JCD666

Carter Carburetor Company in St. Louis, Missouri, was established in 1909 by William Carter, who started experimenting with carburetors while running a successful bicycle shop. His first cast brass carb could meter and deliver fuel more accurately than many competing units, and easily found a place in the market. Carter became a major OEM supplier to Detroit. In 1971, they introduced the ThermoQuad four barrel. It was available in two sizes, rated according to air flow – 850 and 1000 CFM. The higher flow model was the largest street carburetor in terms of air flow when released, and was a factory part on many of the muscle cars of the era. Gear heads have a love/hate relationship with ThermoQuads, in that they either love or hate them.

Lacey, Washington, was originally called Woodland after settlers Isaac and Catherine Wood, who claimed land there in 1853. When the railroad came through in 1891, residents decided it was time to apply for a post office. The request was denied because there was already a town called Woodland on the Columbia River. They decided to call the city Lacey and got a post office, though the city of wasn't officially incorporated until 1966. One year later, The Loose Caboose Tavern opened in Lacey, and quickly became a popular watering hole for the locals, many of which commuted to Olympia, Fort Lewis, and to some extent, Tacoma, for work, but came how every night to tie one on at their favorite tavern,

Kozmik Krooz'r is a shoot 'em up video game released in arcades in 1982. The spaceship, a core element of the gameplay, is not an in-game graphic, but a physical plastic model. A series of mirrors projects the mothership just above the game's monitor. Players guide Kapt. Krooz'r to a rotating mothership at the top of the playfield, one which can only be entered when its tractor beam is operational. Players can also shoot enemies in one of eight directions and deflect firepower during their journey. Every fifth round, there is a bonus level where Kapt. Krooz'r must pick up space junk, but otherwise this game suffers from being exactly the same on every single level.

El Chavo del Ocho (The Kid from number Eight), later known as just El Chavo, is a Mexican television sitcom that premiered on April 27, 1972. The show follows the adventures and tribulations of the title character—a poor orphan nicknamed El Chavo and his friends, which often cause conflict, of a comedic nature, between the other inhabitants of a fictional low-income housing complex, or, as called in Mexico, vecindad. The series gained enormous popularity in Hispanic America, Brazil, Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, and ended on June 12, 1992 after 7 seasons and 311 episodes.

If you travelled Route 66 between Amarillo, Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico at some point between 1949 and 2000, you probably at least thought about pulling off at the Westerner Drive-Inn in Tucumcari, New Mexico. Located at 1001 West Route 66 Boulevard, it was the only thing around on this particular stretch and was pretty hard to miss, and frequent travelers have undoubtedly knew it was the place to get a great meal. Operating as an old school drive in for just over five decades, the Westerner specialized in big burgers, golden fries, and traditional sodas, even offering a full breakfast menu to weary travelers.

Mona's 440 Club was the first lesbian bar to open in San Francisco, California in 1936. It continued to draw a lesbian clientele into the 1950s. Mona and Jimmie Sargeant, a married couple, opened Mona's in 1934 on Union Street, taking advantage of San Francisco's liberal attitudes, endless supply of tourists, and the end of prohibition. In 1936, the couple moved the bar to a basement location on Columbus Avenue, but due to its exploding popularity and growth in patronage, the bar moved to 440 Broadway Street and was subsequently renamed Mona's 440 Club. One of the biggest draws to Mona's was their large variety of in house entertainment. Kay Scott and Babe Scott were part of the original group of entertainers to perform at Mona's 440 Club.

Can-a-blis was a product of San Francisco Tobacco Co. in the '60s that claimed to be a cannabis infused tobacco. Marketed as being "guaranteed not to bite the tongue, and to give pleasure," the tobacco seemed to be more marketing spin than anything, as the level of cannabis present in the product allowed it to be sold openly in head shops and tobacco stores.

Egghead Software was a hardware, software, and computer accessories store located in Bellevue, Washington, that eventually grew to a chain of over 200 locations. Egghead was founded by Victor D. Alhadeff in 1984 after he observed that the computer store experience was far too daunting for average consumers, His goal from the start was to make the experience less intimidating and more engaging. With its quirky cartoon mascot, Professor Egghead, and well-trained staff that could explain products in simple terms, Egghead was a hit with consumers. The company continued to expand with new locations throughout the '90s as part of the dot-com bubble, but when the bubble burst in 2000, things came crashing down and by 2001, it was all over.

