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Cigarettes Naja was a brand of French cigarettes positioned as an exotic 'Oriental' tobacco, through they are believed to have been made primarily with Turkish tobacco blended with Chinese tobacco. Branded using a Naja Cobra and advertised with using a stylized Egyptian woman, Cigarettes Naja definitely felt exotic even though there wasn't much to them.

What do you get when you mash up hot rods and monsters? In 1980, the answer would have been Weird Wheels trading card stickers. Featuring a checklist of colorful creations along the lines of the late '60s Odd Rods cards, the set blends Kustom Kulture with matinée horror. The cards themselves have monsters and other creatures driving absurdly customized cars, trucks, and motorcycles. As cool as the cards looked, they came out at a time when the Kustom Kulture was well past its peak, and the set flopped, but that doesn't mean they're still not cool! This one features the reaper from the outer packaging tearing it up in his '37 DeLuxe Cabriolet.

What does a retired aerospace engineer turned rancher do when his diesel horse hauler isn't pulling the grade? He designs and builds a big ass turbo. At least that was the case with Donald Benis of Dubois, Wyoming. After getting unsatisfactory results from the options on the market at the time, Benis went to work and came up with what was one of the biggest diesel turbos available. Once he got his design dialed in, his huge Benis was making impressive power, and other ranchers asked for one of their own. Soon enough, Benis begin selling his turbos through ads in the back of magazines, and every order included an "ask me about my huge Benis" sticker.

When it comes to bikers, there is a certain level of in built camaraderie, but that's not the case when it comes to those who trailer their bikes to rallys. Bikers fall into two camps when it comes to this – those who ride their motorcycles to the rally, and those who trailer their bike most of the way there, only to ride it into town from 20–30 miles out. We're not going to get into it here, but what we will say is that this message pretty much says it all.

For decades, the Soviet Union maintained extensive restrictions on artistic expression on everything from paintings to music. The German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 came as a complete surprise to the Soviets. As the USSR focused on the war effort, Soviet music witnessed a relaxation of restrictions. Finding themselves allied with Western powers, the Soviets focused on patriotic propaganda rather than anti-Western rhetoric. With a restored connection to the west, Soviet music experienced a new wave of progressivism and experimentation. Promoting music and leaning an instrument continued on well into the '60s, including campaigns like Музыка в нашем городе (Music in Our City).

Birmingham Small Arms Co. Ltd. (BSA) was a major British industrial combine, a group of businesses manufacturing military and sporting firearms; bicycles; motorcycles; cars; buses and bodies; steel; iron castings; hand, power, and machine tools; coal cleaning and handling plants; sintered metals; and hard chrome process. After the Second World War, BSA did not manage its business well, and a government-organized rescue operation in 1973 led to a takeover of BSA's operations. The few business areas that survived this process disappeared into the ownership of other businesses.

Rush'n Attack is a hack and slash/run and gun video game developed and released in American arcades in 1985. The Cold War era game's name is a play on the phrase "Russian attack." Gameplay has players assume the roles of the special operations Green Berets who are infiltrating an enemy military base to save POWs from execution by firing squad. There are four stages, each ending with a special group of bosses. The Soviet Armed Forces that attack throughout every stage are Soldiers, Gunners, Supply Runners, Combat Specialists, Jetpack Soldiers, German Shepherds, Parachute Gunners, Gyrocopters, and Flame Throwers. Rush'n Attack was ported to home computers and console game systems, becoming a critical and commercial success.

Alucarda is a 1977 English-language Mexican supernatural horror film that is a loose adaptation of the 1872 Gothic novella. The story follows a young girl's arrival at a convent after the death of her parents. Their deaths are the beginning of a series of events that unleash an evil presence on the girl and her mysterious new friend, an enigmatic figure known as Alucarda. Demonic possession, Satan worship, vampirism, and yes, even some nunsploitation follows. Though a Mexican production, the film was shot in English. Internationally, it was released under several alternate titles, including 'Innocents from Hell' and 'Sisters of Satan.' The film has been noted by film scholars for its themes regarding national tradition versus modernity.

