Fantastic cutaway of New York’s Radio City Music Hall stage in 1950, showing the 57 foot pistons that operate the three stage elevators. This allowed the Rockettes to perform on three different levels. Source: Popular Mechanics, April 1950
Category: Periods
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Fantastic Department Store Cutaway, 1950s
Yet another mind-blowing cutaway from master illustrator Frank Soltesz. Few people realize that half of a department store is devoted to areas they never see. Behind the familiar counter and displays are large areas used for stockrooms and other services that supply the selling floors out front. there is a fur vault, complete bake shop,… Continue reading Fantastic Department Store Cutaway, 1950s
Monsanto House of the Future: When Our Future Was Made of Plastics
Built in Disneyland in 1957 as a joint project between Disneyland, Monsanto, and MIT, the House of the Future was constructed of 16 identical plastic shells that were fabricated off-site and then shipped to the building site for assembly. The home was meant to display technological marvels, such as the microwave oven and speaker phone,… Continue reading Monsanto House of the Future: When Our Future Was Made of Plastics
Screw You, Food Court! When Department Store Restaurants Reigned
Anybody who is under a certain age will not remember how mall department stores once ruled the retail roost. Before their peak and then eventual decline in the 1980s, these massive shopping cubes, which often went by a single name moniker (Alexander’s, Dalton’s, Gottschalk’s, etc.), were the place to buy everything from clothing to books… Continue reading Screw You, Food Court! When Department Store Restaurants Reigned
Oh, Those Germans! Insane Method of Transporting Deathly Ill Sailors in 1905
Sure, the idea of going back in the past has its temptations. Hobnobbing with a young Einstein. Enjoying the pleasures of Gay Paree. Killing off a certain Austrian street artist. But getting sick in the past is not one of them. Witness this 1905 German Naval method of transporting sick or wounded sailors from one… Continue reading Oh, Those Germans! Insane Method of Transporting Deathly Ill Sailors in 1905