Clair DeLune, author of South Carolina Blues, shares her list of a dozen (plus!) things you might not know about South Carolina blues. 1. The predecessor to the banjo was a stringed gourd, and the predecessor to the guitar was...
For over 250 years, the circus has captured imaginations through gravity-defying and incredible stunts. When we think of the circus, we imagine towering red and white striped tents crowded with cheering spectators and performers. While circuses have changed dramatically...
Detroit’s Thanksgiving parade is as much a part of the city’s history as Motown and the automotive industry. Next to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, America’s Thanksgiving Parade is arguably the country’s most famous, well-attended, and historical.It began in...
Coffee shops that look like spaceships, tropical landscaping, and Tiki galore: if this image sets the stage for any place and time, it would be mid-20th century California. What we call Tiki culture emerged in America’s “Golden...
Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, and Laurence Olivier are three of the biggest names in the history of Hollywood, and they all have one thing in common: they emerged from Hollywood’s Golden Age. Between the 1910s and 1960s, Hollywood...
This post was written by Erika Thomas, author of Max Factor and Hollywood: A Glamorous History
Anyone who has purchased or applied a beauty product to their face within the last 90 years, be it...
Despite the development of entertainment forms like cinema, television, and radio, theatre has remained a prominent part of the American entertainment industry. With creations like Vaudeville, American theatre has consistently reinvented itself to remain relevant within the...
In the early 20th century, swing music was the most popular genre amongst listeners, and hundreds flocked to dance halls across the country to hear big bands led by the likes of Duke Ellington and Artie Shaw. But...
In the years that followed the end of World War II, the United States experienced an unusual cultural trend: Polynesian Pop, more commonly known as Tiki. Along the West Coast and in areas nationwide, Tiki bars with...
In the beginning, Super Bowl halftime performances consisted mostly of marching bands and professional extreme stunt acts. But with their yearly audience rapidly increasing, the National Football League (NFL) recognized the need for bigger and better halftime...
