West

The San Francisco Spiders were members of the International Hockey League (IHL) for one season. They first hit the ice as an expansion team in 1995. They folded in May of 1996. They played their home games in historic Cow Palace, and while weekend...

The??Anaheim Amigos were charter members of the American Basketball Association (ABA) in 1967. After a year in Orange County, they moved up the freeway to Los Angeles for two seasons where they became known as the Stars. In 1970 they moved to Salt Lake...

Owned by trucking company executive Larry Hatfield, the Southern California Sun were charter members of the World Football League in 1974. They played their home games at Anaheim Stadium, pre-dating the arrival of the Rams in Orange County by several years. The Sun posted...

Often misidentified as the Honolulu Hawaiians, this charter member of the World Football League (WFL) was known simply as The Hawaiians. Though crowds were small, the team avoided many of the financial problems that plagued most of the league's other teams. In 1975, the WFL's...

The Utah Stars began as the Anaheim Amigos, charter members of the American Basketball Association (ABA) in 1967. In 1968, they moved up the freeway to become the Los Angeles Stars. In 1970, the team moved to Salt Lake City, where they won the...

The US Festival was a three-day rock concert put together by Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak and noted promoter Bill Graham. Only two US Festivals were held, 1982 and 1983. It was set up in Glen Helen Regional Park east of Los Angeles. In...

The first major league pro sports team to call Las Vegas home, the Quicksilvers of the North American Soccer League arrived in 1977 from San Diego where they spent a season as the Jaws. The year before that, they were the Baltimore Comets for...

Based in Anaheim, California, the Surf played in the old North American Soccer League??(NASL) from 1978 to 1981. The team began as the St. Louis Stars??in 1968. In edition to playing four seasons at Anaheim Stadium, the club played two seasons in the NASL's...

The Fog began as the Detroit Lightning, an expansion team in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) for the 1979-80 season. They moved to Northern California in the summer of 1980. In 1981, the team moved again, this time to Kansas City, where they...

The??Caribous of Colorado played in the original North American Soccer League (NASL) for the 1978 season. The team was co-owned by??Jim Guercio, a music producer widely known for his work with such artists as The Beach Boys and Blood, Sweat, and Tears. After a...

The Denver Avalanche played two seasons in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) starting in 1980. The team was top five in attendance for both seasons, and made the playoffs in its second campaign. However, the team filed for bankruptcy in 1983. Its assetts...

The Denver White Elephants were a barnstorming baseball team comprised of African Americans. A semi-pro squad, they started playing five years before the formation of the Negro National League. In addition to playing games around the West, they participated in??The Denver Post??Tournament, which in...

The DuMont Television Network began broadcasting on June 28, 1942, the nation's third TV network behind NBC and CBS. Regular network service began on August 15, 1946. It was started by DuMont Laboratories, a maker of TVs. Financial strains and fierce competition from NBC,...

Opened in 1947, Biffs were a chain small coffee shops located next to gas stations mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area but with several locations in Los Angeles. They closed up shop for good in 1996.

Musicland was founded in Minneapolis in 1955.?? In 1964, it merged with music distributor JL Marsh followed by merger in 1968 with record label and distributor Pickwick International. In 1977, American Can Company bought Pickwick and a year later, famed New York record store...

In the 1980s, it was the battle cry of the British Phonograph Industry (BPI), later championed by similar organizations around the world. Little did they know that a much scarier beast was lurking on the horizon.

The Black Cat Bar, also known as the Black Cat Cafe, was a popular counter-culture hangout in the 1950s and early 1960s in San Francisco. It first opened in 1903, closing in 1921. It re-opened in 1933 and operated until 1963.

Sambo's was a chain of sit-down, casual dining restaurants that at its peak had over 1,100 locations in 47 states. The San Francisco??location??on Lombard Street was attached??to the Motel Lanai.

The Demons??were members of the original XFL in 2001 season, that league's only season. The team finished?? with 2 wins and 8 losses while averaging 35,000 fans a game at Pacific Bell Park (now Oracle Park), home of MLB's San Francisco Giants. They were...

Fatt Dog had locations on Post Street and Pine Streets in San Francisco. Diners were advised to have napkins at the ready, as they would be soaked with dog juice after just one bite.