Charles Phoenix

Last updated

Charles Phoenix
CharlesPhoenix.jpg
Phoenix at a holiday show, 2014
Born (1962-12-20) December 20, 1962 (age 61)
Ontario, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)Humorist, historian, author, chef
Years active1998–present
Website www.charlesphoenix.com

Charles Phoenix (born December 20, 1962) is an American pop culture humorist, historian, author and chef whose work explores 1950s and 1960s kitsch and Americana.

Contents

Phoenix is widely known for his "Retro slide shows" featuring a collection of vintage film slides capturing mid-century American life and culture -- set to Phoenix's commentary. He's known also for his "test kitchen" creations of exaggerated novelty foods and desserts, including the Cherpumple, a three-layer cake/pie hybrid. Phoenix has appearanced as a recurring judge on the Food Network series Cake Wars and served as a frequent guest commentator on NPR and KCET.

Biography

Early life

Phoenix was born in Upland, California in 1962 and raised in neighboring Ontario, the son of a used car salesman and a "happy homemaker. [1] He traces his love of things vintage and retro to his early years spent on his father's used car lot, where he became enamored with the automobiles, which he learned to identify by make, model and year by the time he was six. [2] [3] Phoenix's obsession with classic cars ultimately led to his interest in mid-century architecture, fashion and photography. [4]

In 1982, Phoenix moved to Los Angeles and attended the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, after which he started working as a fashion designer. [3] According to Phoenix, after repeatedly getting fired from every design job, he returned to his first passion and began a second career buying and selling classic cars. [3] [5]

Retro Slide Shows

In 1992, Phoenix was shopping for vintage clothing when he came across a shoebox labeled "Trip Across the U.S., 1957" filled Kodachrome color slides of an unidentified family's vacation photos at numerous roadside landmarks. [2] [6] Fascinated by the vivid color depictions of the era, Phoenix began scouring thrift stores, flea markets and estate sales buying boxes of slides taken from the late 1940-1970s, amassing a sizable collection. [7]

Phoenix began developing his slide show in the mid-1990s when he would show his collection with accompanying commentary to his friends and acquaintances at private parties. [1] Encouraged by his friends, Phoenix took a chance at presenting one of his shows to the general public. His first public event, entitled "God Bless Americana: The Retro Vacation Slide Show of the USA", was held at the California Map and Travel Store in Los Angeles in 1998. [8] According to Phoenix, he originally intended for his slide shows to be straightforward and serious presentations, but the inherent kitsch of his slides invoked frequent laughter from the audience, prompting Phoenix to restructure his show with a more comedic tone. [7] [9] Phoenix now takes an observational comedy and storytelling approach to his slide presentations, usually attempting to employ a narrative using what few facts Phoenix can derive from the slides' annotations with his knowledge bank of history and pop culture trivia as well as juxtaposing slides from different collections, though he emphatically states that he never fabricates any portion of his narration. [7] [10] [11]

Despite the overtly comedic tone of his slide shows, Phoenix has stressed that his shows are explicitly about honoring and celebrating American culture rather than mocking it. [12] [13] Describing his shows as "history disguised as comedy and comedy disguised as history", he has been quoted as saying "My goal, first off and foremost, is to entertain people, but just below the line of entertainment is to educate and respect the past", hoping that through humor he can instill an appreciation and admiration for mid-century culture in people otherwise uninterested or unaware of such topics. [14] [15]

Get in touch with your inner Americana, embrace it, have a sense of humor about it, and proudly share it with the whole wide world.

