After perfecting his recipe, a businessman named August started a new confectionery in Berlin, Germany with just three employees in 1903. His chocolates were a hit, and considered some of the very best around, with shops throughout Europe stocking the tasty treats.

Head shops have long been great sources for stoner parody designs, and this early '70s Legalize Freedom design is no exception.

This bad mo-fo design tells the world that you’re one bad mo-fo… or, if worn ironically, that you’ve got a great sense of humor. Wear with caution, as a lot of bad mo-fos out there will want you to prove it, and we can’t be held responsible for nunchaku fights that go awry.

The Liquor Hole is a fictional liquor store from Los Santos in the GTA universe. There are two Liquor Hole locations in Los Santos, both of which are open 24-hours and sell liquor, beer, wine, and smokes. In game, they are not accessible to the player and have no role in the storyline. The real life building that houses the Liquor Hole is based on is the now shuttered Spirit Shoppe located on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California.

Following the departure of the Minnesota North Stars in 1993, the state of Minnesota was left without a professional hockey team. To fill that void, the Minnesota Moose were founded the following year, using the Saint Paul Civic Center as its home arena. After two years in the Twin Cities, the team was sold to a group of Canadian businessmen in 1996 who relocated the team to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and promptly renamed them.

The Dead Boys' 1977 debut is among the greatest punk albums ever made, so a follow-up was going to be tough. The band's label was convinced they had commercial potential, so to insure success, they brought in Felix Pappalardi to produce their 1978 follow up, We Have Come For Your Children. Pappalardi was best known as the bassist for rock band Mountain, and his job was to reign in the Boys. Unfortunately, he was so successful that he ruined a lot of what was great about the Dead Boys. Recording was problematic, and sessions were halted when the band became convinced that Pappalardi didn't understand their music. The band tried, but were unsuccessful to get another producer; so the album was pushed out, and they broke up a short time later.

Commonly referred to as "the Golden Kola," Inca Kola is a soft drink that was created in Peru in 1935 by British immigrant Joseph Robinson Lindley. The soda has a sweet, fruity flavor that somewhat resembles its main ingredient, lemon verbena, though Americans compare its flavor to that of bubblegum or cream soda. The golden soda is a source of national pride and patriotism in Peru, and while it has not enjoyed major success outside Peru, it can be found in Latin specialty shops worldwide in both bottles and cans.

Founded in 1976 and named for the rare white bison, White Buffalo made natural rolling papers that were 100% free of chemical agents, including chlorine, a whitening agent commonly used in rolling papers. The slow burning, pure linen papers were a favorite of smokers looking for a natural smoke, be it fine tobaccos, or their favorite cannabis strains. White Buffalo rolling papers were initially sold via ads in the back of magazines by mail order from their Los Angeles office, but eventually got distribution going and became available in better head shops and tobacco stores nationwide.

In the post-apocalyptic future of 2024, teenage Vic and his telepathic dog, Blood, roam the wastelands hunting for food, water, and women. When Vic is seduced and lured underground by a teen girl, he finds himself separated from Blood and trapped in the anachronistic society of Topeka. The Leader tells Vic he is going to be the father of a new generation, but Vic soon learns instead of providing his stud services to the Topekan women, they are planning to hook him up to an impregnation machine. Once Vic discovers he's been lured there solely for mechanized procreation, he realizes he's doomed unless he can escape and rejoin Blood, and makes his move...

In the '60s, Rodco made a name for themselves as one of the biggest snowmobile dealers in Vermont, but when vanning blew up on the West Coast, they decided to get into the custom van game. Based in the town of Randolph in Orange County, Rodco Custom Vans turned out hundreds of unique rides with multiple interior options, custom exterior styling, and most notably, hand painted murals and artwork that made every single van an original. Rodco primarily worked with the Tradesman platform, and were a customizer to many dealers, but they did create a few one offs from other makes. Given the harsh Northeast winters and overall regional weather, few of Radco's rolling rooms have survived, and those that have, were usually taken west.

Winkie's on Sunset Blvd. is the Googie style diner where much of the 2001 film Mulholland Drive's action takes place. In real life, it's neither actually a restaurant called Winkie's, nor is it on Sunset Blvd. It was actually shot at an old restaurant, which at the time was called Caesar's, though it was located a long ways from Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles. The actual location was about 20 miles south at 1016 W. El Segundo Blvd. in Gardena.

Railroads declined sharply in the late 1900s, leading to rail abandonment going from 800 miles per year before 1980 to over 4,000 miles per year subsequently. To alleviate the railway’s responsibilities for non-active lines, Congress amended the 1968 National Trails System Act, adding “railbanking” in 1983. Railbanking preserved the right-of-way and the infrastructure, while allowing them to be used for other uses, like rail trails. Rail trails involve pulling up track, and laying down gravel atop the former rail bed. This allows everyone from cross country skiers and horseback riders, to bicyclists and hikers to travel some of the most picturesque terrain around while navigating the relatively gentle grades common with rail corridors.

Giese Racing Engines (GRE) began building Baja race winning 1600 cc dual port air cooled engines in the '70s utilizing some very innovative modifications that made them both powerful and reliable. These classic motors were balanced and blueprinted with custom unobtainable GRE parts that were fine-tuned and tested for maximum performance. From race prepped carburetors and ultralight racing flywheels, to high performance oil pumps and breather systems, GRE parts could also be purchased for use on your own engines, but could not be found in over the counter speed shops — only direct from GRE in Temecula, California.

