To escape the sweltering, smoggy summers of New York City, a group of first generation Americans sought reprieve in the Catskill Mountains of Upstate New York. As the summers rolled on, through good times and bad, the New York crowd continued to flock north. The old boarding houses evolved into bungalows, and then into world class resorts. Welcome to the Catskills, where modern hospitality, modern comedy, and the best entertainment money could buy was all cultivated. The primary resource for this episode; It Happened in the Catskills: Oral History in the Words of Busboys, Bellhops, Guests, Prioprieters, Comedians, Agents, and Others Who Lived It, by Myrna Katz & Harvey Frommer. 

In our mid-season special, we're delving into the unique history of the electronic music genre of Synthwave, and its rise to mainstream popular culture. This twisting and turning tale includes 80’s horror movies, Ryan Gosling, ultra-violent video games, and mysterious French composers. It's a story soaked in nostalgia, yet futuristic and modern, like all good Synthwave music. Join us in Riding The Synthwave. 

In the early days of the National Basketball Association, the legendary Bill Russell put his team on his back and carried them to eleven championships in thirteen seasons. While constructing the cherished Boston Celtic dynasty, he also fought another battle for social progress in a city that refused to acknowledge its own demons. These demons revealed themselves in the Boston busing crisis of the 1970’s, where a photograph of a young Bostonian trying to stab a fellow citizen with an American flag horrified the entire nation. The story of Bill Russell and Boston is an exploration of what it takes to forgive, and who deserves to be forgiven. This is Pride and Reckoning in Boston. 

In the early 1980’s, an ambitious entrepreneur built the wildest water park the world had ever seen. Action Park was filled with rides that thrilled, scared, and even injured the guests. The rural getaway of Vernon, New Jersey was home to the America's Most Dangerous Water Park. Around the same time, two New Jerseyans began cataloging urban legends and local lore of their fellow residents on the pages of their new magazine, Weird New Jersey. Both of these endeavors were a smashing success, and they shaped an entire generation of residents up and down the Garden State Parkway. Welcome to New Jersey, where the weird and the wild are just a short drive away. Where roadside attractions are filled with legend, and scars from an amusement park are proudly worn as badges of courage. 

At the dawn of the 1980's, the sun-kissed paradise of South Beach Miami was crumbling and overflowing with crime. It took a rag-tag group of artists, architecture fans, activists, and the coolest show in television history to turn the tide and show the world how magical Miami could be. This is the story of how master preservationist Barbara Capitman created the Art Deco District. This is the story of how Miami Vice forever changed the Magic City. This is the story of the Magicians that Saved Miami.

Secret societies, ancient orders, capitalist titans, and a world-renowned private detective agency wage war in the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania.

A small school in the heart of Indianapolis battles the forces of Jim Crow and the frenzy of basketball-crazed Indiana. Sound like the movie Hoosiers? It‘s an even more unlikely underdog story. Oscar Robertson stars for Naptown’s Dream Team, on tonight's episode, Hoosier Attucks. 

Pittsburgh was home to another great Black Renaissance. At the center of it was the vibrant neighborhood known as the Hill, or Smoketown. A local gangster and war vet, a crusading journalist, and a journeyman pitcher converge to elevate their community and change baseball forever, paving the way for Jackie Robinson to break the color barrier. Tune in to hear the tale of the Three Kings of Smoketown. 

*A mid-season special episode* Before the Delorean drove into immortality in 1985's classic Back to the Future, it was a dream of a visionary engineer. The story of its creation and the man behind it is worthy of its own movie. It's the perfect story to encapsulate America in the 1980's. This story has it all: Pure unbridled ambition. Corporate espionage. Foreign entanglements in a 500 year blood-feud. Drugs. Movie stars. Models. Undercover cops. Tune in to discover the United States versus John Delorean.

In Palms Springs, the uniquely structured homes are almost as fascinating as the stars who owned them, and legendary parties they hosted. Frank Sinatra is our guide in a weaving story of kingmakers, royalty, and icons forging history under the desert sun. 

Journey to the golden age of the confidence artist as legendary hustlers Titanic Thompson and The Yellow Kid plunder the rich and navigate the underworld of the rising metropolis of the Midwest. With Prohibition looming on the horizon, the battle for the soul of Chicago rages in City Hall under the helm of the infamous mayor Big Bill Thompson. Join us as we go back... to Chicago in the early twentieth century.

Casinos race to build the biggest and brightest lights as Las Vegas comes of age. Meanwhile, the United States is locked in another race to build the biggest and deadliest bombs known to man. Grab an atomic cocktail and pull up a chair to watch how Vegas lit up the desert sky in Atomic Neon. 

Sources for this episode:

The Strip: Las Vegas and the Architecture of the American Dream by Stefan Al

Bomb: The Race to Build -- and Steal -- the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin

The Money and the Power: The Making of Las Vegas and its Hold on America by Sally Denton

In our introductory episode we explore the impact the 1980’s has had on our culture. Before he drove the Delorean back in time, Michael J. Fox was in our homes as young Republican Alex P. Keaton. We’ll also explore Reagan’s battle to define the decades past and the power of weaponized nostalgia. 

References: Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live in Now--Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Everything. By David Sirota