Friday, July 3, 2015

Happy 200th Birthday, America! (1976 Sunday Comics & More)

Thirty-nine years ago, our nation was celebrating it's bicentennial. I recently came across the Sunday Comics section of the Los Angeles Times, dated July 4, 1976. These pages were stored in a box in my mom's garage along with some other bicentennial items that I had saved.

First up is the front page. It's odd that Peanuts and Andy Capp did NOT have a patriotic theme that day, especially when almost all of the other comic strips did.


Here are some highlights from the pages inside:









These commemorative bicentennial Pepsi cans were in the same box as the comics. The can that's been converted into a bank was given to me at a barbershop back in the summer of 1976. The barber had a case of these and was giving them out to his customers. I saved the other can after "emptying" it's contents. This was back when the tabs on top of the soda cans were removable. Just about this time, the tabs started being made to stay on top of the cans in order to reduce litter. As Woodsy Owl used to say, "Give a hoot, don't pollute!"




Last up for today is this bicentennial pressed penny. I don't remember where I got this originally, but I found it in a separate box along with some pressed pennies from Knott's Berry Farm, Universal Studios, and Magic Mountain. I will post photos of those in a separate post.


To view a couple pages from the "Long Beach Press Telegram" that are also dated July 4, 1976 (including a vintage Disneyland advertisement) click here: Long Beach Press Telegram - Disneyland Advertisement

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!!!

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10 comments:

  1. outsidethebermJuly 3, 2015 at 9:54 AM

    Awesome collection. Love the comics! Happy fourth, Chris!

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  2. TokyoMagic!July 5, 2015 at 10:36 AM

    Thanks OTB! I hope you had a safe and happy one!

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  3. Snow White ArchiveJuly 5, 2015 at 10:30 PM

    You have quite a collection Tokyo. Some of the best vintage finds around!

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  4. TokyoMagic!July 5, 2015 at 10:58 PM

    Thank you SWA! I just might have TOO much stuff! Having said that, I am glad that I set these items aside.....39 years ago! Even though I was just a kid, I was already thinking about saving this type of ephemera.

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  5. Major PepperidgeJuly 7, 2015 at 8:29 AM

    Oh, neat! I love stuff like that. After my grandma passed away, I found some newspapers that she had saved, including one from the first moon landing. I still have them, though I don't know what the heck to do with them! The Bicentennial was a big deal; red, white and blue were everywhere.

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  6. TokyoMagic!July 7, 2015 at 10:47 AM

    Major, I also have some newspapers that my dad had saved.....the moon landing, JFK's assasination, etc. I'm not sure what to do with them either, but I don't want to get rid of them so I'm just storing them!

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  7. ChuckJuly 29, 2015 at 7:19 PM

    When my wife and I moved into my grandmother's house years ago, we found a similar stack of newspapers, some dating back to WWII. I've got Bicentennial stuff in storage, too, just not all together. What a neat collection you have. Thanks for sharing!

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  8. TokyoMagic!July 30, 2015 at 2:30 AM

    Thanks for commenting, Chuck! The stuff we save, huh? Having the blog has given me an outlet for sharing some of these things. It has also given me a reason to dig them out of storage....otherwise, I think they would still be stuck away in a garage!

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  9. AnonymousMay 21, 2018 at 5:48 PM

    Question about the comic strip. Have you had it appraised or sold?

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  10. TokyoMagic!May 21, 2018 at 7:59 PM

    Anonymous, I haven't sold it, and I also haven't looked into what it might be worth. I don't think that it would be too valuable, but that's just a guess on my part.

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