BONUS: We're going on a nostalgia journey filled with photos, toys and the rebirth of Pizza Hut Classic

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Hey off besties.

This is a Weird News Roundup from Odyssey's

Something Offbeat Podcast.

Each week, we dive into strange stories

from Odyssey newsrooms across the nation.

This week, our Weird News is all about nostalgia.

We're headed to a photography museum,

a toy museum, retro pizza joints, and more.

We'll also sit in on an interview with John Taffer

of the Long Running Series Bar Rescue,

now entering its 10th season.

To get things started, we'll join Kelly and Bob Phillips

of Own the Road with Kelly and Bob

out of Odyssey Station, K-R-L-D-1080 in Dallas.

Here's Bob now.

Take a trip to Bruce Klein's photo and

Tickleys Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,

and you will take a trip back in time.

His collection and his stories go on and on,

and trust me, we couldn't get enough of them.

He is a walking, talking history lesson

of one of the most enjoyable parts of life,

preserving our moments and our memories.

When did you first become fascinated

with all of this?

It was probably in the 1980s.

In the 1980s, I enjoyed looking at things

like tin types.

There was actually no place that you can go

and see them.

I mean, the best photographic collection

in the world in the United States,

is owned by the Smithsonian Institute

in Washington, D.C.,

but the majority of that is in capes.

So I thought it would be an interesting thing

to actually show all the processes,

so people can see the evolution of photography.

And actually get to see how photography

changed over the years and why.

And so I started to put a little collection together

and then it grew and grew and grew.

How many photographs do you think you have?

I have no idea, but I love that.

What is it about photographs

that keep people intrigued day in,

day out, year after year?

Well, think about it.

You know, a photograph is recording a moment in time

that creates a memory that can last millennium.

Wow.

You know, when I look at a photograph,

I, first of all, I can look at a photograph

100 times and then the 101th time,

I see something different.

And every time you look at something,

you notice something,

either something's out of place

or a certain smell or a certain look.

And then you can only imagine

what took place in that photograph.

I mean, again, you're going to have to guess

what was going on.

I get a feeling you can get lost

in all these pictures.

Oh, absolutely.

I mean, you could, absolutely.

I mean, you though.

Oh, I can get lost in your life.

The quick story about Kodak Pioneer George Eastman

and another name I think you might recognize.

In the 1940s,

he runs until man that's helping airplane pilots.

In the 1940s, when airplane pilots flew,

they had a glare in the horizon.

This man built goggles for these pilots to wear.

It cut the glare.

Well, George Eastman has a use for that in photography.

Cuts glare off a lenses, cuts glare off a lighting.

And he gives this guy enough money.

This guy takes all that money that George Eastman gives him.

And he opens his own company in 1948,

calls it the Polaroid Corporation.

Polaroid.

And his name is Dr. Land.

There's a photo of Dr. Land down there.

And Dr. Land was a scientist, inventor,

a futurist, and he wouldn't have a lot of patents.

So what does he do?

He opens his company in Boston.

And into his research and development department,

he only hires MIT students.

So when he dies in 1991,

he is the second most patents of any man in the world,

other than Edison.

And what he invented for the goggles,

we call those polarized sunglasses today.

Give me an idea on affordability.

If you had a gigaretaip taken in 1839,

and you put it into 2025 money or money today,

the cost back then would be $1,000 for one.

But by the time that you started to pick a negative,

and you started making them on paper,

from the 1856 to 2025,

the cost back then would have been about $10.

So now it's affordable to the masses,

and not just the wealthy people.

Very, very popular.

And that's why you see a lot of civil war soldiers have them,

because it was right in that time frame.

And I noticed no one smiled back then.

Yeah, so here's the answer.

When you had your gigaretaip,

I told you it was 30 minutes.

You couldn't hold a smile for 30 minutes.

They're going to be moving.

They're going to be moving, yeah.

Now, even though your eye is open and closed,

they're open more than they're closed,

so it will look like they're open.

In reality, I told you that this time frame was about a half an hour.

The Ambro type, a couple minutes.

By the time they got to the 10 type,

in the CDV, you're in the seconds.

In reality, by the 1860s, you could have smiled.

But when you looked at the old photographs of your parents

and grandparents, no one ever smiled.

Very stoic.

Very stoic.

So you thought that's the only way your photograph is to be taken.

People didn't start smelling to the early 1900s.

1865, when a civil war was over,

there was photographers that worked for Matthew Brady Studios

in Washington, D.C.

And now they're out of a job.

The war's over, so he doesn't need them anymore.

