Charles Phoenix was born on December 20,1962 and is an American pop culture humorist, historian, author and chef whose work explores 1950s and 1960s kitsch and Americana.
14 Facts About Charles Phoenix
2.
Charles 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.
3.
In 1992, Charles Phoenix was shopping for vintage clothing when he came across a shoebox labeled "Trip Across the US, 1957" filled Kodachrome color slides of an unidentified family's vacation photos at numerous roadside landmarks.
4.
Charles 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.
5.
Charles Phoenix now takes an observational comedy and storytelling approach to his slide presentations, usually attempting to employ a narrative using what few facts Charles 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.
6.
Charles 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.
Charles 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.
8.
Charles Phoenix 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.
9.
Charles 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, USA and so forth.
10.
Charles Phoenix has authored and co-authored several coffee table books dedicated to vintage Americana, showcasing many of the slides he has in his collection.
11.
In 2009, Charles 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.
12.
Charles Phoenix himself uses the self-appointed title of "The Ambassador of Americana", while describing himself as "a man with a particular Pee-Wee Herman, Martha Stewart and Huell Howser sensibility".
13.
Charles Phoenix 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.
14.
Charles Phoenix has further said to have never driven a modern car, saying "classic cars, American cars are in my blood".