– Charles Phoenix's Americana "mantra". [3]

Bolstered by excellent critical reviews in publications such as the Los Angeles Times Magazine , Phoenix's slide shows quickly grew into bigger and more elaborate events which started appearing all throughout Los Angeles, including at such prestigious venues as the REDCAT at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Egyptian Theatre, the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre and the Museum of Contemporary Art. [1] [6] [9] Phoenix started developing different versions of his Retro Slide Shows, typically focusing on various aspects of California life and culture as well as holiday-themed shows and city-specific presentations for events held in locations including Palm Springs, Anaheim, Long Beach and San Francisco. [7] Phoenix eventually began taking his slide shows outside of California, usually visiting states within the southwest and going as far as Denver, Colorado and New York City, where his show "God Bless Americana" won "Most Unique Theatrical Performance" at the 2003 New York International Fringe Festival. [9] For these out-of-state shows, Phoenix typically arrives several days ahead of his performance to explore and photograph the area's local sights, then spends approximately eight or nine hours sifting through vintage slides of the city in question and coupling them with his recent photographs to create a unique show. [2]

Having searched through "millions" of color slides "looking for information and elements of great photography", Phoenix likens the process to gold panning, and estimates that approximately only one out of every 3,000 slides makes it into his collection. [16] [17] As of 2014, Phoenix's "slibrary" contained more than 200,000 slides and he enlists the help of a "slibrarian" to assist him in sorting through his constantly growing collection on a weekly basis. [18] As Phoenix and his shows grew in popularity, fans from around the country started sending him their own slides; Phoenix has said that he rarely ever searches for slides in thrift stores anymore as they've been consistently arriving at his home for over a decade. [4]

Charles Phoenix Test Kitchen

The Cherpumple cake/pie hybrid, Phoenix's most well-known culinary creation. Cherpumple.jpg
The Cherpumple cake/pie hybrid, Phoenix's most well-known culinary creation.

Phoenix is also popular for what he calls "The Charles Phoenix test kitchen" where he crafts decadent, exaggerated and occasionally grotesque novelty foods and desserts inspired by classic dishes from the past. Claiming to "put the kitsch in kitchen", Phoenix's recipes are largely based more on presentation rather than flavor; he admitted in a 2012 interview, "I'm a hack in the kitchen, I really am", noting elsewhere "This is not fine food, this is fun food!" which he encourages people to experiment with in their own kitchens. [19] [20] His most famous creation is the Cherpumple, in which cherry, apple and pumpkin pies are baked into several different flavors of cake and then stacked together, a concoction which The Wall Street Journal dubbed "the turducken of desserts" and The Huffington Post described as "awesome and absolutely offensive all in one". [21] [22]

Among some of Phoenix's other creations include "Bambrosinana", a layered fusion of banana pudding and ambrosia, "Inchezonya", a hybrid of enchilada and lasagna, [20] "Fried Cereal", a sugar-sautéed snack mix of breakfast cereals, [23] "Frosty the Cheeseball Man", a snowman constructed out of Velveeta and cream cheese which is melted into fondue, meatloafs molded into various shapes ranging from tiki heads to giant rats, numerous multi-layered cakes incorporating such ingredients as breakfast cereals, marshmallow Peeps and jelly beans, and a lighted Jell-O Christmas tree which uses an orange traffic cone for a mold and contains working Christmas lights. [19]

Most of Phoenix's appearances on national television involve his unusual food crafting. In 2010 and 2013, he appeared on Conan O'Brien 's talk show Conan making two holiday-themed dishes, the "Astro-Weenie Christmas Tree", an aluminum foil-covered cone skewered with meat, fruit and vegetables, and a lamb-shaped meatloaf "frosted" with mashed potatoes. [24] Phoenix also demonstrated the "Astro-Weenie Christmas Tree" along with a striped candy cane cake on a 2013 episode of The Queen Latifah Show and, on a Halloween-themed episode, a Jack-o'-lantern version of his cheeseball fondue sculpture. [25] [26]

Other endeavors

Phoenix as grand marshal at the 2009 Doo Dah Parade. Charles Phoenix - Doo Dah Parade - Pasadena CA - 2009.jpg
Phoenix as grand marshal at the 2009 Doo Dah Parade.

