Retrovision

Pepsi Dance Trax was a teen dance show that aired early Sunday mornings on Fox-17 from late 1988 until early 1990. Featuring local teenagers dancing and wearing the fashions and haircuts of the time (boy, did they!!), it was hosted by top 40 DJs from WGRD, WKLQ and 104.5 Sunny FM. The show was taped Saturday mornings at the old Club Eastbrook on 29th Street (now the Orbit Room).

The Tumblr site FYGR stumbled across this wonderful postcard packet of Grand Rapids in the early '50s, featuring wonderful drawings of the steamboat on Reeds Lake and the bridge over the duck pond at the John Ball Park Zoo. Enjoy this wonderful trip back in time.

Ah, yes. The dog days of summer Growing up in a small suburb of Detroit in the '70s and '80s, the day would start with rolling out of bed on a muggy summer morning. Our home back then didn’t have central air. So, the house was already getting warm with the morning sun, get to the kitchen and pour yourself a bowl of Cap 'n Crunch cereal, and head outside to play.

On this issue of Retro Jojo, I take a look back at the cold medicine aisle at the old mom and pop drug store growing up. Sure, a lot of the things we took for a cold back then are now illegal (I'm lookin' at you, codeine), but they sure were effective.

James FitzPatrick's "Travel Talks" was a '40s short film series that played before feature films nationwide. In "Roaming Through Michigan," FitzPatrick shares the wonders of Up North with the rest of the U.S. In addition to showing off beautiful vistas in Northern Michigan from a simpler time, it features FitzPatrick's homey narration, which may or may not play loose with some

We can all cry if we want to. The 1960s singing sensation Lesley Gore has died; she was 68 years old. Despite being a non-smoker, her death was caused by lung cancer.

The average cost for a gallon of gas was $1.34, Barbie continued to be the hot Christmas toy, and US Troops were sent to Kuwait in what was initially called "Desert Shield" (the "Storm" part was yet to come). 1990 was a very good year, and marks the Silver Anniversary of the following pop culture icons.

Our friends at Fubble Entertainment will honor the memory of Grand Rapids' Christmas past with the taping of a local holiday special tonight at the Wealthy Theatre. And here's how you can attend!

Personally I'm a White Sox fan, so it doesn't really matter to me what the Cubs do. But, as we have found out, sometimes movies CAN predict the future.

Every generation has that day: The day something tragic happens that we all remember. The last three biggies, from my perspective, were Dec. 7, 1941; Nov. 22, 1963; and Sept. 11, 2001.

Where have we, as a society, gone in 31 years? Down the tubes. Back in 1983, Black Friday was just another day in the four-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

Thanksgiving is upon us. Why not celebrate with a different kind of food this year. Peanuts!