Jazzy July
1950s Pop Culture
Types of Food
On the Road Again
Gardens
100

Many people wear these three colors to celebrate the Fourth of July.

red, white, and blue

They are the colors of the U.S. flag. Many people fly the flag on this day.

100

With the television becoming more common, the airwaves were filled with entertainment, news, and these segments, which paid for free programming.

commercials

This was the decade that launched jingles and slogans into the stratosphere. Companies enticed buyers with must-have products through TV commercials. The era of “keeping up with the Joneses” was born.

100

Ribeye and skirt

steak cuts (or beef cuts)

Ribeyes are tender, marbled cuts, best panfried or grilled over dry heat, while skirt steaks are a tougher cut, best marinated in an acidic sauce and then flash-seared.

100

This suspension bridge spans the Golden Gate Strait and connects San Francisco to Marin County.

Golden Gate Bridge

It was built in 1937 and is one of the “Seven Wonders of the Modern World.” It was one of the greatest engineering feats of its day.

100

These purple, white, yellow, and variegated flowers are among the first to bloom in spring.

crocuses

They are grown from corms, which are smaller and rounder than bulbs and layered like an onion. To everyone but horticulturists, crocuses are grown from bulbs.

200

Eat some funnel cake and take the grandkids to ride some rides at these state and county events, if one starts in July near you.

a fair

The focus of state and county fairs is livestock, horticultural, and craft competitions, but entertainment features draw the crowds. Fairs typically run from May through October.

200

City dwellers fled to housing developments in these areas.

suburbs

It was the ideal place to raise children, and life in the suburbs became more family-centric than in the cities.

200

Granny Smith and pink lady

apples

Granny Smith apples are eaten raw and often used for baking. Pink lady apples are crisp and tart with a hint of sweetness.

200

This New England city is the home of Faneuil Hall Marketplace, where early freedom fighters gathered.

Boston

The Founding Fathers called it the “Cradle of Liberty.” Today, it’s a Top 10 visitor destination, a bustling marketplace with shops, locally grown produce, eateries, and street performances.

200

From the poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” a “host” of these flowers are grown from bulbs.

golden daffodils

These large flowers with a central trumpet emerge in early spring.

300

On July 6, 1885, Louis Pasteur experimented on a nine-year-old boy who had been bitten by a dog by injecting him with this vaccine.

rabies

The dog was rabid, and the vaccine was unproven; fortunately, it worked, and Pasteur saved the child’s life. It was a gamble worth taking.

300

During the 1950s “Golden Age of Television,” this iconic sitcom centered on two couples living in New York City: a bandleader and his mischievous wife, and their landlords.

I Love Lucy

The series originally ran from 1951 to 1957, and it still runs in syndication today.

300

Tagliatelle and vermicelli

pasta

Tagliatelle comes from Northern Italy and dates to the 15th century. Vermicelli is used in soups and in seafood dishes.

300

Robert Mondavi transformed this valley into wine country.

Napa

Cesare Mondavi entered the wine industry in the 1920s. His son Robert studied chemistry, an essential part of winemaking, and, along with his family, bought his first winery, a 160-acre vineyard. The cost was $87,000.

300

This Christmas favorite is grown from a giant bulb.

amaryllis

The amaryllis plant can live up to 75 years with proper care.

400

When it’s too hot to play a full round of golf—or even a nine-hole round of golf—try this quick, alliterative golf game.

putt-putt

The game consists only of putting, but many courses are both imaginative and challenging.

400

Drab World War II styles evolved into color and pattern, and women’s dresses returned to this type of waist, popular during the late 19th century.

cinched (or fitted, or similar)

Polka dots were everywhere, a flourish not seen during the war years.

400

The type of vegetable broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts are

cruciferous

Cruciferous comes from a Latin word meaning “crossbearing”; the vegetables are so named because their four-petaled flowers resemble a cross.

Other, less-obvious cruciferous vegetables include horseradish, radish, kale, and watercress.

400

This original farmers’ market in the Public Market Center is synonymous with Seattle.

Pike Place Market

It was founded in 1907. According to its website, it’s “one of the oldest and largest continuously operating public markets in the United States.”

400

This tall, spring-blooming flower is named for a Greek goddess and is available in a huge array of colors. Its varieties include bearded, dwarf, and Dutch.

iris

It’s grown from a rhizome. Each bloom has three upright petals and three downward-facing petals.

500

On July 5, 1946, showgirl Micheline Bernardini introduced this garment to the world in Paris.

the bikini

Two-piece swimsuits were already worn, but this was the first unveiling of a bikini.

500

Even wealthy men shifted toward this generic type of clothing when not at work.

casual

While many wore sweaters under their jackets, younger men preferred white T-shirts, popularized by 1951’s A Streetcar Named Desire.

500

Spring and egg

rolls

Spring rolls are thin pancake wraps from China, filled with vegetables and sometimes meat. Egg rolls are a similar, wider-Asian take on spring rolls, but they’re fried and crunchy.

500

Consistently the most-visited U.S. National Park, it hosted 11.5 million visitors in 2025.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

It’s located in Tennessee and North Carolina. Because of its elevation, it sometimes offers skiing in winter, which isn’t common in the South.

500

This roselike spring flower is grown from a bulb.

ranunculus

They are also called buttercups, but they bear no resemblance to daffodils. Pick a bunch of them, and they look just like a bouquet of roses.