Stuff From the Box
Hooray for Stuff From the Box! Let's start with a few random pins given out to bowling participants after particularly good games. Like this first little example from Bellingham's Park Lanes. There are several Bellinghams, but this is likely from Bellingham, Washington. Somebody bowled 201, which is not too shabby. I once bowled something like 180 (a perfect game is 300), and that felt like I could practically do no wrong, so 201 must have felt great.
I like the design of this pin, admitting you to the 200 CLUB, with all of the honors and benefits implied. Private restroom. Free fries once a month (French fries and ketchup go great with bowling). A monogrammed piece of terrycloth for random wipings. And this pin! I'm not sure why the popularity of bowling has declined in the US, I still think it can be a lot of fun. Maybe it's the idea of renting those shoes? Maybe the scoring is too arcane, though now the machines do all the work for you. No idea.
Whoa, somebody bowled 250! Impressive. San Marcos Lanes is in California (though there is a San Marcos, Texas, too). I love these little artifacts celebrating a highlight in somebody's life, and I know I have more in another box. Stay tuned for those someday!
I had hoped that this little "RSMA" pin (about an inch high) was a license to kill, but it turns out to be from the Railroad Supply Manufacturer's Association. They apparently met in Atlantic City every year for decades, because variations on this pin are not hard to come by. I'll bet they had some wild parties, those railroad guys were crazy.
Oh boy, check out this little beauty! From RCA's Missile Test Program and the Management Club. The design is simple, yet elegant; a V-2 style rocket in red enamel stands out against a golden grid and oscillating waves. I can practically hear a theremin ululating!
And finally, another favorite of mine, an employee badge from the Sherwin-Williams paint company. When I was a small child I vividly remember passing a store with a neon version of the Sherwin-Williams logo ("We Cover the Earth"), and instantly loving it. I'd look for it every time we passed that way (which wasn't that often). So I was happy to find this well-worn badge from Chicago (the company's headquarters are in Cleveland, Ohio, which Chuck will agree is within walking-distance from Chicago).
I hope you have enjoyed today's STUFF FROM THE BOX.
28 comments:
The Sherwin Williams pin is nice. I remember that "Cover the Earth" image being above the elevator entrances to King's Island's Eiffel Tower. I believe they were the sponsor of that attraction in Kings Island's early years.
I think my favorite today is the RCA MTP Management Club pin. That's a real beauty of gold with red rocket. Always enjoy your stuff from the box. One of my favorite features on GDB. Thanks, Major.
Major-
I'm on-board with the RCA Missile Test Program. (I wonder if the sine wave and grid are supposed to represent an oscilloscope...)
I think it's clear the decline in the popularity of bowling can be directly attributed to the lack of handing out 'cool pins' for achievement - such as these.
Thanks, Major.
Second image (200 Club)- At first I didn't see the appeal of this pin. I mean, it's nice and all, but I didn't really think it was the cat's pajamas. Then I got to studying it, and waddya know! A winged bowling ball. A forest of bowling pins. The scrollwork... I like it! Not too keen on the pale gold color though. Make up your mind, are you a gold pin or a silver pin?
The San Marcos pin- I like the wonky "250" stamped on the plate. I can hear the guy (or gal) adding the number, "Eh, close enough."
The RSMA pin is attractive, with its gold, blue, and white coloration. The overall shape is nice, too.
Ooh, I like the RCA red rocket pin! Like you said; simple, but it really catches you eye. There's something about the gold and red combination that reaches out and grabs you! Like Ken M. and Nanook, this one is my favorite today.
I too, have always liked the "Cover The Earth" logo. This one here is a little rough around the edges though (and everywhere else). It's hard to make out the design. But it's still a nice pin.
Nanook, I also figured it was an oscilloscope. Although it could also be a globe.
Thanks for the 6029th post edition of Stuff From The Box, Major.
Here's another vote for the RCA missile pin. So was this "RCA" as in, Nipper and "his master's voice"? That RCA? If so....who knew they made missiles? I didn't.