In addition to his slide shows, Phoenix has hosted several humorous bus and walking tours of Los Angeles since the early 2000s, ranging from the "Retro School Bus Field Trip Tour", which shuttles guests around in a vintage school bus to various mid-century landmarks highlighting Googie architecture, ranch-style tract homes, drive-in theaters and Space Age neon signs, to the "Yesterday Once More" tour of Downey, which visited locations related to the Downey-based pop duo The Carpenters. [9] [15] [19] Phoenix became most recognized for his "Disneyland Tour of Downtown Los Angeles", a six-hour tour in which he illustrates the parallels between the design and architecture of Downtown Los Angeles to that of Disneyland, such as Clifton's Cafeteria mirroring Frontierland, the Bob Baker Marionette Theater to Fantasyland, Olvera Street and Broadway to Main Street, U.S.A. and so forth. [6] [27] The tour, which received ample coverage from the likes of LA Weekly and the Los Angeles Times , proved so popular that it expanded from being held every few months to a regular bi-monthly engagement. [1] [28]

Phoenix has authored and co-authored several coffee table books dedicated to vintage Americana, showcasing many of the slides he has in his collection. [1] He has written and compiled three books specifically about Southern California – Cruising the Pomona Valley 1930 thru 1970 (1999), Southern Californialand: Mid-Century Culture in Kodachrome (2004) and Southern California in the '50s: Sun, Fun and Fantasy (2011) – as well as two books detailing a wider scope of American culture, God Bless Americana (2002) and Americana the Beautiful: Mid-Century Culture in Kodachrome (2006). With co-author Fred E. Basten, Phoenix also contributed to 1999's Leis, Luaus, and Alohas, a similar coffee table book about Hawaii in the 1950s, and Fabulous Las Vegas in the 50s.

In August 2008, it was announced that PBS affiliate KOCE-TV would produce 18 episodes of a thirty-minute Los Angeles-based travel series hosted by Phoenix called Southern CaliforniaLand, though the series ultimately failed to progress past the development stages. [29] [30]

In 2009, Phoenix served as grand marshal for the 32nd annual Doo Dah Parade in Pasadena, and in 2012 he appeared as part of the Rose Parade on the city of Downey's tiki-themed float. [31] [32]

Image and lifestyle

Phoenix has been called the "King of Retro" by the Los Angeles Times , while LA Weekly has given him titles ranging from "King of Kitsch", "Knight of Nostalgia and "Chancellor of Cheese". [33] [34] Phoenix himself uses the self-appointed title of "The Ambassador of Americana", while also describing himself as "a man with a particular Pee-wee Herman, Martha Stewart and Huell Howser sensibility". [10] He is particularly noted for his eccentric dress which generally utilizes bright colors and unusual patterns which Phoenix admits "push the edges of good taste" and draw heavily on the stereotypical dress of a used car salesman. [7]

Phoenix has mentioned in interviews that he practically lives the vintage lifestyle which he celebrates, noting that "nothing in my apartment is new...I prefer everything to be between 40 and 60 years old". [9] He has further said to have never driven a modern car, saying "classic cars, American cars are in my blood". Among the cars Phoenix has owned include a 1959 Dodge Coronet, a 1960 Ford Fairlane 500 and most recently, a 1961 Pontiac Bonneville. [9] [35] Despite Phoenix's retro lifestyle and interests, however, he has expressed a preference for living in the present. "One thing we don’t see in the photos – or if we do see it we don’t want to acknowledge it – is what a repressed and conformist society it was", he said in an interview with Time Out Chicago , "I’m happy to be alive today." [2]

Bibliography

Filmography

Television appearances

Film

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiki culture</span> Pseudo-Polynesian decor and themes

