Regionalism
The Grape Day Queen of Escondido
The official page.Grape Day started in 1908 as a way to celebrate Escondido's grape harvest and promote the city. It flourished until 1950 and was revived by the Escondido History Center in 1996. Each year in October*, our community comes together to celebrate Grape Day.
An article from 2006.
The 1949 candidates, courtesy of the Weekly Times-Advocate (Escondido, California)19 Aug 1949, Fri Page 6
The 1913 winner.
Source: Times-Advocate (Escondido, California)18 Feb 1973, Sun Page 8
Posted By: Paul - Sat Apr 09, 2022 -
Comments (1)
Category: Agriculture, Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Regionalism, Twentieth Century, Twenty-first Century
Oklahoma U. Engineers’ Queen
Apparently the University of Oklahoma has a long tradition of the Engineering Department electing a queen, and then risking her being kidnapped by the Law School.Read a history of the OU Engineering School here.
I found a pretty recent reference to the continuation of the Queen's election, but not necessarily the kidnapping.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Mar 31, 2022 -
Comments (1)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Regionalism, Rivalries, Feuds and Grudges, 1920s, 1930s, 1950s, Universities, Colleges, Private Schools and Academia, Twenty-first Century
Unauthorized Dwellings 22
Read about the legal aspects of this squatting here.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Mar 28, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Regionalism, Unauthorized Dwellings, North America, Twenty-first Century
Safety Village, USA
A huge number of photos and some good text here.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Feb 18, 2022 -
Comments (1)
Category: Education, Enlargements, Miniatures, and Other Matters of Scale, Fairs, Amusement Parks, and Resorts, PSA’s, Regionalism, Children, Cars
Town Founded by a Jackass
It was Noah Kellogg's donkey that alerted the prospector to a mountain outcropping of galena, a lead ore often containing silver. This miraculous moment would attract a rough-and-tumble-type crowd to dig up and refine the resources below. What this visually stunning Silver Valley town is today — through mining ups and downs, population decline and industry changes — is just as the town motto cheekily states: "Founded by a jackass and inhabited by his descendants."
Article on the current state of the place.
Their Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Feb 15, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Government, Humor, Regionalism, Mining
The Thingies: “Rainy Sunday Morning”
Read about this obscure psychedelic band here.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jan 31, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Music, Regionalism, Psychedelic, 1960s, Weather
Mobile Irish Pub
Unlike Alex's pub patent puritans, these guys endorse wide pub access!BOSTON GLOBE article here (possible paywall).
Contact for rentals.
Their Instagram page.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jan 24, 2022 -
Comments (7)
Category: Hobbies and DIY, Regionalism, Bars, Saloons, Pubs, and Other Drinking Establishments, Alcohol
Grandma Prisbey’s Bottle Village
The official website.Many more pics here.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Jan 23, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Architecture, Eccentrics, Regionalism, Twentieth Century
The Ordinances of Lancaster, South Carolina, 1903
We've all seen those features that dig up "Crazy Laws Still on the Books." But how did such ordinances ever first get established? By big and small towns trying to regulate every human behavior they could think of.Here are a few choice samples from a randomly chosen place!
Source: The Lancaster News (Lancaster, South Carolina) 16 May 1903
No public marble playing
No annoying churchgoers
No hookers
No tramps, cardsharps or fortune tellers
No dirks or slingshots
No outward-opening gates
Must ring bicycle bell
No piles of public poop
No bad oysters
To their credit, the officials imposed lots of rules on the cops as well. These are just a few.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Jan 19, 2022 -
Comments (2)
Category: Government, Police and Other Law Enforcement, Regionalism, 1900s
National Hobo Convention
The Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Jan 17, 2022 -
Comments (1)
Category: Bums, Hobos, Tramps, Beggars, Panhandlers and Other Streetpeople, Conventions, Regionalism, Bohemians, Beatniks, Hippies and Slackers, Trains and Other Vehicles on Rails
| Who We Are |
|---|
| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |