Growing up as a kid in the 80s and 90s, there was one sentence you dreaded to hear from your classmates. That sentence was, “you got those shoes from Payless!” We knew the shoe store for providing inexpensive shoes for any occasion. Parents loved the store, but children above 7 hated the Payless “experience”. Pay-Less […]
Forgotten
Forgotten: Carolco
Carolco Pictures was an independent motion picture production company. Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna found it in 1976. They purchased the name Carolco from a defunct company in Panama; the name had no meaning. Carolco came to prominence in Hollywood with the release of its movie First Blood, starring Sylvester Stallone in 1982. Kassar and […]
Forgotten: Tower Records
The first Tower Records was opened in 1960 in Sacramento, California, by Russell Solomon. The store was named after his father’s drugstore, which shared a building and name with the Tower Theatre. Tower expanded to San Francisco in 1967, then to Los Angeles on Sunset Blvd in 1971. At the Sunset location, you might find […]
Forgotten: L.A. Gear
L.A. Gear started in 1983, When Robert Greenberg picked up the hang 10 license of shoe skates. Once he realized that it was the shoes that held the most promise, Greenberg began focusing on shoes instead of skates, which led to the birth of the L.A. gear brand. L.A. Gear entered the athletic shoe market […]
Forgotten: A&P Grocery
Reading time: 4 minutes, 18 seconds From 1915 through 1975, The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P) was the largest grocery retailer in the United States. Until 1965 A&P was the largest U.S. retailer of any kind. A&P was considered an American icon, that according to the Wall Street Journal, “was as well known […]
Forgotten: Kodak
Reading time: 7 minutes 41 seconds Remember the days of disposable cameras? Remember taking your film to the drug stores to pay to get it developed, and having to wait a few days to get it back? Or maybe going to the one-hour development places and getting it developed? One of the most prominent players […]
Forgotten: Blockbuster Video
Reading time: 4 minutes and 46 seconds Remember Friday nights heading to the video rental store? It was a joy to walk into your local video rental store and find new movies to watch over the weekend. Or find video games to play over the weekend. The newest releases would be hard to obtain unless […]
Forgotten: Excite
Pop Quiz: What Search engine did you use before Google? Was it Yahoo? MSN? Ask Jeeves? You mean to tell me there was something else before Google? Did anyone use Excite? It was a favorite search engine in the 1990s. I’m going to tell you the story of Excite and how they made one of […]
Forgotten: Up Against the Wall
Remember in the late 90s/ early-mid 2000s when hip-hop/ urban apparel was the hottest thing to wear? If you are from California or the DMV area (DC, Maryland, and Virginia) you remember that one cool store in the mall that had all the latest urban clothing? It had Sean John, Enyce, Roc a wear, Phat […]