Tiki culture is an American-originated art, music, and entertainment movement inspired by Polynesian, Melanesian, and Micronesian cultures, and by Oceanian art. Influential cultures to Tiki culture include Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, the Caribbean Islands, and Hawaii. The name comes from Tiki, the Māori name for the first human, often represented in the form of hei-tiki, a pendant and important taonga. The hei-tiki was often appropriated by Europeans as a commercialised good luck charm, hence the name of Tiki culture. Despite spanning over 10,000 miles and including many different unrelated cultures, religions, and languages, Tiki aesthetic is considered by some to be amalgamated into one "fantasia of trans-Pacific cultures" and "colonial nostalgia". Because of this, and the simplistic view of the Pacific taken by the aesthetic, Tiki culture has often proved controversial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Googie architecture</span> 20th-century American architectural style

Googie architecture is a type of futurist architecture influenced by car culture, jets, the Atomic Age and the Space Age. It originated in Southern California from the Streamline Moderne architecture of the 1930s, and was popular in the United States from roughly 1945 to the early 1970s.

KCET is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOCE-TV. The two stations share studios at The Pointe in Burbank; KCET's transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson in the San Gabriel Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Alvin</span> American singer-songwriter and guitarist

David Albert Alvin is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. He is a former and founding member of the roots rock band the Blasters. Alvin has recorded and performed as a solo artist since the late 1980s and has been involved in various side projects and collaborations. He has had brief stints as a member of the bands X and the Knitters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Huell Howser</span> American television personality (1945–2013)

Huell Burnley Howser was an American television personality, actor, producer, writer, singer, and voice artist, best known for hosting, producing, and writing California's Gold and his human interest show Visiting... with Huell Howser, produced by KCET in Los Angeles for California PBS stations. The archive of his video chronicles offers an enhanced understanding of the history, culture, and people of California. He also voiced the Backson in Winnie the Pooh (2011).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trader Vic's</span> Polynesian-themed American restaurant chain

Trader Vic's is a restaurant and tiki bar chain headquartered in Emeryville, California, United States. Victor Jules Bergeron, Jr. founded a chain of Polynesian-themed restaurants that bore his nickname, "Trader Vic". He was one of two people who claimed to have invented the Mai Tai. The other was his amicable competitor for many years, Donn Beach of the "Don the Beachcomber" restaurants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Ryden</span> American painter (born 1963)

Mark Ryden is an American painter who is considered to be part of the Lowbrow art movement. He was dubbed "the god-father of pop surrealism" by Interview magazine. In 2015, Artnet named Ryden and his wife, painter Marion Peck, the king and queen of Pop Surrealism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lowbrow (art movement)</span> Underground visual art movement

Lowbrow, or lowbrow art, is an underground visual art movement that arose in the Los Angeles, California area in the late 1960s. It is a populist art movement with its cultural roots in underground comix, punk music, tiki culture, graffiti, and hot-rod cultures of the street. It is also often known by the name pop surrealism. Lowbrow art often has a sense of humor – sometimes the humor is gleeful, impish, or a sarcastic comment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shag (artist)</span> American artist

Josh Agle is an American artist, better known by the nickname Shag.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeffrey Vallance</span>

Jeffrey Karl Reese Vallance is an American contemporary artist who lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for projects that blur the lines between object-making, installation, performance, curation and anthropological study.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tiki bar</span> Bar with a "Tiki" or Polynesian theme

A tiki bar is a themed drinking establishment that serves elaborate cocktails, especially rum-based mixed drinks such as the Mai Tai and Zombie cocktails. Tiki bars are aesthetically defined by their tiki culture décor which is based upon a romanticized conception of tropical cultures, most commonly Polynesian. Some bars also incorporate general nautical themes or retro elements from the early atomic age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duff Goldman</span> American chef

Jeffrey Adam "Duff" Goldman is an American businessman, pastry chef, television personality, and writer. He is the executive chef of the Baltimore-based Charm City Cakes shop, which was featured in the Food Network reality television show Ace of Cakes, and his second, Los Angeles–based, shop Charm City Cakes West, which is featured in Food Network's Duff Till Dawn and "Cake Masters" series. His work has also been featured on the Food Network Challenge, Iron Chef America, Oprah, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Man v. Food, Buddy vs. Duff, Duff Takes the Cake, and Duff's Happy Fun Bake Time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Americana at Brand</span> Mixed-use retail and residential complex in Glendale, California, United States