Tarkus is the second studio album by English progressive rock band, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, released on June 14, 1971. Following their debut tour across Europe during the second half of 1970, the group paused touring commitments in January 1971 to record a new album at Advision Studios in London. Side one features the 20-minute conceptual title track, and side two contains six individual tracks. Tarkus went to number one on the UK Albums Chart, becoming the only album by the band to do so. It was a top 10 album worldwide, including the US, where it peaked at number 9. The album reached gold certification in the UK and US, the latter for 500,000 copies sold. It has been reissued and remastered several times, including a 5.1 surround edition.

Meatballs is a 1979 Canadian teen comedy film that follows the wacky hi jinks of counselors and campers at a low budget summer camp. The film includes a shy boy named Rudy who arrives at Camp North Star to find it full of rowdy teens. The head counselor is a prank-pulling, girl-seducing, man child named Tripper. Across the lake is a camp for rich kids called Camp Mohawk. They’ve dominated the yearly games through cheating for 12 years straight, and it’s up to Rudy to help change that. Meatballs was well received, and was the highest-grossing Canadian film of all time in the United States and Canada. Who knew?

The first roller coasters utilized wooden track, which consists of running rails made of flat steel strips mounted to laminated wood. Wooden coaster construction became stagnant in the '70s due to the rising popularity of steel roller coaster design, but a few new builds bucked the trend to keep the Golden Age of roller coasters alive. One such example is 'The Beast,' built in 1979 in Mason, Ohio. This was the tallest, fastest, and longest wooden roller coaster in the world at the time of it's opening. Decades later, it is still the longest, spanning 7,361 feet, racing across 35 acres of hilly, wooded terrain. Two lift hills contribute to the ride's duration of more than four minutes, which also ranks as one of the world's longest runtimes.

Taxi driver George Touhouliotis bought Marlena's Tavern in 1983, and proceeded to reshape the joint into a nightclub. He opened his new place, calling it Satyricon after the 1969 Federico Fellini film of the same name. Despite sitting on what was essentially Portland's skid row, Satyricon became a prominent music venue that hosted countless local and touring acts throughout the '80s and '90s. From punk and alt-rock, to hardcore and even some metal, Satyricon played host to them all between 1983 and 2010. It was the longest-running punk venue in the western United States, and has been referred to by journalists and historians as the "CBGB of the West Coast."

Incredible Universe was the name of a chain of consumer electronics stores in the early to mid '90s that were a joint venture between Tandy Corporation and Trans World Entertainment. A typical store was 185,000 square feet of sales floor and warehouse, stocking around 85,000 items. The store's borrowed philosophies from theme parks with retail departments being "scenes," employees were "cast members," customers were "guests,"and so forth. The stores featured a large rotunda area with a stage where sales presentations, product demonstrations, autograph signings, and musical acts could perform. Retail departments (software, music and video, and accessories) were accessible from the rotunda, making it a hub of sorts for the store.

Originally built as a post office in the early '50s, the building at 1014 N. Vine Street in Hollywood was eventually repurposed as a recording studio by Andrew Berliner in 1967. Calling his new venture Crystal Industries Recording Studio, Berliner's innovative acoustic and electrical design has his new studio quickly becoming one of the premier recording facilities in Southern California. The studio was known simply as Crystal Sound, which was both a nickname and a descriptor of the magical tonal qualities the space and its custom-built electronics were known for capturing. The client list is a veritable who's who of artists from the '60s through the '90s. Crystal would change hands in 2000 and become a private studio under a new name.

Bresler's 33 Flavors was an American ice cream chain founded in 1927 by Polish immigrant, William J. Bresler in Chicago, Illinois. By the mid '80s, Bresler's had 300 stores, of which 297 were franchises. The chain was sold in 1987 to a regional dairy in Aurora, Illinois, and shortly afterward, was renamed Bresler's Ice Cream, and added frozen yogurt to its menus to compete with upstart yogurt places entering the market. Two years later, the chain was sold a couple more times, and Bresler's locations underwent a rebranding, with the last five locations taking on their new name in 2007.

Nothing beats the feel of the wind in your hair on the open road... you'll never feel more alive, and when you're not riding, you'll be itching to get back out there.

The Southern Railway System, formed from the remnants of several failing Virginia lines, was incorporated in Virginia in 1894. By 1894 the Southern Railway was comprised of at least 125 consolidated railroads, with 75,000 freight cars, over 1,400 locomotives, and more than 21,000 employees. The Southern was efficient and innovative, and by the 1950s, it was the first major railroad to convert its entire operation from steam to diesel. This design was part of a campaign in the '70s trying to get more commercial customers by having one of their train engines asking their freight for a date.