One of the longest running ecological causes is probably that of the many campaigns to 'save the trees.' Whether it's trying to thwart developers from clearing land for new construction, fighting against clear-cut logging, or just trying to save one special tree from destruction, tree huggers come in all stripes and have one thing in common – a love for nature and magnificent trees.

Voting is important, and the presidential election of 1860 was no different as we saw Republican Abraham Lincoln defeat Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, and Constitutional Union candidate John Bell. The electoral split between Northern and Southern Democrats was emblematic of the severe sectional split, and in the months following Lincoln’s election (and before his inauguration in March 1861) seven Southern states, led by South Carolina on December 20, 1860, seceded, setting the stage for the American Civil War the following year. To the polls, ye sons of freedom!

Bay Area Music was first published in January 1976 as a free bi-weekly magazine that was funded by advertisers and covered the Bay Area's eclectic music scene. In the mid-'80s, BAM opened an office in Los Angeles, leading to separate Northern and Southern editions of BAM being published, and its largest circulation of 130,000 biweekly throughout California. The final edition of the print magazine was published in June 1999 with the paper's circulation at the time of closing was 55,000.

Founded in Grenoble, France in 1929 by the French ski champion André Jamet, the André Jamet Company was a manufacturer of outdoor leisure goods, best known for their high quality camping tents. Early models were simply branded as 'AJC,' and later models as André Jamet. Despite being made in France, Jamet tents followed an American theme in their naming, with models such as the Nevada and Sierra. This design includes their advertising slogan "André Jamet Rend Le Camping Facile!" which translates to "André Jamet makes camping easy!"

Davey and Goliath was a Christian clay-animated children's television series that was produced first by the United Lutheran Church in America in 1961. The show was aimed at a youth audience, and generally dealt with issues such as respect for authority, sharing, and prejudice. Eventually, these themes included serious issues such as racism, death, religious intolerance and vandalism. Each 15-minute episode features the adventures of a boy named Davey Hansen and his 'talking' dog Goliath (although only Davey and the viewer can hear him speak) as they learn the love of God through everyday occurrences. In general, the characters find themselves in situations that have to be overcome by placing their faith in God.

“Peace is always beautiful” is a line from The Sleepers, a poem first published in Walt Whitman's 1855 book, Leaves of Grass. This collection of poems is considered one of the more important collections of American poetry today, but it created an uproar from the moment it was first published, and all through its subsequent nine editions. This classic work of poetry was deemed obscene, too sensual, and shocking because of its frank portrayal of sexuality and its obvious homoerotic overtones. Whatever your take is on Leaves of Grass, there is one thing that we can all agree on – peace really is always beautiful.

Welders aren't hard to find, but great welders are hard to come by. So when a career welder opens up shop and begins offering premium welding services at affordable prices, he becomes popular really quick. That's the story of PHX Welding when welder Steve Meyers left his aerospace manufacturing job to go solo back in 1985. From his South Phoenix shop, Meyers provided all kinds of welding and fabrication services for over 25 years. From common metals to the really exotic stuff, PHX Welding could put it together and with exacting tolerance most shops wouldn't even attempt.

Bugle Boy Industries, Inc. was a clothing company founded by Dr. William Mow in 1977. It is perhaps best known for its namesake brand of denim jeans that were popular in the 1980s. The company declared bankruptcy in 2001. Bugle Boy featured men's and boys' clothing, often with a denim theme. Elastic cuffs at the bottom of the jeans and cross-stitching patterns were also a major part of the Bugle Boy style, with brands such as Pilot and Cotler being its contemporaries. They also popularized parachute pants during the breakdancing fad of the early 80s, in a line called Countdown. Bugle Boy also produced men's and boys' tops, but was best known for its varieties of jeans and jean shorts.

