Pop Culture
Betty Boop selling Lancôme mascara
A match made in licensing heaven Starting this Saturday, December 1st, Betty Boop will be selling Lancôme’s Hypnôse Star mascara in Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s. With Ms. Boop’s famous peepers, it’s a wonder such a pairing has never happened before. Created by Max Fleischer, Betty Boop first appeared in the...
A Thanksgiving Dinner that Couldn’t Be Beat
“You can get anything you want, at Alice’s Restaurant” There are few Thanksgiving dinners more memorable (or which have sold more records) than the one – or actually two – that Arlo Guthrie had in 1965. That year, he was visiting friends in Stockbridge Massachusetts, where he had gone...
Adventure Through Inner Space, 1967
A little amusement park ride that made a big impact on a kid. I loved Adventure Through Inner Space; it was my all-time favorite ride at Disneyland. It might seem like a nerdy choice – it had no flying pirate ships or dancing ghosts; it was a ride that took...
To You from Curio & Co.
We all know not to judge a book by its cover, but sometimes that cover can sure put your mind at ease. When you order one of the prints available on Curio & Co. (or maybe two, since it’s so hard to pick just one), the packaging...
Sadie Hawkins Day
How a comic strip launched a high school tradition There’s something especially charming about fictional traditions that catch on in the real world. Though with Sadie Hawkins Day, the case of life imitating art has largely been forgotten. Having a day named after you is a pretty big deal,...
The true spirit of Halloween
Traditions that involve candy are the hardest to break. Ahhh, Halloween. When witches prowl the moonlit skies, and ghouls materialize in deserted graveyards, when jack-o’-lanterns howl with fiendish delight. It’s my favorite holiday, hands down. A whole celebration focused on scaring the jeepers out of ourselves may seem a...
Lucky Luke, the Belgian Cowboy
Sometimes you have to look east to find the Wild West. The myth of the cowboy and legends of the Wild West play a huge role in defining American cultural identity. Though the historical timeline of the Wild West was relatively short – just 25 years from 1865 to...
The dying art of film
Should we send flowers? Here at Curio & Co., we’re obviously vocal supporters of the past and its media. We love getting lost in 60-year-old animation (don’t worry Jax, you don’t look a day over 30) or 100-year-old advertisements. But while we admit to listening to digital files of...
What do Mickey Mouse, Spaceman Jax and “Carrie Ann” by The Hollies have in common?
Giclée prints. By the time “Carrie Ann” hit radio stations in 1967, Spaceman Jax and the Galactic Adventures had been off the air for several years. And it would take nearly half a century more for the hit song from the British Invasion group The Hollies and our animated...
The mighty Remington typewriter
The pen, they say, is mightier than the sword. But as the 19th century came to a close, at least one weapons manufacturer was hedging its bets. By the middle of the 1800s, the Industrial Revolution had the business world buzzing along faster than ever before and brought...
Is it Summer Vacation Yet?
What better way to reflect on the past summer than to look at some posters of summer vacations long past? Though the beginning of autumn is upon us, a terrific exhibition of travel posters on at the Austrian National Library can extend your summer vacation, if only in...
In appreciation the Lava Lamp
Nothing says 1960s psychedelia like a Lava Lamp. Though the black light posters may have long since been rolled up and put away in the attic, the Lava Lamp continues to soothe and calm even the frazzled of nerves, all while looking pretty groovy. The “motion lamp,” as it’s...