So now, what did they do?

So normally in Washington, D.C. they took out a large camera,

a 16 by 20-inch camera, big camera,

and they photographed things like the White House,

they found it the capital, things like that.

But everyone was in D.C. at the time, back in those days,

they were photographing.

And this was one of those, like, Woody.

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Photos aren't the only everyday items

that can become part of history.

Legos that you accidentally step on,

old Barbies, and board games can too.

If we leave the Photo Antiques Museum in Pittsburgh

and make our way to Kansas City, Missouri,

we'll find another interesting museum.

It's called the National Museum of Toys and Minatures.

Its collection of toys goes back to 1690.

But right now, the museum is actually looking

for even more toys,

and ones that are a little bit more modern.

The Dana and Parks Show out of Odyssey Station,

KMBZ in Kansas City is here to explain.

The Kansas City Toy and Minature Museum.

Have you ever been, by the way?

Oh, it's phenomenal.

You sent me there, and it was really fun.

They're asking for donations of your toys

from the 1980s.

Yep.

This is going to be glorious, you guys.

Your childhood is calling.

Cabbage Patch Kids, Transformers,

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Your 1980s childhood is calling.

The National Museum of Toys and Minatures in Kansas City

hopes you will clean out your attic

and a closet or two,

and donate some of the toys popular during the 1980s.

All toys that are offered as donations will be reviewed

by the Collections Committee and may be considered

for possible inclusion in the upcoming special exhibition

that is going to be phenomenal.

But read the fine prints.

What's the butt?

They do not want anybody.

Please, and thank you just showing up with boxes of toys.

Jumping off your crap on your GI Joes.

What they want are photos emailed in.

Photos of the item of the toy

from all kinds of different angles.

And they want makers marks.

They want a little bit of the provenance

around the toy.

Okay, when I moved, I got rid of the Cabbage Patch at all.

You guys, I'm 51 years old.

They have survived every move.

They have survived lots of boxes.

And finally, when I move last time,

I'm like, all right, girls, I ask my daughters,

do you want these?

And they go, no, no.

Does Big Chusey know?

No, I don't think she does that.

You know, those were a huge part of my life.

And if you still have a Cabbage Patch at all new in box,

and you can say this is the provenance

that my dad punched some old lady in the face of K-Mart

in 1984, and this has been in the attic.

That's the story that they want.

That's what they want.

They want the Black Friday story

from the North Topeka K-Mart.

You know what I'm amazed is not in that story.

Is Star Wars action figures?

Because in the 80s, you would have had those held over from 1977.

Well, but keep in mind, they also released a movie in 1980 and 83.

Well, I think they'll take a look as long as you just send them the email with a photo first.

Well, and the Toy and miniature museum in Kansas City,

which is on the plaza right off of it, Dana had,

Tasha, take me there one one Saturday.

They have an amazing Star Wars action figure collection.

Oh, I mean, the exhibition they had everything.

We're talking vintage, right?

Still in the box stuff.

I was like, wow, yeah, they want care bears.

My little pony smurfs.

Oh, do you remember the little tiny plastic smurfs that you,

my brother used to collect collected?

My brother did.

And when he went off to college, threw it away.

No, he had it in a really nice wooden case

where you could, and it hung on his wall in his bedroom,

where you could put a smurf in each little square.

And he had all of them pop the smurf in the Advent calendar.

Um, what was the girl smurfs name?

Smurfat.

Smurfat, thank you.

And anyone else think it's weird looking back.

There was only one role for all those little blue guys.

There was only one role for all those little blue guys.

Some of the other toys speak and spell a lot of smurf.

The Mon Chi Chi member.

If you have toys you want to donate to the museum,

you can visit toy and miniaturemuseum.org for more details.

There's even more nostalgia coming up from this

something offbeat weird news round up.

Stick around to hear about a resurgence of retro pizza shops across the US

and an interview with John Tapper, a bar rescue after the break.

Thank you for listening to this special presentation of weird news from

Odyssey's something offbeat.

On this week's round up we're getting nostalgic.

Tiffany's style lamps, a full salad bar and sit-down service are just some of the

nostalgic features bringing diners to Pizza Hut classic locations

all over the country this year.

According to a January article in Slate,

these blast from the past Pizza Hut locations are becoming a cultural phenomenon.

A journalist also told the New York Times that he was so excited to see one

that he promptly freaked out and swerved right into the parking lot.

At Odyssey Station WCCO News Talk in Minneapolis,

Anchor Jason Derussia of Drive Time with Derussia is also on this Pizza Hut classic party train.