Bluegrass is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Bluegrass features acoustic stringed instruments and emphasizes the off-beat. Notes are anticipated, in contrast to laid back blues where notes are behind the beat, which creates the higher energy characteristic of bluegrass. In bluegrass, as in some forms of jazz, one or more instruments each takes its turn playing the melody and improvising around it, while the others perform accompaniment; this is especially typified in tunes called breakdowns. This is in contrast to old-time music, in which all instruments play the melody together.

Labor unions represent United States workers in many industries recognized under US labor law since the 1935 enactment of the National Labor Relations Act. Their activity today centers on collective bargaining over wages, benefits, and working conditions for their membership, and on representing their members in disputes with management over violations of contract provisions. Larger trade unions also typically engage in lobbying activities and electioneering at the state and federal level. This '70s era design proudly states that "it's all ours!" as workers stand before the extended hand of management passing them the keys.

Cabot Cove is a fictional town located in the state of Maine in the long-running TV series, Murder She Wrote. The town was home to murder-mystery novelist Jessica Fletcher, the primary character of the series. Cabot Cove is based on the very real town of Perkins Cove, Maine. Mendocino, in Northern California, was the real location used for episodes based in Cabot Cove, which explains the times you see palm trees in what was supposed to be a corner of New England.

The Point is a cartoon fable first aired February 2, 1971, and was the first animated feature ever to air in prime time on US television. The Point tells the story of a boy named Oblio, the only round-headed person in the Pointed Village, where the law says that everyone and everything must have a point. The film is an allegory showing how society rejects people and ideas that are different from the norm, and makes this point over and over again throughout. Long story short, be yourself!

Glenn Danzig originally planned Samhain as a side project with Eerie Von, though after the Misfits' contentious 1983 dissolution, Samhain became Danzig's full-time band. Samhain is the least-celebrated of Danzig's major musical outlets and catalogs a transitional period in his musical career, bridging the gap between the punk rock of the Misfits and the dark, heavy metal, and blues-influenced sound of Danzig.

Street Smart Records was a Memphis, Tennessee based record label that was locally famous for its underground hip hop tapes. The label gained nationwide recognition in the late 90s, helped by distribution via S.O.H. coupled with ads in national hip hop magazines.

You can spend a lifetime looking for rainbows, but sometimes you just need to paint your own.

In 1969, accomplished off-road racer and a self-taught mechanical innovator, Drino Miller, partnered with Stanford Havens to open up a shop to build and tune off-road race cars. Calling their operation Miller-Havens Enterprises, they specialized in creating race winning buggies that proved their stuff at both the Mint 400 and Baja 500 where they bested high dollar race teams with their low budget custom single seat buggies. Miller-Havens didn't just stop at dedicated race cars, but created one of the most accessible ways into off-road racing – the Baja Bug. Based on the readily available Type I platform, these vehicles were perfect for off-roading and something that the average Joe could not only afford, but build himself at home.

Never stop exploring, and keep on trekkin'

Long before streaming movies and online shopping was a thing, you had to hunt and peck for hard to find movies on VHS, especially those in the horror genre. If you were lucky, you had a mom and pop video store in your neighborhood that shared an interest in obscure cinema and carried stuff that the chain video rental places didn't. For most of us, this meant finding a distribution company that sold direct via mail order, and Midnight Video was one such distributor. Midnight specialized in hard to find movies on VHS, most of which were horror films. They sold through mail order ads in the back of horror magazines and comic books. Cinephiles would check off the titles they wanted, include a check or money order, and send off their order.

Tidwell Carter, Sr. founded the original Carter's Fried Chicken in Douglas, Georgia in the late '60s. His signature recipes resonated with locals, and Carter expanded, opening multiple locations throughout South Georgia, all offering chicken 'by the bucket or by the barrel.' We're not sure anyone needs a barrel of fried chicken, but that's between Carter and his loyal customers who kept coming back for decades.

The Orange County Spring Fling was a century ride loop that started and finished in the 495-acre Irvine Park in Orange, California. Offering both full century (100k) and half century (50k) options, it was a fun ride for road bikers of all skill levels that toured around Orange County and helped to raise funds for various community organizations.

