Coney Island, a three-mile peninsula off Brooklyn, NY, has always been both famous and infamous — which accounts for its early nickname “Sodom by the Sea.” Until the turn of the century, Coney Island was an island. In the early 20th century, thanks to a great deal of landfill, it became "attached." The peninsula comprises […]
May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month — a celebration of Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States — which led me to wonder if there were any Asian flappers. China also experienced their version of the Roaring 20s in Shanghai. Because of the opening of trade in the 1920s, there were many Western influences […]
Chicago gangster Al Capone was one of nine children born to Gabriele Capone, a barber, and Teresa Raiola, a seamstress. James Vincenzo Capone was the couple's first-born child, and one of two born in Italy before the family emigrated to the U.S. His U.S.-born siblings, Al, Savatore and Ralph, became members of the notorious Five […]
This is for all you writers who need complete quiet and concentration when you work — provided you don't suffer from claustrophobia. In 1925, editor and publisher Hugo Gernsback proposed an invention to eliminate noise distractions. Gernsback dubbed his creation "The Isolator" helmet. His prototype helmet was made of wood and felt, and included a […]
Who among us hasn’t played “follow the leader” on monkey bars? And fallen off with a resounding thud. While many monkey bars are stand-alone units today, they were originally part of a jungle gym. The first jungle gym was invented in 1920 and patented by Chicago lawyer Sebastian Hinton. While the term "monkey bars" was […]
Disclaimer: This is NOT a political. It is only meant to be historical and informative. Depending on the outcome of an eventual trial, one candidate could be campaigning for the White House from jail. Strangely, it will not be the first time this has happened in the US. Eugene V. Debs, running on the Socialist […]
The decade of the 1920s saw rapid advances in technology, both in and out of the home. Most Americans were quick to adopt of radio, television, vacuum cleaners, electric blenders and toasters, and telephones. Most, but not all. One small segment of the population began debating the dangers of these new technologies: the Amish. In […]
Just like chop suey, Mah Jong has its roots in China but was adopted in a modified form in the US. The game originated in and around Shanghai in the mid to late 1800s (there is some debate when it exactly began, where, and by whom), but had its US introduction in the mid-1920s through […]
The Ides of March are behind us, but the Ides of April await – aka Tax Day. The first attempt to tax income in the US occurred in 1643, when several colonies instituted a "faculties and abilities" tax. Early tax collectors went door to door, asking if the individual had income during the year. If […]
I’m just back from three weeks “Down Under”, so I thought I’d post about the notorious gangsters of Australia’s Roaring Twenties. 1920s Melbourne wasn’t all that different from New York or Chicago when it came to crime. Gangsters abounded, and their criminal endeavors kept the police jumping and Victoria Prison full. The US had Al […]
