Charles Phoenix facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Charles Phoenix
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Phoenix at a holiday show, 2014
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| Born | December 20, 1962 Ontario, California, U.S.
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| Occupation | Humorist, historian, author, chef |
| Years active | 1998–present |
Charles Phoenix (born December 20, 1962) is a fun American humorist, historian, author, and chef. He loves to explore and share cool stuff from the 1950s and 1960s, especially things that are a bit quirky or "kitsch."
He's super famous for his "Retro Slide Shows." In these shows, he shares old film slides from the mid-20th century. He adds his own funny comments, making history come alive! Charles Phoenix is also known for his "test kitchen" where he creates wild and crazy foods. One of his most famous inventions is the Cherpumple, a dessert that's a mix of cake and pie. You might have seen him as a judge on the Food Network show Cake Wars. He also talks about pop culture on NPR and KCET.
Contents
Biography
Early life
Charles Phoenix was born in Upland, California in 1962. He grew up nearby in Ontario, California. His dad sold used cars, and his mom was a happy homemaker. Charles says his love for old things started when he was young. He spent time at his dad's car lot and learned to identify cars by their make, model, and year by age six! This passion for classic cars led him to love old architecture, fashion, and photography too.
In 1982, Charles moved to Los Angeles. He studied at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising. After that, he tried working as a fashion designer. But he kept getting fired from jobs. So, he went back to his first love: buying and selling classic cars.
Retro Slide Shows
In 1992, Charles was looking for old clothes. He found a shoebox full of old color slides. The box was labeled "Trip Across the U.S., 1957." It had vacation photos of a family he didn't know. He was amazed by the bright colors and how they showed life back then.
Charles started visiting thrift stores, flea markets, and estate sales. He bought more boxes of slides from the late 1940s to the 1970s. Soon, he had a huge collection!
How the shows began
In the mid-1990s, Charles started showing his slides to friends. He would add his own comments. His friends loved it and told him to share it with more people. So, in 1998, he held his first public show in Los Angeles. It was called "God Bless Americana: The Retro Vacation Slide Show of the USA."
At first, Charles wanted his shows to be serious. But the old slides were so quirky that people often laughed. This made him change his shows to be more comedic. Now, Charles uses a funny, storytelling style. He tries to create a story from the slides. He uses facts from the slides and his knowledge of history. He never makes up stories, though!
More than just comedy
Even though his shows are funny, Charles says they are about honoring American culture. He doesn't want to make fun of it. He calls his shows "history disguised as comedy." He hopes that humor can help people appreciate mid-century culture. He wants to teach people who might not usually be interested in history.
His slide shows became very popular. They got great reviews in newspapers like the Los Angeles Times Magazine. Charles started doing bigger shows all over Los Angeles. He performed at famous places like the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Museum of Contemporary Art.
Different shows and locations
Charles created different "Retro Slide Shows." Many focused on California life and culture. He also had holiday-themed shows. He even made shows about specific cities like Palm Springs and San Francisco. Eventually, Charles took his shows outside California. He visited states in the southwest and even New York City. In 2003, his show "God Bless Americana" won an award there!
For his out-of-state shows, Charles arrives early. He explores and photographs the local sights. Then, he looks through old slides of that city. He combines them with his new photos to create a special show.
His amazing "slibrary"
Charles has looked through "millions" of old slides. He says it's like gold panning. Only about one out of every 3,000 slides makes it into his collection! As of 2014, Charles had over 200,000 slides. He even has a "slibrarian" to help him sort them. Fans from all over the country send him their old slides. He rarely has to search for them in thrift stores anymore!
Charles Phoenix Test Kitchen
Charles Phoenix is also famous for his "The Charles Phoenix test kitchen." Here, he makes super fancy, over-the-top, and sometimes strange foods and desserts. They are inspired by classic dishes from the past. He says he "puts the kitsch in kitchen." His recipes are more about how the food looks than how it tastes. He admits, "This is not fine food, this is fun food!" He encourages everyone to try his crazy ideas in their own kitchens.
His most famous creation is the Cherpumple. This dessert bakes cherry, apple, and pumpkin pies inside different cakes. Then, they are stacked together! The Wall Street Journal called it "the turducken of desserts."
Other wild creations
Some of Charles's other creations include:
- "Bambrosinana": a mix of banana pudding and ambrosia.
- "Inchezonya": a hybrid of enchilada and lasagna.
- "Fried Cereal": a sweet snack mix of breakfast cereals.
- "Frosty the Cheeseball Man": a snowman made of Velveeta and cream cheese. You can melt him into fondue!
- Meatloafs shaped like tiki heads or giant rats.
- Cakes with layers of breakfast cereals, marshmallow Peeps, and jelly beans.
- A lighted Jell-O Christmas tree that uses a traffic cone as a mold and has real Christmas lights inside!
Charles often shows off his unusual food creations on TV. He appeared on Conan O'Brien's talk show Conan several times. He made a holiday "Astro-Weenie Christmas Tree" and a lamb-shaped meatloaf "frosted" with mashed potatoes. He also showed these creations on The Queen Latifah Show.
Other endeavors
Besides his slide shows, Charles Phoenix has led funny bus and walking tours of Los Angeles. These started in the early 2000s. One tour, the "Retro School Bus Field Trip Tour," takes guests in an old school bus. They visit cool mid-century buildings and neon signs.
His "Disneyland Tour of Downtown Los Angeles" was very popular. This six-hour tour shows how Downtown Los Angeles is like Disneyland. For example, Clifton's Cafeteria is like Frontierland. The Bob Baker Marionette Theater is like Fantasyland. This tour became so popular that it happened regularly!
Books
Charles has written several coffee table books about vintage Americana. These books feature many of the old slides from his collection. He has written 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). He also wrote two books about American culture in general: God Bless Americana (2002) and Americana the Beautiful: Mid-Century Culture in Kodachrome (2006).
Parades and TV
In 2009, Charles Phoenix was the grand marshal for the Doo Dah Parade in Pasadena. This is a fun, quirky parade. In 2012, he appeared in the Rose Parade on the city of Downey's tiki-themed float.
Image and lifestyle
The Los Angeles Times has called Charles Phoenix the "King of Retro." LA Weekly has given him titles like "King of Kitsch" and "Chancellor of Cheese." Charles calls himself "The Ambassador of Americana." He also says he's a mix of Pee-wee Herman, Martha Stewart, and Huell Howser.
He's known for his unique and colorful clothes. He admits his style "pushes the edges of good taste." It often looks like what a used car salesman might wear in a funny way.
Charles says he lives the vintage lifestyle he celebrates. He notes that "nothing in my apartment is new." He prefers everything to be 40 to 60 years old. He has never driven a modern car, saying "classic cars, American cars are in my blood." He has owned cool old cars like a 1959 Dodge Coronet and a 1961 Pontiac Bonneville.
Even with his love for the past, Charles prefers living today. He said that old photos don't always show how strict society was back then. He's happy to be alive now!
