Featured Posts

Jun182013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments
Vintage CompuServe Ad Gallery (1980s – 1990s)

Vintage CompuServe Ad Gallery (1980s – 1990s)

Featured Posts, Retrotisements
During the 1980s, CompuServe was the undisputed king of online communities. Founded in 1969 as  Compu-Serv Network, Inc., the company got its start providing in-house computer processing support for Golden United Life Insurance, as well as by selling mainframe time-sharing.  This of course was in the days when both computers were very big and very costly to own. Fast forward to the '80s, and CompuServe -- owned then by H&R Block -- began to experience tremendous growth. Their subscriber base jumped from 3,600 in 1980 to 60,000 by early 1984.  By 1993 the service had more than 1.5 million subscribers, 90,000 of whom were in Europe. But the rise of competing services such as America Online and Prodigy ultimately spelled doom for this pioneer. AOL essentially bought CompuServe (alt
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Jun102013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments
Photo Gallery: 1973-74 United States Oil Shortage Crisis, Vol. 1

Photo Gallery: 1973-74 United States Oil Shortage Crisis, Vol. 1

Capsules, Featured Posts, History
Ask anyone who was of driving age in the United States during the 1970s, and they likely remember well the two major oil shortage crises the country faced. The first oil shortage crisis, which lasted from October 1973 until March 1974, was set off when the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, or the OAPEC (consisting of the Arab members of OPEC, plus Egypt, Syria and Tunisia), proclaimed an oil embargo. This was reportedly in response to the U.S. supplying Israel with arms following the 1973 Yom Kippur War. On October 16, 1973, OPEC announced a decision to raise the posted price of oil by 70%, to $5.11 a barrel. In the United States, the retail price of a gallon of gasoline rose from a national average of 38.5 cents in May 1973 to 55.1 cents in June 1974. President Richar
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Jun62013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments
Vintage 20th Century World’s Fair Postcards (1900 – 1940)

Vintage 20th Century World’s Fair Postcards (1900 – 1940)

Ephemera, Featured Posts
Getting to a World's Fair is definitely one of the items on my bucket list. But until I can attend one in person, I guess the next best thing will have to be to look at some vintage World's Fair postcards. The selection I present here spans every officially sanctioned and recognized fair and exposition from the first half of the 20th century. Due to the outbreak of World War II, there were no fairs held between 1941 and 1957. The next part of this overview (to be published later) will pick up with Expo 58 and run through Expo '98. Exposition Universelle (Paris, 1900) (via) Pan-American Exposition (Buffalo, 1901) Louisiana Purchase Exposition (St. Louis, 1904) (via Brenda) Liège International (Belgium, 1905) (via alanp_photo) Milan International (1906) Irish International
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May282013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments
Meet the Mr. Potato Head Toy Family

Meet the Mr. Potato Head Toy Family

Featured Posts, Games & Toys
The icon that was to be known as Mr. Potato head was born in the early 1950s when Brooklyn-born inventor George Lerner came up with the idea of inserting small, pronged body and face parts into fruits and vegetables to create a "funny face man" toy. After Lerner sold his idea to Hasbro -- then known as Hassenfeld Bros. -- Mr. Potato Head was officially introduced on May 1, 1952. The original toy kit cost $0.98 and contained plastic hands, feet, ears, two mouths, two pairs of eyes, four noses, three hats, eyeglasses, a pipe, and eight felt pieces resembling facial hair. By the mid 1960s, stricter government safety regulations meant that the plastic accessories could no longer easily puncture real food, so Hasbro introduced the all-plastic Mr. Potato Head in 1964. They also introduced
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May32013 by Chris Holmes4 Comments
A Gallery of Vintage Blank Audio Cassette Tapes

A Gallery of Vintage Blank Audio Cassette Tapes

Featured Posts
It's easy to get nostalgic for the days of vinyl records -- it's harder to muster up the same sentiment for audio cassettes. They didn't sound as good and they could be a pain in the ass to deal with. About the only thing they had going for them was size. Still, seeing them does bring back memories of countless hours spent making mixtapes and recording old episodes of the Howard Stern Show from the radio (WXRK New York to be specific). So whether you grew up with names like Maxell, BASF, and TDK as a part of your lives or not, you should get some enjoyment out of this gallery of blank audio cassette tapes -- most of which are from the '80s. Many of these specimens are brands and cassette lines that I used. All images are courtesy the excellent site tapedeck.org. ...
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Mar52013 by Chris Holmes8 Comments
The Evolution of Fast Food Logos: Top 10 Burger Chains Edition

The Evolution of Fast Food Logos: Top 10 Burger Chains Edition

Advertising, Featured Posts
I know I'm certainly not the first person on the internet to post a gallery showing the history of fast food logos. But I'll be honest -- a lot of the other ones I've seen have been half-hearted at best, completely lazy and misleading at worst. So here's my attempt to remedy that. Here is my turn at a gallery showing the evolution of fast food logos, featuring the top ten largest chains in America (measured by number of locations in 2010). Dates on some of these logos are estimated, as exact years are difficult to come by for some. If anyone has higher-resolution versions please let me know. #1. McDonald's (est. 1940) The restaurant that became McDonald's was started in 1937 in Monrovia, California by Patrick J. McDonald, and sold burgers and orange juice. In 1940 his sons Maurice and...
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Feb202013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments
Vintage Movie Title Camera Art

Vintage Movie Title Camera Art

Featured Posts, Movies
Back in the day, before fancy computers and gizmos and whatnot, title graphics in movies were painted by hand. By real human beings. And somehow they managed to look fantastic. So now I present to you a gallery featuring a host of vintage title art graphics, most of which date from the 1950s and '60s. (Click for a larger version.)
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Feb192013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments
Retrotisements — 1970 Dodge New Car & Truck Lineup

Retrotisements — 1970 Dodge New Car & Truck Lineup

Featured Posts, Retrotisements
For my latest car advertisement capsule, I've gathered marketing material for the full line of new 1970 Dodge cars, wagons, vans, and trucks. You'll see vintage print and TV ads for the Dart, Coronet, Polara, Monaco, Charger, Challenger, Super Bee, and more. If you like these great vintage advertisements, you could be Dodge Material! (To see other car lineup advertisement galleries, click here. Got a request for other years and makes? Let me know in the Comments section.) 1970 Dodge Dart The fourth-generation Dart was refreshed somewhat for 1970 and was available in three main trims. There was the basic four-door sedan, the two- and four-door Custom, and the two-door Swinger (available in base or 340 performance models). Owners of the Swinger 340, as well as other Dodge performance mo
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Jan242013 by Chris HolmesNo Comments
10 Great Juvenile Delinquent/Teen Exploitation Movie Posters

10 Great Juvenile Delinquent/Teen Exploitation Movie Posters

Ephemera, Featured Posts, Movies
You shrieked in terror at my gallery of vintage '80s horror movie posters... you gasped at my science fiction movie posters of the '50s... now tremble at this gallery of movie posters featuring juvenile delinquent/teen exploitation films of the '40s through the '70s! #1. Teen Age Thunder (1957) #2. Switchblade Sisters (1975) #3. Juvenile Jungle (1958) #4. Live Fast, Die Young (1958) #5. Youth Runs Wild (1944) #6. The Cool and the Crazy (1958) #7. Reform School Girl (1957) #8. Riot in Juvenile Prison (1959) #9. Untamed Youth (1957) #10. Girls Under 21 (1940)
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