Reality TV really went wild in the 2000s, and Flavor of Love is a great example of the kind of crazy they were putting on TV. This reality television dating game show focused on a rapper who was looking for love, and despite the overall kookiness of the show, it was a ratings hit and ended up running for three seasons.

The 1907 Peking to Paris Race had inspired an even bolder test of these new machines known as automobiles. The course would take racers from New York City to Paris, with a planned 150-mile ship passage from Nome, Alaska, across the Bering Strait to East Cape, Siberia. This was a considerable challenge, to say the least, given the state of automobile technology and the nearly nonexistent road infrastructure at the time. Six cars and 17 men attempted the dangerous journey, but only three of six contestants completed the course. All told, The Great Race of 1908 took 69 days and covered over 13,000 grueling miles of winter roads. In the end, the winner was the American team, driving a 1907 Thomas Flyer.

Not a lot of info out there on Union Truck Company, but from articles of incorporation, it appears that they were a cartage company formed in the late '30s in Ventura, California. From the few archival photos we've been able to uncover, they apparently specialized in produce transport, which would make sense seeing how Ventura has long been an agricultural area, growing everything from berries and lemons, to peppers and avocados.

Released in 1970, the Maverick was a compact car originally sold as a two-door coupe, intended to provide stylish looks and prolonged practicality along with comfortable, enjoyable driving. The model's objective was to compete against overseas rivals, and was widely marketed as an ‘import killer,’ which apparently worked, as 579,000 units sold in the first year alone. Engines initially included a couple of efficient 6-cyclinder options, coupled with either automatic or manual transmissions. Of course, it didn't take long for hot rodders to see the compact platform as the perfect lightweight chassis, and countless Mavericks were stuffed with powerful V8 engines that turned the economy car into a street racer to be reckoned with.

Riverside Speedway was a 1/4 mile dirt track built on top of an old landfill in Nipawin, Saskatchewan. The track opened in 1983, hosting regular racing events several nights a week and, after a full 20-year run, shut down in 2003. From midgets and outlaws to stocks and modifieds, racers from throughout Saskatchewan and beyond made countless memories tearing up the dirt at Riverside Speedway.

Shelter Mountain Inn is a fictional location in 2002's 'The Ring' that plays a key role in the film. Shelter Mountain is not a mountain, but actually built on the coast of Moesko Island near a cliff edge, and Shelter Mountain Inn is a large wooded property that rents individual cabins for those looking for a rustic getaway. The Inn has a large lake located beyond the innkeeper's office, where visitors can fish, swim, and take canoes out on the lake. As we learn in the movie, an old, deep well was built in the middle of a clearing not too far from the cliff, but it was built over with Cabin 12 at some point.

Just because you're a dirty old man doesn't mean you don't need a little love.

Billing themselves as "Seattle's 2nd best cocktail lounge," Tini Bigs was an iconic night spot in Seattle's lower Queen Anne neighborhood that first opened their doors in 1996. Housed in a brick building built in 1929, complete with an antique bar that helped set the scene, Tini Bigs was the perfect low-lit cocktail lounge for hanging with friends and enjoying tasty libations. Known for their handcrafted specialty drinks served in oversized 10-oz. martini glasses, Tini Bigs was the spot for anyone looking for cocktail therapy during their two decades of daily operation. Yes, every single day, including Christmas.

The Springfield Indians were a minor professional ice hockey franchise, originally based in West Springfield, Massachusetts and later Springfield, Massachusetts. The Indians were founding members of the AHL that were in existence for a total of 60 seasons from 1926 to 1994. The team was known as the Syracuse Warriors from '51 to '54; in addition, the team was called the Springfield Kings from '67 to '74, and then back to being the Springfield Indians for the remainder of the '74 season. The Indians won seven Calder Cup championships; one in '74 sandwiched between three consecutive from '60 to '62 and two consecutive in '90 and '91; and one as the Kings, in '71. This design is based on the '74 rebrand when they returned to their roots.

Morgan Horse Farm Ltd. is the fictional horse breeding facility that was a pivotal location in the 2002 horror movie, The Ring. Located on the equally fictional Moesko Island off the coast of Washington State, it was the residence of the Morgan family, which included horse trainer Richard Morgan, his horse breeder wife, Anna Morgan, and their adopted daughter, Samara. When their daughter Samara became jealous of the affection shown towards the horses, instead of to her, she used her psychokinetic powers to drive the horses insane, driving them to end their lives. If you like obscure references, this Morgan Horse Farm design is about as obscure as it gets!

