brainy_lobe

The song occurs at the 14:30 mark in the film, "Save Yourselves!" A woman vocalist is singing, she sounds like she could be in her 20s or 30s, and the only lyrics you can hear really clearly, without overlapping dialogue, are --

everyone I know

is living in a dream

There was a single-story fine-dining restaurant that had a very large, stylized, white swan on the roof, right next to the tall letters that spelled out the restaurant's name. Inside, the restaurant always featured a female harpist who would perform near the seating area during dinner. Back in the day, this restaurant was the spot for a fancy dress-up dinner. The harpist provided an extra splash of class. What was the name of this restaurant?

...do you remember the origin of this vintage pinback? I thought that maybe it could be a promo/giveaway item from Tower, KZAP, or KROY, but I honestly don't remember. Why an owl? Is it even an owl? Maybe it's actually something else, and the artist was just crap.

https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7611/27621835861_43e...

At the climax of the film the main characters, a group of mostly men, but at least one woman, are trapped by some sort of cataclysmic disaster. The only escape is to shimmy hand-over-hand along a sky tram cable, as they dangle above an active volcano, or a huge pool of magma. Of course, the tram itself is non-operational, and not everybody makes it to safety; some of characters fall into the magma. The main character is a tall white man, with a shock of dark hair hanging in his eyes, and a square chin. It is NOT a Doug McClure film. It is definitely an older film, in color, produced anytime from the late 50s to early 60s, maybe even mid 60s to early 70s.

Interstate 5 opened in stages in the late 1960s and early 70s; I-5 opened from Stockton to Sacramento in 1979. My family moved from Sacramento to Santa Maria in 1973 and, because of the I-5 development, we would take Highway 101 in order to head south. That would take us through the San Jose/ Almaden/ Santa Clara area. There was a highway landmark in that area that I have tried, unsuccessfully, to identify as an adult. I am trying to put a name to a roadside restaurant/ cafe/ diner that had built an enormous beehive into one wall of the restaurant. Outside the restaurant, the bees freely entered and exited the beehive. Inside the restaurant, the massive beehive was made of clear plastic so that the patrons could observe the bees. The restaurant sold fresh honey at the cash register. Does anyone happen to know the name of this restaurant? Thank you!

This model came out around the time of Volkswagen's Thing, or maybe a little after, maybe mid- to late-'70s. It was a bug/beetle with a blocky/squared-off hood that was styled after some other car maker's much more expensive automobile. What I remember from the commercial is the bug/beetle driving towards the camera as the announcer's voice intoned, "It looks like a..." (Lincoln? town car? Rolls Royce?) "...coming, and looks like a Volkswagen going." As I remember it, this bug/beetle was an actual Volkswagen production model, and not an after-market kit. So, I don't think it was a Wunderbug conversion or some other kit; I feel like it wouldn't make sense to advertise a conversion kit on national TV. Does anyone know the proper name for this model Volkswagen?

I remember only a few key scenes. A woman and her lover attempt to murder her boyfriend on a dark and stormy night. They think he's dead, but he's managed to cling to the side of the mountain just below where they're standing. He overhears them yelling at each other about how they successfully pulled off his supposed murder. Later, the boyfriend goes to the police and tells a detective as much as he can remember about the girlfriend's and her lover's shouted conversation. The police hire actors and a sound engineer to recreate the conversation with the idea that they are going to convince the girlfriend and her lover that the boyfriend recorded them talking about their crime. The police bring the girlfriend and her lover in for questioning, and then play for them the fake recording. The girlfriend is tough and smart, and she realizes immediately that she's being conned. The lover is made of softer stuff and cracks, confessing to the attempted murder.

As I remember it, in the late '60s crafts stores like Moskatel's/Michael's sold hanging light fixture kits that required you to fill in the diamond-shaped wire mesh with colorful pieces that you made by pouring a stinky two-part epoxy resin (I think) into a mold. You would leave the mold to dry, and then you would pop out the pieces and glue them onto the diamond mesh.

Was there a brand name for that craft kit?

Or was there just simply a name for that specific type of craft?

I've heard people say it in the context of spy code words, and the phrase itself is scattered all over the Internet, but I've never found anything that explains where the phrase came from or why it seems to exist in a spy context.

There was an Italian restaurant in Los Angeles in which the diners, friends and strangers alike, sat around one large table while the owner -- a short, stocky man with a thick head of salt and pepper hair -- stood at the head of the table and sang selections from several operas, such as The Toreador Song from Carmen. Sometime in 1987 or 1988, the owner was killed. I believe that police found the owner in a bathrobe on his front lawn, shot in the head (ack!). Anyway, what was the name of that restaurant?

The game came out around 1997 and featured a learning A.I.; you helped guide your avatar -- which resembled a mechanical insect -- through barriers and over obstacles on a multi-level 3D map that was divided into hexes. The avatar actually learned from making mistakes. I thought that the avatar was called "Darwin," but I have been unable to confirm that. Any ideas?

This is NOT the Seattle World's Fair Food Circus! :-)

I've seen a blurry postcard from that time that reads as follows:

"Food Circus - Just east of Sears & Hales

Arden Fair Shopping Center, Sacramento, California.

16 restaurants and food shops serving everything from hamburgers to hot dogs to gourmet dinners. Come to look, you'll stay to eat.

Eat like an elephant for peanuts."

Some of the names I think I know (but I could be wrong!):

La Plaza

Die Rheinlander

Hof Bauer

Jumbo Coffee

See's Candies

Carnation Ice Cream

Snook's Country Candies

Frank Fat's

Anyone know more, or all, of the original 16?

The main character is a kid who is some sort of a scout troop. He is a compulsive liar. Unfortunately, he sees a real crime being committed (I don't remember what kind of crime, but probably murder). He tries to tell all the adults in his life, but none of them believe him. In fact, his troop leader calls the scouts together to to tell them that no one is to believe the kid because he is a liar. The kid's problem is that the criminals know that he knows what they did, so they have to come after him.

I don't remember a lot of details. A woman is being stalked by a strange man. She thinks she is going crazy. At one point, he is above her on a flight of stairs singing,

"She died of a fever,

And no one could save her,

And that was the end of sweet Molly Malone.

Now her ghost wheels her barrow,

Through streets broad and narrow,

Crying, 'Cockles and mussels, alive, alive oh!'"

Interstate 5 opened in stages in the 1960s and 70s; I-5 opened from Stockton to Sacramento in 1979. My family moved from Sacramento to Santa Maria in 1973 and, because of the I-5 development, we would take Highway 101 in order to head south. That would take us through the San Jose area. There were a number of highway landmarks in that area that I have tried, with varying degrees of success, to identify as an adult. I have successfully identified "Magic Village Toys and Things" as one of those landmarks (an enormous wooden soldier standing guard out front of a multi-story toy store). The other landmark that I am currently struggling with identifying was a roadside restaurant/cafe/diner that had built an enormous beehive into one wall of the restaurant. Outside the restaurant, the bees freely entered and exited the beehive. Inside the restaurant, the massive beehive was made of clear plastic so that the patrons could observe the bees. What was the name of this restaurant?