The Americana at Brand is a large shopping, dining, entertainment and residential complex in Glendale, California. The mall features anchor stores Nordstrom, and Barnes & Noble.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clifton's Cafeteria</span> Restaurant in Los Angeles, California, US

Clifton's Cafeteria, once part of a chain of eight Clifton's restaurants, was the oldest surviving cafeteria-style eatery in Los Angeles and the largest public cafeteria in the world when it closed in 2018. Founded in 1931 by Clifford Clinton, the design of the restaurants included exotic decor and facades that were "kitschy and theatrical", and would eventually include multi-story fake redwood trees, stuffed lions, neon plants, and a petrified wood bar. Some considered Clifton's as a precursor to the first tiki bars. The name was created by combining "Clifford" and "Clinton" to produce "Clifton's".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cherpumple</span> Dessert made from various cakes and pies

A cherpumple is a holiday novelty dessert inspired by Turducken, where several different flavor pies are baked inside of several different flavors of cake, and then stacked together. The combined dessert is coated in cream cheese frosting. According to the Cherpumple's creator, pop culture humorist Charles Phoenix, "Cherpumple is short for cherry, pumpkin and apple pie. The apple pie is baked in spice cake, the pumpkin in yellow and the cherry in white."

Dapper Day is a fashion-based organization that provides outings and social events unofficially at Disneyland. The events promote vintage-style clothing and aesthetics and are held biannually. The first outing held in 2011, Dapper Day increased in popularity, growing to attract as many as 25,000 participants, with related events now including Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris. The organization has since expanded to include events at museums and concert halls, along with expos and car shows.

Bradford J. Salamon is an American multi-disciplinary artist who paints portraits in oils, depictions of human drama, and paintings of everyday objects. Salamon is also a sculptor, short filmmaker, curator and musician.

Cherry Capri is an American pop-culture figure, author and performance artist whose work explores Mid Century Modern style, healthy homemaking, and manners. She has been called "a mix between Martha Stewart and Pee Wee Herman." She has also been called "America's Mistress of Modernism, Manners & Mirth."

Bradley Parker is an American cartoonist and painter. His works have been shown at the Kona Oceanfront Gallery and the La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles. Prior to his career as a painter, Parker was an illustrator in the film industry and a cartoonist, working for mainstream publishers such as DC, Marvel, and Chaos! Comics. He is also known for his LGBT-themed comics, sometimes published under the pen name Ace Moorcock.