As for bowling, I've only played once. That was at a friend's birthday party when I was 11. His parents took everyone to a local bowling alley, which has since been torn down. My brother and I inherited my grandfather's bowling ball and case, some years ago. Neither one of us bowls, but we just don't have the heart to get rid of it!
Another vote for the RCA MTP pin, anything with a rocket ship and a sine wave is going to the head line in my book. I bet Tom Swift wore one of these.
The S-W pin is second place. Sherwin Williams is still going strong, with a robust paints and coatings business that includes the line of fluid-applied roofing that Disney Imagineers put on the Space Mountain.
Major, I was like you with that sign, there was a shop in Fresno called “Sparky Electric” with a little guy like Reddy Kilowatt’s cousin. I had to spot him every trip.
Tokyo, we would all go bowling at the lanes right by Disneyland on my high school trips, I think it was called Discovery Lanes (?), it was taken down for the parking lot by the hotel that became Paradise Pier, on the north side of Katella. Was this the same place you went? It was fun, but not something habit-forming.
Thanks Major, the Box never disappoints.
JG
You know I have to chime in to support the RCA Rocket pin! It reminds me of some Soviet era pins I have in my collection. What are they for? Heck if I know, but they look cool! And they were really cheap, so bonus!
RCA (Radio Corporation of America) managed a missile test tracking program in the 1950’s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile_Test_Project
Apparently testing RADAR (RAdio Detection And Rangefinding) equipment and methods. From the article it sounds like another conglomerate built the missiles and shot them downrange while RCA tried to track them.
RADAR must have been one of their Radio side businesses before going exclusively into entertainment.
JG
JG, no...the one I went to was in L.A. County. I can't even remember the name of it now. A strip mall with a CVS replaced it, because you know....we needed more strip malls.
I thought the name of the one Disney purchased on Katella, was the Wonder Bowl. Maybe it had a name change to "Discovery Lanes" at some point?
Here's the Wonder Bowl, which was on Katella. Disney supposedly purchased it in 1985 and used it for storage for some years, before tearing it down:
https://i.servimg.com/u/f86/19/23/67/30/tm/13241110.jpg
https://live.staticflickr.com/7065/6822567634_5fe5aaa107_c.jpg
Bowling! Not my scene particularly. However, I do enjoy mid century bowling architecture and design. The game...let's just say my hand/eye coordination is stereotypical. Just not in my DNA. However, in my drinking days I did do ride alongs to enjoy fried food and beer, and in one instance arrived in a cheerleader outfit. Seems like there was more than beer in that instance. Wigs are hot and itchy. Bowling now is reserved for corporate "team buildings" and the like. Bowling + Team Building...two of my favorite things. I did have one boss that planned a surprise team building and dropped us at the front gate of Disneyland....THAT is a team building. We had less than two hours. Luckily, that was 2003, and a different world of the crowds that we see today. We actually got a lot of things packed in...but we were RACING through it. Another team building by the same boss was a DL and California thing packed into one day....sounds fun...was like wrangling kittens. Too many A type personalities wanting to do it their way...uh...PEOPLE...I LIVED here for 10+ years...I DO know what I am doing...one the of the people barfed on the Grizzly wet thing and after that the day went way south way fast. That boss also dropped us at Universal for the day...that I have photos of...somewhere...I guess that Boss was pretty cool...until he wasn't about 10 years later :) Back to pins! Sherwin Williams. That I do deal with SW every. day. of. my. life. In the paint world, I do enjoy it the most as it does good renditions of other more obscure "high end" paints. Color matches are tough. Color matches on a budget...hmmm... saying "it's just paint!" to me is not popular. I enjoy the logo as well. RCA: Color TV's and Missiles! Great combo. Our friends had the fancy first-ish version of the RCA Color TV...that was a big deal. We didn't get a color TV until much much much later. The TV was HUGE, in a big Ethan Allen-y cabinet. I remember the NBC peacock, and the Wonderful World Of Color, and the Rogers and Hammerstein Cinderella with Leslie Ann Warren...So I suppose all these memories are from around 1965-ish. Regarding employee badges with numbers: Disneyland had those too in the beginning...which is odd since the "legend stories" include Walt wanting everyone on a first name basis...not sure how long the number badges lasted, but someone does. I'm fine with a number. I don't particularly like people I don't know calling me by my first name, which is probably some Disneyland PTSD thing. Or perhaps it's my somewhat Victorian upbringing. East coast people call me everything but my actual name...and generally add a "Y" to every iteration. I think that's enough rabbit holes for this fine afternoon. Thanks Major!
