The Salton Sea

A large inland lake located in the desert of southeastern California within the low-lying Salton Trough.

The Salton Sea is one of the most unusual geographic features in the United States, a large inland lake located in the desert of southeastern California within the low-lying Salton Trough. Today it appears to be a natural lake, but in reality it was accidentally created in 1905 when floodwaters from the Colorado River broke through

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A Dune “Bug”gy is a Beetle?

The true catalyst came in 1964 when California surfboard maker and boat builder Bruce Meyers introduced the Meyers Manx.

Dune buggies emerged in the United States during the mid-twentieth century as a uniquely playful fusion of automotive ingenuity, surplus parts, and a growing culture of beach recreation, particularly in Southern California. Their essential idea was simple: take a lightweight platform—

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My Favorite Songs with Female Vocals (Part One)

This is a series of posts that will talk about my favorite songs with female vocals. See if you agree with any of these!

“Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” is a 1941 World War II–era jump blues/swing novelty song written by Don Raye and Hughie Prince and introduced by The Andrews Sisters in the Abbott and Costello film Buck Privates, with the trio’s tight harmonies and upbeat, horn-driven arrangement capturing a fictional story about a top boogie-woogie trumpet player

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S&H Green Stamps

A cooperative cash discount system that would reward customer loyalty

The history of S&H Green Stamps begins in 1896, when Thomas Sperry and Shelley Byron Hutchinson founded the Sperry & Hutchinson Company in Jackson, Michigan, with the idea of creating a cooperative cash discount system that would reward customer loyalty. Operating under the formal corporate name Sperry & Hutchinson,

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Googie Architecture

Flamboyant and futuristic style of mid-twentieth-century American commercial design.

Googie architecture is a flamboyant and futuristic style of mid-twentieth-century American commercial design that emerged in Southern California during the late 1940s and flourished through the 1950s and 1960s.

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Julia Child

During World War II, she joined the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA, serving in Washington, D.C., Ceylon, and China.

Julia Child was born Julia Carolyn McWilliams on 8-15-1912 in Pasadena, California, into a comfortable, socially prominent family that valued education and culture. Her father, John McWilliams Jr., was a Princeton-educated banker and land manager, and her mother, Julia Carolyn Weston, came from a Massachusetts paper company fortune. Tall, athletic, and spirited, Julia attended Smith College, graduating in 1934 with a degree in history.

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Stuckey’s Pecan Log Roll

The construction of a Stuckey’s pecan log roll is deceptively simple yet carefully balanced.

Stuckey’s pecan log rolls are among the most enduring confections in American roadside history, closely tied to the rise of automobile travel and the culture of the open highway in the twentieth century. The candy traces its origins to 1937 in Eastman, Georgia, when Williamson Sylvester “W.S.” Stuckey Sr., a local pecan farmer,

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History of Pizza

Pizza as it is now understood emerged in Italy, specifically in Naples.

The history of pizza is a long and layered story that stretches back thousands of years, long before the dish acquired its modern name or familiar form. In the ancient Mediterranean world, people regularly baked flatbreads topped with simple ingredients, a practice found among the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans.

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Why Were They Called TV Sets?

A “set” implied not a single object but an integrated configuration of parts designed to receive broadcast signals, decode them, and convert them into audio and visual output.

The phrase “TV set” emerged during the early decades of broadcasting, when the technology of home entertainment was still evolving and the language around it had not yet settled into the simplified forms we use today. In the 1920s and 1930s, experimental television receivers were assembled from multiple distinct components, often including a radio tuner, a display apparatus, a power supply, and a loudspeaker.

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Zena Marshall

She toured with the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) during World War II.

Zena Moyra Marshall was born on January 1, 1926, in Nairobi, Kenya into a family of English, Irish and French ancestry, and after her father’s early death and her mother’s remarriage she was raised in Leicestershire, England. She was educated at St. Mary’s School, Ascot, and later trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). Her interest in acting matured during her teens when she toured with

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