I miss Pizza Hut. I miss the Pizza Hut of my youth.

I miss the red plastic cup filled with one time I would be allowed to get soda.

There's sort of checkerboard, plastic, tablecloth.

The stained glass lamps that say Pizza Hut there was something about that

personal pan pizza that you earned after a summer reading.

That just triggers all the nostalgia buttons in the New York Times today has a story

about Pizza Hut classics. Pizza Hut classics.

And there are a bunch of them here in Minnesota.

There is something just when I say the old Pizza Hut,

can't you taste that pizza shows up on your table and that kind of

that pan get to scoop it out yourself.

You can get sort of a riff on that pizza pig ate my pizza in Robbinsdale and in Bloomington.

They have a pizza that they have modeled after that Pizza Hut pan pizza.

But there's something about those nostalgia concepts and all around America there are about 60

of these retro Pizza Hut. And I just drove past one this last weekend when I was up

in the Brandard Lakes area where I saw this old school Pizza Hut.

I want to go in there. I want to go in there. Minnesota has a ton of these.

We've got an old school Pizza Hut in a column Pizza Hut classic.

There's one in Bemidji. Inspired by the return of one nostalgic type of restaurant,

Derussia asked his listeners this week, what old school eatery they think needs to make a

comeback next. Jason, do you remember the old country kitchen? Their corporate office,

I believe, was in Bloomington, right? An American avenue right where all of America is now,

but you know, it had a great menu 24 hour service. It had the counters where the guys would come in.

Same guy, same time every day. That's where you get all the information at the best coffee.

Yes. Yeah, I do miss, you know, when I, and I grew up in suburban Chicago. So that was a little

before my time when that was headquarters over in Bloomington. But I do miss that sort of,

that vibe, right? Like that family restaurant sort of feel and vibe. I think that you're

exactly right about that being. It's the diner thing, right? Like that's where the info always

happens. That's where it all happened. That that was better than the internet getting that.

It was about equally reliable, though, Dave. Like still a lot of questionable information, but

all the way shaky speech. Oh, yes. Oh, Joe Spongebob. Laurel and Hardy, the Banjos, you got it.

Wait, it's a kid we could get up and watch him make the pizza. Oh, shakies. Shakies is a classic.

Isn't it? Is there still one shakies around or am I making that up? I feel like there's still one left.

Well, you know what? They're out in the West Coast last day and heard. I always think Seattle

about all night found out. Shakies out there and happened to go to it. And it was outstanding.

So good. It was in a strip center. It wasn't as authentic as when I'd come up and they had

their building on their own. Right. I went in there and went in there and I threw people like you.

That's pretty good. Thanks, Terry.

And this made us wonder if so many people love Pizza Hut Classic. Why did the restaurants ever

change in the first place? And what about those other beloved restaurants mentioned by

Odyssey listeners? Why did they close? Well, the simple answer to that question is that the

restaurant and hospitality business isn't easy. John Taffer is the host of reality show Bar Rescue.

Now airing its 10th season on the Paramount Network. For years, he's been helping bar owners

keep their businesses open. Taffer joined Odyssey Station K&X News in Los Angeles this week

to discuss some of the challenges that bar and restaurant owners face today.

Through 10 seasons of this show, what lessons have not been learned? What mistakes are bar owners

still making? A restaurant owner is still making after all these years that you notice.

Oh, filth, irresponsibility still exists. But you know, after the pandemic and then the inflation,

these past few years have been rough. So, you know, this season, they're in debt, right,

from being in a hole during the pandemic and then dealing with elevated costs, etc. So this season

is the most stressful I've ever had because they're in deeper than I've ever seen before. These

people are in financial trouble. They're in default on their leases. They're behind them payroll

taxes. They're behind them. All of their other expenses and creditors are chasing them down.

So it puts a lot of pressure on me. It's not just the little guys. We're seeing big chains,

like you know, fast food restaurants and pizza locations. Papa John's just today announced

it's closing. 300 units. 300 units. And that's not unusual today. You know what happened? It's

interesting. Over the years, the focus in the capital markets was growth, growth, growth. How

many stores you're opening? How many stores you're opening? So we built and built and built. Then

the market says, well, now let's see earnings. Well, they opened all these lousy stores. They

pushed it past where they should. So now they have these subpar stores. And now they're pushed,

they're pushed to show earnings. So they got to close a lot of these stores. So we've seen a

contraction with drug stores, retail stores, restaurants are almost across the board.

