I still keep my vast collection of photographic slides, and I still enjoy getting out the projector and screen and looking at my slides from time to time, which I think is quite heroic in this Digital Age that has seen the utter downfall of slide photography.

But I am nothing compared to Charles Phoenix. He is the real hero here, because he does far more than simply enjoy old slides. The Ontario-born and raised entertainer has turned old slides into a quirky pop culture empire that includes live shows, tours, books and regular TV appearances.

Phoenix roams Southern California thrift shops and yard sales in search of old slides from the 1950s and ’60s that portray old-fashioned Americana at its very best and most hilarious. He uses the slides to create live onstage picture shows that serve as wonderfully entertaining and nostalgic journeys back in time.

Phoenix is both a pop historian and an irrepressible comedian who peppers his picture shows with non-stop commentary. For example, he’ll show a slide from July 4, 1953, showing an El Monte family lighting fireworks in the yard, and he’ll say, solemnly, “One man, two women and two little boys gather ’round to enjoy the defining moment of our most patriotic holiday. Yes, we Americans just love to gawk at explosives mass-produced in China. It’s our way of saying Happy Birthday USA!”

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Take a unique trip across the California of yesteryear, without packing, travel costs or taking time off work.

Saturday night at the Wally Parks National Hot Rod Museum at Fairplex, pop culture humorist and author Charles Phoenix will share his special take on the Golden State.

“The Charles Phoenix Big Retro Slide Show” is both entertaining and educational. “Those who come will laugh and learn something at the same time,” said Phoenix, who was born and raised in Ontario. “It’s history disguised as humor, or maybe it’s humor disguised as history. Either way it’s Americana, and talking about how special it is.”

Phoenix, who collects old slides from the 1950s and ’60s, has reinvented the classic living-room slide show into a hip celebration of classic and kitschy mid-century Southern California life and style.

He roasts and toasts mid-century tourist traps, landmarks, theme parks, space-age suburbia, car culture and festive fashions.

“Like those families who like to dress their kids alike and then get their picture taken?” he said, with a laugh. “I say, what better way to support a psychologist?”

For Phoenix, such photos are a huge part of the Americana he loves so dearly and is compelled to share.

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