This is my box, this is my box...
I never travel without my box.
In the first drawer I keep my magic stones.
I've never been much of a bowler myself (juvenile arthritis, swollen knuckles) but I've spent a lot of time in bowling alleys with family and friends over the years, from the place where my mother moonlighted as a cocktail waitress before I was born, to a rural biker bar called Erma's with a two-lane alley in the back where you had to know which way each lane warped, to a private alley in the stable wing of a Gilded Age country estate converted to a B&B. So many alleys are meeting the same fate as the drive-in theaters these days. One of my favorite jokes is a bowling joke, though:
Did you hear about the guy who bowled three hundred and one?
How can you bowl three hundred and one?
How can you bowl three hundred and LOSE?
(I know the grammar doesn't quite work, but poor grammar in the service of a cheap laugh is completely justified.)
These are all Boxworthy items, but I think my favorite is the RSMA badge, based solely on the clean design lines and the color scheme. I know the blue isn't lapis lazuli, but it looks like it and that's good enough for me. Thanks as always for sharing your treasure trove!
Forgot to mention that we also did a bowling unit in high school gym class, using special hard rubber balls that were safe for the gym floor. We'd take turns being bowlers and pin setters.
K. Martinez, I think Sherwin Williams sponsored an Ice Capades show that I saw when I lived in Virginia, now there’s always a part of me that associates them with ice skating! You can’t go wrong with the RCA pin, it’s tiny, but it’s a beautiful design.
Nanook, yes, I agree, an oscilloscope (which is why I referred to the oscillating waves! Maybe you’re right, if they still gave out pins like these, all the Tik Tok kids would be into bowling.
JB, I think that as designs go, the second pin is the best of them. Plus it’s more sculptural - it seems like the wings are holding the bowling ball much like a pair of hands would. I think that the use of real enamel on the RCA pin makes a lot of difference - if it was merely red paint (as is used on modern “cloisonne” pins) it wouldn’t be as pretty. I don’t mind that the Sherwin Williams pin is so worn, it shows that it was used by an employee for decades, probably getting most of its wear from just putting it on and taking it off. I once had an opportunity to buy a near mind example, but it was way too expensive!
TokyoMagic!, yes, RCA, General Electric, Westinghouse, all those companies made sweet sweet money making stuff for the military. I don’t know if they made missiles, or just helped with the guidance systems, or what. I guess you did not enjoy your one bowling experience? I miss going with my friends, or even taking my niece and nephew (we’d go to the lanes in Pismo Beach) when they were younger. Keep your grandpa’s bowling ball forever!
JG, how in the world did you know that Sherwin Williams had anything to do with Space Mountain?? That’s a new fact to me! “Sparky Electric”, I love it, I’ll have to see if I can find a picture of him. There was a character called “Willie Wirehands” that I believe predated Reddy Kilowatt, but I don’t love him as much. The only thing I did not like about bowling was that the leagues would take up all the lanes, so some days we’d go to bowl and were not able to. Not great for potential customers!
Stu29573, oh I’d love to see your Soviet-era pins! They were for “Most Glorious Beets of the Motherland”. I’ll bet.
JG, missile tracking, that makes sense. My company, “Just Missilez”, actually built the projectiles that RCA tracked. All we built was… well, you get it. Ugh, why would Disney buy a bowling alley just to use as a temporary warehouse? I’ve seen photos of that magnificent marquee, they really pulled out all the stops on that one.
