


COCONUT HEADS ON PEGBOARD, FLORIDA, 1960


PARK MONSTER,
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, 1967


BIRTHDAY CAKE WITH PEPSI, PITTSBURGH, PA, 1957
Cat-eyed teenage girls consume chocolate frosted white sheet cake in a less than dainty manner sure not to please their charm school teacher. Their painted lips match the traditional print on the slip-covered sofa they are gathered on. Plastic straws in several pastel shades emerge from mostly empty bottles of…
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HAPPY NYLON NEW YEAR! USA 1959
A basement ceiling bouquet of colorful crepe paper hangs twisted and streaming over a pair of party guests posing with nylon stockings stretched over their heads. Why collectively as a society have we turned our backs on crepe paper as party decor? It’s SO festive and fun! And covering our…
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Flocking Artist, LA, CA, 2009
Master flocker Larry Deminter, proudly poses with one of his very special Christmas confections. Freshly flocked trees are his holiday specialty. This one is a tri-toned tabletop tree in lime, light pink and bright pink. Larry can flock a tree any color you want including black.
Frankly, I’ve always had…
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Patti Playpal Party, So Cal, 1961
The flash of a flashbulb reflects in the living room window through which we see a tinsel-trimmed tree and someone peeking at the backside of a bevy of backyard beauties. This is the valley of the dolls! Which ones are real? Meet Patti Playpal! She is a “companion doll.”
The contrast between the big dolls…
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May Company Christmas, South Los Angeles, CA, 1949
Gleaming silver stars hang from frizzly-foiled canes fixed to stylish streetlamps towering above signs, signals, bus benches and painted curbs. Is this an obstacle course or an intersection? There is no traffic; no flag and the sidewalks are deserted. It’s Sunday and the store is closed.
Architecturally speaking, this is what…
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Cherpumple “Monster” Pie Cake – New Test Kitchen Video!


MY HOMETOWN HOLIDAY HERO,
THE CANDY CANE MAN,
LOGAN’S CANDY,
ONTARIO, CA, 2009
A warm blob of red-tinted and pepperminted spun sugar is displayed with great pride. From that sweet, striped, blob, and hundreds more just like it, the candy cane man, Jerry Rowley, skillfully pulls, twists, cuts and hooks more than 75,000 candy canes by hand every holiday season. Just moments…
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