Even though marijuana can be purchased in most states legally these days, there is just something about growing your own. From seed, to plant, to buds, Americans have been at the forefront of the homegrown marijuana scene for decades, and continue to do so... even that is legal in a lot of places nowadays.

Hawaii is the ultimate destination for many, and living there with (or in) a killer Street Van is the icing on the cake... a true Hawaii vantasy.

ColecoVision is a second-generation home video-game console developed by Coleco that launched in August 1982. Launching with an initial catalog of twelve games on ROM cartridge, the console offered a closer experience to more powerful arcade games than competitors. Approximately 136 games were published between 1982 and 1984. Coleco released a series of hardware add-ons and special controllers to expand the capabilities of the console. "Expansion Module #1" allowed the system to play competitor games, and a later module that converted ColecoVision into the Adam home computer. Ironically, the ColecoVision was discontinued in 1985 after the costly failure of the Adam, resulting in Coleco withdrawing from the video game market altogether.

The Swinging Cheerleaders is a 1974 comedy-drama film written and directed by exploitation film auteur Jack Hill (credited as Jane Witherspoon). The film was also released under the titles Locker Room Girls and H.O.T.S. II. It is the sequel of sorts to the 1973 film The Cheerleaders, directed by Paul Glickler; and was itself followed by Revenge of the Cheerleaders (1976), directed by Richard Lerner; and The Great American Girl Robbery (1979) (aka Cheerleaders Wild Weekend), directed by Jeff Werner. The plot follows a college journalist as she infiltrates the campus' cheerleading squad to write a piece on female exploitation, but instead makes unlikely friendships, finds out that everyone is banging everyone else, and uncovers a conspiracy.

First synthesized in 1874 by the Austrian chemist Othmar Zeidler, DDT was developed as an insecticide. In 1945, DDT was made available for sale in the United States, and although it was promoted for use as an agricultural and household pesticide, there were also concerns about its use from the beginning. As a result, marketing campaigns to counter the concerns were launched, including "DDT Is Good For Me-e-e!" from Pennsalt Chemicals, which included print ads and radio spots with a cast of characters singing about how wonderful DDT was. The EPA began regulatory actions in the late '50s and '60s to prohibit many of DDT's uses because of mounting evidence of environmental and toxicological effects, leading to a ban in 1972.

If you're a game geek, you're probably familiar with Octrix, an intriguing game of eights for 2 to 4 players that was published in 1970. Gameplay sees each player receive eight cards, each round consists of eight tricks, and the first player to score eighty-eight points wins. Each hand is posted on an Octrix board, so everyone knows exactly what cards are held by each player. Skillful evaluation of all hands is essential as each player plots his strategy-attempting to score more points by taking tricks in sequence.

The Blood on Satan's Claw is a 1971 British supernatural horror film directed by Piers Haggard and starring Patrick Wymark, Linda Hayden, and Barry Andrews. Set in early 18th-century England, it follows the residents of a rural village whose youth fall under the influence of a demonic presence after a local farmer unearths a mysterious deformed skull buried in a field. The Blood on Satan's Claw premiered in New York City in April 1971, and was subsequently released in London on 16 July 1971. It was met with middling reviews from critics, and underperformed at the box office. In the intervening years, however, the film has gained a cult following, and has been cited by several film scholars as a progenitor of the folk horror genre.

Milk & Kisses is the eighth and final studio album by Scottish alternative rock band Cocteau Twins that was released in March 1996. While the album didn’t achieve much critically or commercially for the band, after the more pop-focused sound of Four Calendar Café, returning to the obscured dream pop that defined them may have been the perfect swan song. In 1997, while recording what was to have been their ninth LP, the trio disbanded over irreconcilable differences, and while a number of songs were recorded, they will likely never be finished or released in any form.

Mount Munch is a "big, tall hill" in the eastern extreme of the Munchkin Country of the Land of Oz. On one side, the base of the peak just touches the border of the Deadly Desert that surrounds Oz. Near the bottom of the hill is where Nimmie Amee lives with Chopfyt. Above the lowest third of its height, the slopes are too steep to climb, so that the Munchkins do not go up, and the people on top do not come down. Those people, who live in a saucer-like depression at the top of Mount Munch, are sensibly called Hyups. They can be reached from the lower world, but only with difficulty; Ozma once sent them a decree via messenger eagle. They are situated in their isolation, rather like the Yips in their own distant corner of Oz.