For years, Southern California pop culture historian Charles Phoenix has made a name for himself performing slideshows with vintage images from the 1950s and 60s. This Sunday, July 11, Phoenix is taking his show to a whole new dimension. The show “Charles Phoenix and the Third Dimension” explores the history of 3-D photography. Hear him talk about it with KPCC’s Alex Cohen

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Watch Charles present vintage hot dog slides from his collection on this very special episode of The Martha Stewart Show.

Hear Charles on NPR’s ALL THINGS CONSIDERED,
Searching For The Soul Of L.A. Through Kitsch.

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Charles presents a retro celebration of Valentines Day with photos from his collection on Martha Stewart’s Valentine’s Day Show.

Charles shares vintage Halloween slides with Martha on The Martha Stewart Show.

“In terms of size and attendence, the Los Angeles County Fair is considered the largest county fair in the nation. And it takes a big personality to cover all the fun. Self-proclaimed “histo-tainer” Charles Phoenix visits the fair in search of extraordinary livestock, deep-fried Twinkies, and a high-stakes beanbag toss.”

Listen in on Charles’ LA County Fair visit on NPR.

The NPR Special Series “Destination Time Capsule” follows Charles Phoenix on his Route 66 road trip to Tulsa, OK for the unearthing of a 1957 Plymouth fifty years after it’s burial.

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“We have so many things to thank the Stardust for. In 1958 when it opened, it was the world’s largest resort hotel. It was also the first hotel resort in Las Vegas to invite the masses with 1,000 rooms starting at $5 a day.”

Listen here to Charles bidding farewell to this Las Vegas icon.

“A couple of years ago, after one of my retro slide shows, this guy came up to me with a copy of one of my books, “Southern California in the ’50s”. It was opened up to the Los Angeles county fair page. He points to this 1955 photo of a dozen bathing suit-clad fair queens perfectly posed in a row on their backs with their legs up in the air and this guy standing behind them. He says, do you know who this guy is? He’s Bill Adrian; he’s the world’s oldest modeling agent, and you have just got to meet him.”

Click here and listen to the Charles discover the real history and a real person behind one of his many photos.

The costumes are all pure Sonny and Cher, and Cher, and all that – by Bob Mackie, of course. Then all this Goth furniture, and some of it’s not so Goth. It’s kind of a combination between Goth and out-of-control Liberace, maybe a little? I mean, don’t tell Cher I said that.”

Hear the full story here on NPR.