Screencap: Men take a body out of the orange and blue Laff in the Dark building, covered in a white sheet.

Tracing the Journey of Mummified Outlaw Elmer McCurdy to the Long Beach Pike

June 26, 2019, 3 Comments

Last week I talked about the history of Long Beach’s infamous Pike, including the location being used in an episode of Charlie’s Angels and The Six Million Dollar Man. What I didn’t mention was that in the Charlie’s Angels episode, “To Kill an Angel,” a man’s body is found within the Pike’s Laff in the…

Myself standing with the Cyclone Racer Bridge in the background, wearing a t-shirt with a female sunbather and the Cyclone Racer in the background, and red shorts.

The Rise and Fall of the Long Beach Pike

June 20, 2019, 9 Comments

Towering above shops like H&M, Forever 21, and The Gap is what appears to be a rollercoaster, yet no cars race by, and no screams of riders can be heard. Upon closer inspection, it is no rollercoaster, just bridge built to look like one. But, why? Let’s take a trip back in time, all the…

Myself standing in front of the old west medicine wagon sits in the middle of the parking lot. It is red and reads "Gower Gulch Medicinal Ointment" and has an image of an Indian wearing a headdress, wearing a black peasant top, and a green skirt with western images on it.

The Forgotten History of Gower Gulch, Hollywood’s Western Strip Mall

May 1, 2019, 6 Comments

Gower Gulch. Sounds like a small town in the deserts of Arizona, right? But you’d be wrong. It’s in fact a western themed small strip mall that sits at the corner of Gower and Sunset in the middle of Hollywood. But why a western theme? And just how did this corner get its name? The…

A rounded front building faces the street, atop it a tall spire stretches toward a bright blue sky. Near the bottom red letters spell out "Crossroads of the World." Atop the spire a globe.

The Violent History of LA’s Iconic Crossroads of the World

April 18, 2019, 3 Comments

Sunset Boulevard is synonymous with Hollywood. It’s home to a plethora of iconic buildings and linked to many legendary people. One such building is Crossroads of the World, a bizarre little 1930s shopping center turned office complex that looks like something out of a Disney theme park, with a steamship style building “sailing” past storefronts…

The Buffalo Soldiers: Multi-Talented Defenders of Westward Expansion

February 28, 2019, 3 Comments

On September 21, 1866, a brand new regiment was formed. The 10th Calvary Regiment was comprised of Black men, and was given the nickname, The Buffalo Soldiers. The nickname was given to them by the Native Americans, due to their hair reminding them of the top of a buffalos head. The regiment served in the…

Bass Reeves: US Marshall and the Lone Ranger?

February 21, 2019, 1 Comment

Bass Reeves was born into slavery in 1838 in Crawford County, Arkansas. During the Civil War, he beat up his slave master to get out of slavery, and fled into Indian Territory. There he lived with the Creek, Seminole, and Cherokee Indians learning their languages, until he was freed by the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865.…

Bill Pickett: The Rodeo Innovator that History Forgot

February 15, 2019, Leave a Comment on Bill Pickett: The Rodeo Innovator that History Forgot

Bill Pickett was born the second of thirteen children on December 5th, 1870 in Williamson County, Texas. Pickett’s bloodline was of Cherokee and Black. In the 5th grade, he left school to be a ranch-hand, and he learned all there was to know about being a cowboy. He invented the technique known as Bulldogging, which…

Donald and his arsenal to do his taxes: A range of books (including two law books, a math book, and an algebra book), yardstick, globe, a bottle of paste, a bottle of aspirin, a box of files, two adding machines, a compass, and his piggy bank.

That Time Donald Duck Helped America Pay Their Taxes

February 11, 2019, 4 Comments

For those in the United States, it’s tax season…everyone’s favorite time of the year, right? Well, once upon a time, a little angry duck helped everyone pay their taxes a lot quicker. On December 12th, 1941 Walt Disney received a call from the United States government. Walt had already lent his studio’s services for the…

Nat Love: The Real Life Deadwood Dick

February 7, 2019, 4 Comments

Nat (pronounced Nate) Love was born into slavery around 1854 in Tennessee. He learned to read and write with help from his father, despite the statutes which outlawed Black literacy. When slavery was overturned, his family stayed on the plantation as sharecroppers with 20 acres of land. After his father died, he took on another…

Mary Fields: The Forgotten Badass of the US Postal Service

February 1, 2019, 6 Comments

Hello all! I’m Carla, and I blog over at Tiny.Angry.Crafts. This month I will be showcasing a Black Person of the week from The Wild West. As a young child, I was very fortunate to have my grandmother teach me something new; her being a schoolteacher and all, she would give me a double dose…

Atomic Redhead

History Lessons

Tracing the Journey of Mummified Outlaw Elmer McCurdy to the Long Beach Pike

The Rise and Fall of the Long Beach Pike

The Forgotten History of Gower Gulch, Hollywood’s Western Strip Mall

The Violent History of LA’s Iconic Crossroads of the World

The Buffalo Soldiers: Multi-Talented Defenders of Westward Expansion

Bass Reeves: US Marshall and the Lone Ranger?

Bill Pickett: The Rodeo Innovator that History Forgot

That Time Donald Duck Helped America Pay Their Taxes

Nat Love: The Real Life Deadwood Dick

Mary Fields: The Forgotten Badass of the US Postal Service