Christmas shopping can be challenging, but back in the first half of the 20th century, North Carolinians got a helpful hint from a most unlikely source: the Carolina Power & Light Company. The tip? “Give Her a Hoover.”
Raleigh-based CP&L unveiled its not-so-catchy slogan in an otherwise festive holiday window display — with an actual Hoover vacuum cleaner as the centerpiece — tempting men to buy their significant others an apparatus for doing household chores. Hey, nothing says romance like a vacuum cleaner, right?
Actually, CP&L’s Hoover display was part of a nationwide “Give Something Electrical” promotion that began in the 1910s and lasted several decades as a conscious effort to give the economy — and electric power companies in particular — a jolt. The campaign must have worked, because electric utilities across the country developed similar promotions.
Of course, the “Give Her a Hoover” and “Give Something Electrical” campaigns seem antiquated these days, but the assurance of a warm, light-filled home on Christmas morning? Well, that’s a gift that should never be taken for granted.
In North Carolina, spring brings the scent of fresh-cut grass and memories of helping Dad mow the lawn.
Nostalgic burger joints are like time machines, delivering something extra special that keeps us coming back.
This tiny city block in downtown Greensboro once had a gigantic reputation. Not so much for its charbroiled beef patties — though they, too, were plentiful — but for its colorful characters and their wild shenanigans.
In the 1950s, as Americans hit freshly paved roads in shiny new cars during the postwar boom, a new kind of restaurant took shape: the drive-in. From those first thin patties to the elaborate gourmet hamburgers of today, North Carolina has spent the past 80 years making burger history.