Roland Charles was an African-American photographer and gallerist, best known for co-founding The Black Photographers of California and its associated exhibition space, the Black Gallery, in Los Angeles, among the first institutions by and for black photographers.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Kozlowski, Carl (March 30, 2006). "A whole new way to see LA". Pasadena Weekly. Archived from the original on April 15, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Heidemann, Jason A. (September 18, 2012). "Charles Phoenix". Time Out Chicago.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Link, Matthew (June 2012). "Meet the Ultimate 'Retro Daddy'". Palm Springs Life.
  4. 1 2 Carter, Noelle (August 8, 2013). "Inchezonya, Cherpumple, Bambrosinana: Combining classic American dishes". The Splendid Table.
  5. ↑ "Who is...Charles Phoenix?". CharlesPhoenix.com. Archived from the original on December 25, 2010.
  6. 1 2 3 Lecaro, Lina (May 14, 2008). "Charles Phoenix". LA Weekly.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Singer, Davida (December 2003). "Get retro: Holiday scenes from the 1960s". The Villager. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  8. ↑ Schnebelen, Paul (August 31, 2004). "The Kodachrome Time Machine: Visiting the Past with Charles Phoenix's Retro Slide Shows". Jim Hill Media.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "INTERVIEW: Charles Phoenix". Any Swing Goes. May 14, 2004.
  10. 1 2 Lustig, Essie (December 20, 2012). "It's beginning to look a lot like Kitschmas". Ventura County Reporter. Archived from the original on April 15, 2015.
  11. ↑ Mellen, Kim. "That's America! A chat with the master of the found photo, Charles Phoenix". Pop Cult Mag. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015.
  12. ↑ Rocchi, Julia (July 9, 2014). "[Interview] Five Questions with Charles Phoenix, "Treasure Hunter"". Preservation Nation.
  13. ↑ Provenzano, Jim (December 12, 2014). "Charles Phoenix Shares His Camp Classics". Edge.
  14. ↑ Cary, Stephanie (March 10, 2011). "Show happily slides back into the past". Daily Breeze.
  15. 1 2 Singer, Mike (March 7, 2014). "Something to Laugh At: Charles Phoenix on Mid-Century Modernism Preservation". American Institute of Architects.
  16. ↑ Ardell, Jena (March 1, 2011). "Charles Phoenix Talks Kodachrome Slides and Retro Vacations at Palm Springs Modernism Week". LA Weekly.
  17. ↑ Piepenburg, Erik (December 10, 2003). "Reviving Cheerful Spirits In Kodachrome Holidays". The New York Times .
  18. ↑ "Charles Phoenix's Massive Vintage Kodachrome Collection". KCET. June 11, 2014. Archived from the original on April 15, 2015. Retrieved April 15, 2015.
  19. 1 2 3 Mello, Joe (September 30, 2012). "Charles Phoenix "Ambassador of Americana" To Make His Long Beach Debut". LBReport.com.
  20. 1 2 "Charles Phoenix brings his love of kitsch to cooking". Los Angeles Times . August 10, 2013. Archived from the original on August 19, 2013.
  21. ↑ Fowler, Geoffrey A. (November 6, 2010). "For Those Who Can't Decide on Dessert, Here's the Dish". The Wall Street Journal.
  22. ↑ Thompson, Julie (June 12, 2014). "The Cherpumple: Three Pies, Three Cakes, One Dessert". The Huffington Post .
  23. ↑ Froyd, Susan (July 18, 2011). "Charles Phoenix on fried cereal, the genesis of the Cherpumple and molded gelatin". Westword.
  24. ↑ William-Ross, Lindsay (March 28, 2013). "Video: Charles Phoenix Teaches Conan O'Brien How to Make a Meatloaf Lamb Cake for Easter". LAist. Archived from the original on April 3, 2013.
  25. ↑ "Charles on The Queen Latifah Show". CharlesPhoenix.com.
  26. ↑ "Watch Charles on The Queen Latifah Show – Halloween". CharlesPhoenix.com.
  27. ↑ Heffley, Lynne (November 22, 2013). "Charles Phoenix: Celebrating that SoCal style". Glendale News-Press.
  28. ↑ Goldin, Greg (March 25, 2004). "Mr. Phoenix's Wild Ride". LA Weekly.
  29. ↑ "KOCE picks up Charles Phoenix TV show". Franklin Avenue. August 25, 2008.
  30. ↑ "Phoenix Visits 'CaliforniaLand' for KOCE". TVWeek. August 25, 2008.
  31. ↑ "Charles Phoenix is Grand Marshal of the 32nd Pasadena Doo Dah Parade". Temple City Tribune. January 26, 2009.
  32. ↑ "City of Downey's Tiki Float – Rose Parade 2012". The Tiki Chick. January 5, 2012.
  33. ↑ Chien, Ginny (November 18, 2001). "Bubble Gum Paradise". Los Angeles Times .
  34. ↑ Schwartz, Todd David (July 8, 2010). "Lite of the Phoenix". LA Weekly.
  35. ↑ "Pleased To Meet You – Charles Phoenix". 3 Story Magazine. December 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.