Bu, I’ve seen photos of some beautiful mid-century bowling alley designs. Lots of orange! I love it. I don’t feel like you have to be great at bowling to have fun. It’s all who you are bowling with. Fun people equals a fun time. I once took a date for “rock and roll bowling”, where they lit the whole place with blacklights and blasted Van Halen and so on. She burst into tears because she kept throwing gutterballs. I felt bad. She’s still a friend, by the way. You see in old Disney company magazines that there were softball teams, bowling leagues, and other fun team-building activities. It would have been a fun way to make friends and hopefully make some good work relationships. Unless you’re bad at the sport I guess. My grandparents had a pretty old RCA radio in one of the spare bedrooms - it wasn’t a cool art deco design, but I liked it, and remember the way it smelled when the tubes warmed up. Hot dust! And maybe bakelite, not sure. I’m so glad we don’t have to deal with CRT TVs anymore, those things were SO heavy and clunky. I wonder if the early Disneyland employee badges were the brainchild of somebody other than Walt? However, he is famous for being “employee #1”.
Melissa, I used to love it when my little niece or nephew would roll the ball at about .1 mph, by swinging it with both hands, and it would take three minutes to get to the end… and they’d get a strike! They were so happy. My grandfather worked at a bowling alley when he was a boy, and told stories of how he had to set the pins by hand. It sounds like a horrible job, he’d get home at 3 in the morning, and then have to get up at 7 to go to school. I’m glad you enjoyed today’s selection of Stuff From the Box!
Melissa, whoa, bowling for school credit, THE DREAM. But they just did it in the gym? No bueno!
"My new apartment is over a bowling alley."
"Gracious! How noisy is it?"
"You can hear a pin drop."
Major- Cool pins today. The 2nd photo, the 200 CLUB pin with wings, is very reminiscent of the U.S. 8th Air Force insignia design from WW2.
I grew up living very close to Disneyland & I recall in the 1960s, going in the car with my parents & parking at the Wonder Bowl parking lot to enjoy a free fireworks show...;)
-DW
Tokyo, that was the one, I just couldn't remember the name.
Major, it is a longer story about Sherwin Williams, I will tell it later today.
JG
Major, here is a link to Sparky Electronics.
https://www.roadarch.com/06/1/sparky.jpg
This sign was on Blackstone Ave, which in that era was Fresno's "Miracle Mile". The website above says the sign dates from 1963 and as of 2013, was in storage pending re-installation.
Major, here is the Space Mountain story:
In the 1980's, I worked for a firm that did a lot of work in LA/Santa Monica/Brentwood/Bel Aire. Many of the homes we designed had outdoor upper floor balconies or roof decks that used liquid coatings for waterproofing. The product usually used was called "Koba-Thane" or "Koba Deck"(no idea why that name or what it meant). The product promotional materials said it was used at Disneyland, and a contact I knew said it was used as the roof on the Space Mountain, partly because the liquid would handle the odd shapes, and partly because it could be tinted any color. The same or similar product was used on some of the upper deck exterior queues at Space Mountain.
At some point, Koba was acquired by General Polymers but the product name remained the same.
Sherwin Williams was a big paint company that became even bigger in the 1980's and 1990's. There was some kind of consolidation in the paint and coatings industry and Sherwin bought General Polymers, and added Kobathane to their line of coatings. I have found links as recently as 2019, but the product seems to have been discontinued. There are a lot of liquid products on the market now, but Koba may have been among the first.
So that's the connection.
JG
DBenson, augh. Great joke!
DW, that's totally cool, I visited some folks once who lived near the Park and we sat in their driveway on the folding chairs to watch the show. Must have been great to have that every night.
Melissa, bad grammar can be it's own form of humor, so you are on the right track.
JG
Major-
Somewhere I have a Willie Wiredhand pinback button, but I'll be damned if I can find it...
Turns out Reddy Kilowatt predates 'ol Willie by quite some time. Reddy was created back in 1926. Willie came along in 1950 - first as "Willie the Wired Hand" (a play on the phrase "hired hand" -ugh-!) - the result of a mascot contest winner for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association . The character, [with a revised name] of Willie Wiredhand was chosen as the contest winner in 1951. (Sorry, freelance artist Andrew "Drew" McLay, Willie has nothin' on our friend Reddy-!)
