In 1931 while looking for a way to keep his company’s shortcake-
baking machinery busy when strawberries are out of season,
manager James Dewar tried injecting one of the cakes with
cream filling. He dubbed his creation the Twinkie.
James Alexander Dewar (1897-1985)
On March 21, 1952, Cleveland, Ohio hosted an event now
recognized as history’s first major rock-and-roll show…
the Moondog Coronation Ball.
Breathless promotion on the local radio station. Tickets
selling out in a single day. Thousands of teenagers,
hours before show time, lining up outside the biggest
venue in town.
The scene outside the Cleveland Arena on a chilly Friday
night in March would look quite familiar to anyone who
has ever attended a major rock concert. But no one on
this particular night had ever even heard of a “rock
concert” before.
The “Moondog” in question was the legendary disk jockey
Alan Freed, the self-styled “father of rock and roll” who
was then the host of the enormously popular “Moondog
Show” on Cleveland AM radio station WJW.
Volkswagen, maker of the Beetle automobile, expanded its
product offerings to include a microbus, which went into
production on March 8, 1950.
Known officially as the Volkswagen Type 2 (the Beetle was
the Type 1) or the Transporter, the bus was a favorite mode
of transportation for hippies in the U.S. during the 1960s
and became an icon of the American counterculture
movement.