Quantity over quality. Yes. Yeah. So with with this season, here we are. We're several years past

peak lockdowns. And there's that long tail effect of these of these restaurants, you know,

they might have gotten some government help. And maybe maybe that might have run out trying to

get people to break some habits they might have made during the pandemic to stay in and get

them to go back out again. Maybe they discovered some things about staying home and not going out

that they want to they think they got comfortable with. Yeah. How do you break that trend and get

people to support this industry, support the economy again? Well, you got to have a great place.

I mean, at the end of the day, the pressures are causing failures because you can't operate by

default anymore. You got to be better than that. So even things like your music, your plate

presentations, your drink presentations, the connectivity of your staff, these things mean more

than ever before because of a few factors, GLP medications. People are consuming. Absolutely.

So that's creating a certain impact for sure. Then only on top of that, people aren't going out

as much. Look at companies like DoorDash and these delivery services. Would we have ever

expected that they would have done this volume post pandemic, but it continues. And then look at

cannabis. Cannabis is more of an anti-social drug where it's alcohol we have together, right? We

share it together. It's social. Cannabis you tend to use in your couch at home. It's a very

different. So there's a lot of factors that are working across the industry now. They're getting

hit expenses and you're getting hit on a revenue sign. Oh, John, I'm going to tell you what I think

is the number one factor. I think you might agree with me here. It's so expensive. People just

don't want to spend that kind of money because the prices keep going up. I just went to a hamburger

stand on a way here. I had a hamburger with a friend of mine, just cheeseburgers. At an outdoor

stand, two coaks, one order of fries, two cheeseburgers, 54 dollars. You're kidding me. No.

And this is a trend that we see no end in sight here. And it's simply because they're not trying

to gouge these people. They're just trying to find a price point to survive. And you have to

goes back to the point you said early, you have to create that value from what you're offering so

that it justifies spending. I don't know if you've ever justifies spending more than $50 on

that kind of meal. But in a general sense, just to make sure people are getting what they pay for.

When there's two kinds of value, does absolute value and perceived value. Absolute value is your

burgers $10. My burger is $8. I beach on absolute value. But perceived value, your plate looks better.

Your burger might have a different flavor to it. Maybe you have a better cheese or something.

So I might have a better perceived value out of your $10 hamburger than my $8 hamburger.

So those two factors have to work together, which means we're back to what I said before. We

got to work harder. The plates got to look better. Everything needs to be better.

The show, the new season on Paramount Network of Bar Rescue, you mentioned a lesson that these

owners don't learn is keeping a clean place. It's filled. And that's just discipline, right?

It is discipline. But you know, every failing business is a failing owner. And I can build bars

all day long. That's easy. It's fixing them. That's the challenge of Bar Rescue.

I have to make them act differently. Go to different places, react in different ways,

have different priorities. I got to change their behavior. That's not easy. So that's my biggest

challenge is changing them. Thank you so much for listening to this weird news round up from

the Something Offbeat podcast. This episode was written and produced by me, Lauren Berry.

Special thanks to Own the Road with Kelly and Bob out of KRLD 1080 and Dallas.

The Dana and Parks show out of KMBZ in Kansas City,

Drive Time with Derussia out of WCCO News Talk in Minneapolis,

and KNX News in Los Angeles. You can find these shows and stations on the Odyssey app

or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also listen to and subscribe to the Something

Offbeat podcast on the Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Whether you love true crime or comedy,

celebrity interviews or news, you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue. And guess what?

Now you can call them on your auto insurance too with the name your price tool from Progressive.

It works just the way it sounds. You tell Progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance,

and they'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. Get your quote today at Progressive.com

to join the over 28 million drivers who trust Progressive. Progressive casualty insurance company

and affiliates, price and coverage match limited by state law. Get more out of every mile when you

share the ride to work. With carpooling, you'll have time to relax, save money, and pick up new friends.

Commuter connections can help you find carpool partners who live and work near you.

Even if you're commuting just a few days a week, it's a free service. Carpooling,

every dollar saved, every friend made. Register for free carpool partner ride matching at

commuterconnections.org or call 800-745-RIDE. That's commuterconnections.org.

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Oh, could this vintage store be any cuter? Right? And the best part? They accept discover.

Accept discover? In a little place like this? I don't think so, Jennifer. Oh yeah, huh.

Discoverers accepted where I'd like to shop. Come on, baby. Get with the times.

Right, so we shouldn't get the parachute pants. These are making a comeback.

I think. Discoverers accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide.

Based on the February 2025 Nilson Report.