Major: is your collection in a single large box ( like Mary Poppins bottolmless carpet bag) or is it in many, many boxes ?? I’ve seen those bowling “pins” before ….. bowling was a big thing in my family. My parents actually met while in the General Dynamics Company Bowling League…. They were randomly placed on the same team! San Diego was home to sone glorious mid century bowling “temples” …. Comprising of the lanes , Club rooms , coffee shops and the important lounge / niteclub. Sadly most have been torn down …. The few still standing have been converted to other businesses like private schools or offices …. But sadly hade been stripped of there 50’s and 60’s elements. One still remains a bowling alley. Many of the these lost San Diego structures became inspiration for a series of mid century scale model kits I produced including “Astro Bowl” , “Astro Bowl II” , “Century Lanes” , and “Aloha Lanes” … the tiki themed bowling complex which the prototype was featured in the traveling exhibit TIKI MODERN and the book of the same name.
I remember when Disney bought the “wonder lanes “ ….. of course only to obtain the property. At one point before it’s demolition , Disneyland decorating used it for extra storage when they closed down their giant decorating facility off of Ball road - across from Gnal Lumber. Disney did a similar thing at Imagineering , however that bowling alley still stands ( only a few of the actual lanes survive and are operable ) but for the most part the late 50’s architecture remains lovingly protected - I fact Disney owns MOST of all the buildings surrounding the original WDI/WED structures …. On Flower St. and surrounding streets ………. For now.
BTW : Disneyland’s traditional exterior color is ( as well as most of 60’s Thru 80’s. Tomorrowland) is DISNEYLAND 64TH TECH WHITE ….. a exclusive Disney white color series by John Hench similar to paramount studios tech white colors we know today as “Navajo white”
DBenson, the pain… the pain!
DW, I see what you mean, there is a similarity. I love hearing about your trips to the Wonder Bowl to watch the free fireworks! That would have been a highlight of my childhood.
Melissa, don’t encourage him!
JG, I see that you have left the story below!
JG, I love Sparky! So great. “Koba-Thane”, didn’t he fight Ironman? It sounds like the Space Mountain/Sherwin Williams link is a bit circuitous, but it’s there! And I suppose it’s only natural that after a certain amount of time a new waterproofing product would come along that is better than one from the 1980’s. Flex Seal for instance! Based on the commercials they should keep a supply of that on the International Space Station. There’s nothing it can’t seal.
JG, I never got to enjoy fireworks from the Wonder Bowl parking lot. Instead we sometimes would go over to Edison High School and sit on the bleachers. You could see Disneyland’s fireworks, but they were teensy and far away. Still - it got me wishing I was there!
Nanook, well, there you go, I just assumed that Willie Wirehand was older because he looked more primitive, but had no idea that Reddy went back as far as 1926. I love Reddy, and have a few advertising items featuring his smiling likeness. Thanks for the info!
Mike Cozart, nope, as I’ve confessed, I am now into the fourth or fifth actual box of stuff. Sure, I could pile it all into one big box, but how would I ever find anything? I also love to put the items in old tin litho boxes that used to hold other things, such as automobile lightbulbs. Very sweet that your parents met while bowling! As as said before, I just don’t understand the apparent collapse of interest in bowling. We still have the Corbin Bowl in the San Fernando Valley, a veteran. And as I also said, I find the aesthetic of mid-century bowling alleys to be fun and charming. Maybe others disagree. There’s a famous very old bowling alley in Montrose, it dates back to 1910. Apparently it has been purchased and is being refurbished - hopefully not ruined! It was a true step back in time when you were inside. I guess it has appeared in a number of films. Is a Disney facility now on the site of the former Wonder Bowl? I wish I had my own custom white hue, named after me. Better than having a comet with one’s name!
Looking at that winged pin, I'm not so sure it's for bowling. All I see are the backs of 5 swans, with the last one carrying a bowling bowl. Probably about to drop it on some unsuspecting DL guest. That pin is my favorite, today. (Major, are there stones in the finger holes of that ball?)