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is a short story in Rudyard Kipling's 1894 collection about the adventures of a valiant young Indian grey mongoose in India. Based on the classic mongoose and snake fable, the story has been anthologized and published multiple times, and been made into animated features. This design is based on the 1975 cartoon version that American audiences are most familiar with. The story focuses on an English family living in India who discovers a mongoose residing on the estate. They decide to keep him as a pet, in the hopes that he will keep them safe from the many cobras that live in the surrounding jungle. Their new pet quickly begins earning his keep, as two cobras make the family their new target.

"The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper." - Eden Phillpotts

The third-generation Z28 began production on October 12, 1981, and was released for sale in December 1981. The new 1982 model continued to use the venerable F-body platform, but introduced the new hatchback body style with complex rear glass, and such options as factory fuel injection, and a four-cylinder engine. Three trim levels were available: Sport Coupe, Berlinetta, and Z28. 173,000 cars were sold in the United States in 1982, with 12 percent of them choosing the four-cylinder, 37 percent the V6, 51 percent opting for the V8. The Z28 came standard with the 5.0 L LG4 4-bbl V8 rated at 145 hp and was available with either a four-speed manual or three-speed TH200 lockup automatic transmission.

Ham n' egger was a slang term for unskilled workers that entered the American lexicon in the early 1900s. Despite its somewhat pejorative roots, many all-day breakfast joints used the term, such as this The Ham n' Egger at 58 West Randolph Street in Downtown Chicago. Located between the Garrick Theater and a popular nightclub, The Ham n' Egger was a popular late night spot for those enjoying a night on the town looking for some greasy breakfast to stave off a morning hangover. The diner boasted that it was “Chicago’s foremost eating spot where stars of radio, stage and television meet to eat!” Sound legit to us, and at this point, who are we to argue, right?

Located, true to its name, in a parking garage on 84 King Street in Manhattan, Paradise Garage was one of the only clubs ever built for a specific DJ. As a venue, it was relatively nondescript, but what it lacked in decor it made up for with its much-revered sound system and passionate members. The sound system was developed, designed, and installed by Richard Long & Associates, and was said by club patrons to be the best in NYC, if not the world. A distinctive style of dance music known as garage house or simply "garage" originated there and the club has been credited for its influence on the modern dance club. The Garage's legend is synonymous with that of DJ Larry Levan who was the club's resident DJ during the club's entire 10-year run.

“I Like Ike” is one of the most memorable campaign slogans in American history. It was based on the nickname of Dwight Eisenhower, who became famous not as a politician but as a five-star general. Eisenhower’s role as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during World War II made him an ideal post-war candidate to both Republicans and Democrats. Both parties tried to convince him to become their presidential nominee in 1952, but it was the Republican's “Draft Eisenhower” movement that gained momentum using the “I Like Ike” slogan months before Eisenhower even agreed to run. And the majority of voters did like him, as Eisenhower easily defeated his Democratic opponent Adlai Stevenson twice, in 1952 and 1956.

Famous Monsters of Filmland (FM) was an American horror film genre magazine, launched in 1958. Originally conceived as a one-shot publication in the wake of the success of the Shock Theater package of old horror movies syndicated to TV in 1957, the first issue of FM was so successful that it required a second printing to fulfill demand. FM's future as part of American culture was immediately obvious, as its success prompted spinoff magazines in other film genres, and many competitor publications riding their coattails. In November 1974 and November 1975, New York City was host to the "Famous Monsters Convention," a convention for fans that featured authors, actors, and other industry personalities.

The infamous Bulldog Baths in San Francisco opened in 1978 at 132 Turk Street, and soon claimed the title of the largest gay bathhouse in America. The Bulldog filled five stories and contained a variety of theme rooms including an orgy room, a steam room, a douche room, and one with an actual semi truck. Everything was done incredibly well, but the star of the show was without question the two-story fully functional prison with rows of cellblocks and a full size day room where 'prisoners' could mingle. Amazing as it was, this gay theme park sadly didn't make it through the hysteria of the AIDS crisis and was eventually shuttered in 1984.