Billy Joel’s Piano Man was inspired by playing at a bar in Los Angeles. Two classic piano bars from that era, Nye’s Polonaise Room in Minneapolis and The Red Fox Room in San Diego continue to thrive after more than fifty years in business.
Category Archives: California
Ra Ra Ra
Zen Buddhism became popular in post WWII San Francisco, especially among beat poets like Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and Tram Combs. The influence of Zen extended into cookbooks, when Edward Espe Brown began baking at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center.
You Frighten Me
In the 1980s Fakir Musafar helped popularize body modification. By 2010, 38 percent of young people ages 18 to 29 had at least one tattoo.
Out in California
Disneyland opened in 1955. Although it is not the oldest theme park, its position within a media empire helped create the power of its myth.
Panic Stricken San Francisco
The Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 brought widespread destruction and many deaths, but some who survived found it thrilling.
Paul Mason Fotsch 