In 1858, Göran Fredrik Göransson began producing steel using the Bessemer process for the first time in the world. In 1862, Göransson founded the company Högbo Stål & Jernwerks AB in Sandviken, Sweden, but went bankrupt just four years later. The company was re-established under the name Sandvikens Jernverks AB in 1868 with Anders Henrik Göransson, son of the founder, as appointed General Manager. Sandvik began manufacturing products from their steel in 1885, leading to a line of high quality hand tools and accessories that would continue on for decades, and range from hand saws to wood chisels. In the 1920s, chainsaw bars, chains, and other accessories were added, and quickly became favorites of loggers and timber workers worldwide.

Nuclear Assault was an American thrash metal band formed in New York City in 1984. Part of the mid-to-late 1980s thrash metal movement, they were one of the leading bands of the genre to emerge from the East Coast. Game Over is their debut studio album that was released in 1986. Nuclear Assault went on to release five full-length albums and toured relentlessly before breaking up in 1995.

The ’80s weren’t all new wave neon ridiculousness. There was a whole casual surfer vibe that became quite popular, primarily through graphic t-shirts evoking the surfing lifestyle. This ’80s inspired design captures the vibe of the era, along with a classic Hawaiian sunset.

If you lived in the greater Northeastern United States in the '80s and '90s, Video King Superstore was most likely your first destination to rent the latest movies on VHS. The first thing you noticed walking into a Video King store was the smell of the complementary hot, buttered popcorn, a favorite of kids accompanying their parents. The rest of the store was pretty standard fare — wall-to-wall videos organized by category, a few toys and collectibles, and eventually, video game rentals. In the early 2000s, as video stores began to buckle under pressure from online video streaming, Video King cut their massive stores in half and dropped 'Superstore' from their name, but this was short-lived, with the chain ultimately closing up for good.

Eddie Meyer went into business repairing and tuning Model T's in Redlands, California back in 1919 as Eddie Meyer Engineering. When he wasn't working on customer cars, he was moonlighting as a race car driver, running a highly tuned Rajo Model T with great success in '23 and '24. Bud, Eddie’s son, joined the business in 1928, leaving Eddie to run the show, and Bud to run the shop. To get closer to the hot rod scene, Bud moved the shop to Hollywood in 1939, and began producing some of the most outstanding flathead speed equipment ever made. Eddie Meyer intakes and heads were top shelf add-ons for dry lake racers and street racers alike, and remain legendary pieces for collectors and enthusiasts to this very day.

Established in 1881, Grand Lake, Colorado sits at an elevation of 8,369 feet and derives its name from the lake on whose shores it is situated: Grand Lake, the largest natural body of water in Colorado. The town of Grand Lake was originally an outfitting and supply point for the mining settlements of Lulu City, Teller City, and Gaskill, but today is a tourist destination adjacent to the western entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, which surrounds the lake and the town on three sides. Grand Lake was the Grand County seat of government from 1882 to 1888. It was incorporated on June 23, 1944.

Located on four-plus acres of city owned land in Torrance, California, Skateboard World opened in 1977, making it one of the world's first commercial skate parks. The park predated the burgeoning pro skateboarding boom, and not only helped shape the industry, but also created a blueprint for many other parks in the decade to follow. The park hosted many competitions and events, and was a favorite session spot for countless professional skaters until its untimely demise in 1983.

This classic 2000s head shop design has been lovingly recreated in all its horrific clown filled glory, making it a perfect gift for anyone who loves clowns, hates clowns, or straight up suffers from coulrophobia. Sweet dreams!

Reading is a workout for your brain that strengthens connections and improves memory function. Reading has also been shown to be protective of cognitive function as you get older, with no similar link shown with more passive forms of entertainment. The phrase "catch the reading bug" is an allegory, which is an example of a rhetorical device, which means to suddenly become enthusiastic about reading. There are a lot of things you can have as a habit, but reading is one of the better ones, so crack open a book once in a while!

Silent films date back to the 1830s, and better theaters accompanied them with live music and effects provided by pipe organs. When sound films came arrived in the 1920s, theaters removed the pipe organs in favor of new sound equipment. In the '60s, someone decided to put one of these organs into a Bay Area pizza restaurant, and it was a hit. Bill Breuer like the concept and opened his first restaurant, Pizza and Pipes, in Santa Clara, California in 1962, choosing the biggest pipe organ he could find. A decade later, he opened a second location in Seattle, eventually opening in Tacoma and Bellevue. Other restaurateurs opened their own, and in the '70s and ’80s, pipe organ music could be heard in more than 100 pizzerias across the country!

Wooden pull toys are a classic, and the duck on a string may be the best one of all time...

Beast from the East is a live album recorded by the American heavy metal band Dokken in Japan in April 1988, during a tour in support of their album Back for the Attack. It was released on November 7, 1988. The album featured live versions of the band's most popular songs from the previous four studio albums, and also included a new studio track entitled "Walk Away." The song was accompanied by a music video, which featured members of the band performing atop the Santa Monica Mountains overlooking Topanga Canyon and the Pacific Ocean. The album earned the band an award nomination for the Best Metal Performance in 1990.

Moto Laverda was an Italian high performance motorcycle manufacturer. Their bikes were held in high regard, and had a reputation for being extremely robust. The roots of the Laverda go back to 1873, when Pietro Laverda started an agricultural engines enterprise in Breganze, Italy. 76 years later, Pietro's grandson founded Moto Laverda, and over the next 20 years, would go on to produce models in different sectors of the market. Off-road, trial and motocross machines were developed in conjunction with other manufacturers, and were successfully raced, but the real development came in street models. From an initial 75cc single, to a 1000cc V6, Laverdas were exciting bikes, but sadly, Japanese competition was ultimately their undoing.