VW is resurrecting its iconic microbus — the quintessential van associated with hippie counterculture of the 1960s (below) as an
all-electric van called the ID. Buzz.
 

CORBETT, Ore (KATU). — Vista House is set to reopen to visitors
in the Columbia River Gorge this coming weekend.

While the viewpoint and parking lot have remained open, Vista
House and its gift shop and café will be back open to the public.

The historic Columbia River Gorge attraction has been closed for
most of 2020 and 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Vista House opened in 1918 (above) as a glamorous rest stop and observatory for those traveling the new highway. This “comfort
station” was a rest stop like no other, featuring marble floors,
stained glass windows — and, of course, a stunning view. In the
words of The Oregonian, it was “the finishing achievement for the greatest highway in America.”

Architect Edgar M. Lazarus designed the building to be functional, beautiful and commemorative: the rest stop served as a memorial
to the settlers who had traveled the final stretch of the Oregon Trail
along the Columbia River. Inside, stone panels are carved with the
names of settler families. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, the building fulfills Lazarus’s vision as a “temple to
the natural beauty of the Gorge.

Edgar Marks Lazarus
(June 6, 1868 – October 2, 1939)

On March 9, 1959, the first Barbie doll went  on display at the
American Toy Fair in New York City.

Eleven inches tall, with a waterfall of blond hair, Barbie was the
first mass-produced toy doll in the United States with adult
features. The woman behind Barbie was Ruth Handler, who co-
founded Mattel, Inc. with her husband in 1945. After seeing her
young daughter ignore her baby dolls to play make-believe with
paper dolls of adult women, Handler realized there was an
important niche in the market for a toy that allowed little girls
to imagine the future.

First Barbie TV commercial in 1959.

The woman behind Barbie was Ruth Handler,who co-founded Mattel, Inc. with her husband in 1945.

President John F. Kennedy addresses the first group of
Peace Corps volunteers headed for Ghana and Tanzania.

On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy issued Executive
Order #10924, establishing the Peace Corps as a new agency
within the Department of State. The same day, he sent a message
to Congress asking for permanent funding for the agency, which
would send trained American men and women to foreign nations
to assist in development efforts. The Peace Corps captured the imagination of the U.S. public, and during the week after its
creation thousands of letters poured into Washington from
young Americans hoping to volunteer.

Dr.Jonas Salk administered one of the first polio shots.

On February 23, 1954, a group of children from Arsenal
Elementary School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, receive the
first injections of the new polio vaccine developed by Dr.
Jonas Salk (above). Thanks to the vaccine, by the 21st
century polio cases were reduced by 99 percent worldwide.

Though not as devastating as the plague or influenza,
poliomyelitis was a highly contagious disease that emerged
in terrifying outbreaks and seemed impossible to stop.

Attacking the nerve cells and sometimes the central nervous
system, polio caused muscle deterioration, paralysis and even
death. Even as medicine vastly improved in the first half of the
20th century in the Western world, polio still struck, affecting
mostly children but sometimes adults as well.

The most famous victim of a 1921 outbreak in America was
future President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, then a young
politician. The disease spread quickly, leaving his legs
permanently paralyzed.