I haven't bowled a lot, but enjoyed it when I did. Years ago, me, my husband and some friends, by chance, ended up in a lane right next to a league 'multiple-lane-party' - where they were following all kinds of fun instructions...for example, one time everyone had to bowl backwards, another time - face backwards and throw the ball under their legs, etc. - you get the picture. My group followed along and did exactly everything the party league had to do, while they were doing it. I got my highest score ever. That tells you how bad I was. It was a blast.
Great entertainment on GDB today, thanks, all!
Major, the former Wonder Bowl site is now just a parking lot, either the Downtown Disney or the Simba CM lot.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Simba+Cast+Member+Lot/@33.8034167,-117.9302122,16z/data=!4m12!1m6!3m5!1s0x80dcd7d12b3b5e6b:0x2ef62f8418225cfa!2sDisneyland+Park!8m2!3d33.8120918!4d-117.9189742!3m4!1s0x80dd2827cc4b4203:0x6c5d297cad28c560!8m2!3d33.8034172!4d-117.9275331?hl=en
I have this snapshot of the Wonder Bowl interior from the internet, looked just like this during my visits.
https://wikimapia.org/4379832/Wonder-Bowl-Bowling-Alley-site#/photo/787418
and when I first saw this pic after all that time, I could hear the sounds again.
I liked bowling, there was an alley or two in the Student Union at my college and we would play occasionally, but just never became a thing for me.
JG
San Diego - in Old Town - had a bowling alley in the 1860’s ….. inside the Jolly Boy Saloon ( & bowling hall) …. The structure was as saloon as early as the 1850’s and was expanded several times …. The main part of the building survives but was covered and made part of a 1930’s motor court motel and is currently a operating restaurant. The jolly Boy Saloon & Bowling Hall was very very mid century : mid 19th century.
I used to bowl quite a bit -(NERD ALERT) : I even have bowling trophies!! But now at 50+ I can only bowl one great game then my performance drops badly! Because of my tennis days : junior hs through college I have bad knees …. Well they are normally fine but somehow the weight of the ball and bowl approach puts stress on my - mostly right knee and then it hurts and it’s hard to bowl.
Man : I sound like a grumpy -100 year old man! I said I’d never be like that and here I am posting about “painful knee joins!! Lol!!
Major; consider placing the contents of your many smaller treasure boxes into one giant 8’ diameter foil “jiffy Pop “ pan …. And have it covered in foil …… then when you share the treasures , viewers with need to tear into the thin tin-foil dome covering! It will be exciting for you and for viewers …., like the anticipation of fresh hit JIFFY POP!!
Mike, what was your highest score? Did you ever bowl 300?
I'm now picturing a really fun GDB team, complete with matching bowling shirts and Bu cheering us on! With lots of fun food, too. How about it??
Comrades! I too have various pins from Soviet military and space programs purchased in the early 1990s. I don't know if they were originally made for the domestic market or for international tourists, but they seemed to flood the flea market scene after the collapse of the USSR. When I wound up in Berlin a few years later as an exchange student, I realized they were even cheaper there (and slabs of the Berlin wall were free for harvesting, but enterprising Germans were renting use of their hammers for a few Deutschmarks)
Koba-thane may have been used on Space Mountain, but did it have cool infomercials like Flex Seal?
That Sparky Electronics mascot looks like a resident of Whoville that didn't properly ground himself.
Mike, your mention of Navajo White just triggered a flashback of searching through a Sears paint department for matching lot numbers on gallons of paint for the living room, back in the day when you bought paint with specific colors instead of base tinted on request.
I also had more-or-less free bowling at the Student Union at college, but never got into the game. I did get familiar with fixing the pin setter when it jammed, though.
I have a Soviet military hat badge in one of my jewelry boxes; I got it in a bag of odds and ends from another costumer who was thinning out her stash. I used it on the Major-General’s hat in a production of The Pirates of Penzance; all the audience could see was that it was gold and shiny.
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