1

Calling on the go

Image: Peter Conrad

Remember scrambling for a few coins just to make a call? Payphones were once the only option when we were out and about. Stepping into that narrow booth, shutting the door behind you, and enjoying a moment of privacy in the middle of a busy street—there was something almost comforting about it. It was like entering your own little world, at least for a couple of minutes. These days, all we need is a quick tap on our smartphones, and we're instantly connected, texting or calling without a second thought. It’s hard to imagine how reliant we once were on those old, clunky machines.

2

Renting movies

Image: Lucas Pezeta

The thrill of stepping into a bustling video store was unlike anything today’s streaming services can replicate. You’d wander down aisles packed with vividly colored VHS tapes , each promising a new adventure. Flipping over the box to study the cover art, reading the credits on the back, and debating with a friend about which one to choose was a delightful experience. Even the faint scent of plastic immediately meant you were in for a treat! That simple ritual of holding a tape in your hands created a sense of anticipation and excitement that no algorithm could ever replace.

3

Inflight smoking

Image: Willem van de Poll, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

In the past, flying meant more than just traveling from one city to another—it also came with the freedom of lighting up a cigarette at 30,000 feet. Airplanes had designated smoking sections where passengers could relax, chat, and enjoy a puff as the clouds drifted past the windows. It wasn’t limited to a cramped bathroom stall; entire rows of seats were reserved for smokers, allowing a haze of cigarette smoke to linger in the cabin. Today, someone flicking a lighter mid-flight feels downright impossible, but back then, it was a part of air travel, blending seamlessly into the normal routines of passengers and crew alike.

4

Watching TV shows at specific times

Image: Bruna Araujo

Back in the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, the television set was the heart of the home. Evenings were carefully planned around the networks’ schedules, with everyone rushing to grab a spot on the couch to catch their favorite shows. There were no streaming platforms, DVRs, or on-demand options—if you missed an episode of M A S H or Dallas , you had to wait for a rerun . The ritual of sitting together, passing the popcorn, and reacting in unison to every twist and punchline created shared experiences that shaped conversations at school, at work, and across society.

5

Recording songs off the radio

Image: Jon Tyson

Before iPods and Spotify playlists, listening to music was a hands-on, almost ritualistic experience. If you wanted to capture that perfect song, you had to park yourself next to the radio, finger poised over the record button, ears straining to catch the opening notes before the DJ’s voice intruded. Each recording you made became a personal treasure, a handcrafted collection of melodies carefully curated to match your mood or even remind you of your secret crush. These homemade mixtapes weren’t just recordings; they were little time capsules, unique expressions of your feelings, created with patience, care, and a touch of magic that no digital playlist could ever fully imitate.

6

Hitting up the arcade

Image: Roger Ce

During the 1980s, video arcades were the ultimate playground . Stepping inside those dark rooms meant entering a world of blinking lights, beeping machines, and the unmistakable clatter of buttons being mashed in furious competition. Dropping a token into a machine carried such a thrill! The energy—the smell of popcorn and soda, the laughter echoing across the room— created an immersive social experience. Modern home consoles and online gaming may be more convenient, but they rarely capture that electric, face-to-face camaraderie and the pure sensory joy of an arcade packed with neon lights and catchy sound effects.

7

Navigating paper maps

Image: Hendrik Morkel

Before the age of GPS and smartphones, road trips relied on good old-fashioned physical maps. Those oversized sheets of paper stretched across car seats and dashboards, as everyone tried to find the best route. Planning a trip meant carefully studying every road, estimating distances, and hoping you didn’t make a wrong turn. And when you inevitably did? You’d pull over, wave down a stranger, and ask for directions—sometimes discovering hidden diners, quirky roadside attractions, or scenic shortcuts along the way. Getting lost wasn’t just a misfortune; it was part of the adventure, turning every detour into a memorable story, something today’s satellite navigation could never give you.

8

Reading newspapers

Image: Claudio Schwarz

Settling into your favorite chair with a steaming cup of coffee and unfolding the paper was the ultimate morning ritual. It wasn’t just about catching up on the news— it was about the experience itself. Turning each page carefully, scanning headlines, lingering over the sports scores, chuckling at the comics, and sometimes discussing the day’s stories with family or neighbors made it a shared tradition. Today, with news available instantly on our phones and tablets, that slow, deliberate connection—the feeling of being present with the world as it woke up—has virtually disappeared.

9

Listening to music on a Walkman

Image: cottonbro studio

Ah, the Walkman—that small rectangular marvel encapsulating the world of music right inside your pocket. You could carry an entire collection of albums with you, from Elvis to Sinatra, and listen wherever you went. Whether strolling to school, waiting for the bus, or just wandering around the neighborhood, your personal soundtrack followed you everywhere. Popping in a cassette, pressing play, and letting the songs sweep you away, drowning out the outside world and turning every ordinary moment into a private concert, was pure magic.

10

Hanging out at the mall

Image: Jeyakumaran Mayooresan

Before the internet transformed the way we shop, malls were bustling social hubs . In the ’70s and ’80s, they weren’t just places to buy things. At shopping centers, you ate pizza and spent hours wandering around, window-shopping, or trying on clothes that were probably out of your budget. The mall was the ultimate hangout spot—whether you were meeting new people, catching up with old friends, or simply enjoying the cool air conditioning on a sweltering summer day.

1

A renovation project saved thousands of lives on 9/11

On September 11, 2001, American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m., killing 189 people. Few people know this part: the death toll could have been much higher. But there was a renovation project underway at the time of the attacks.

The Pentagon’s five-sided structure is divided into five "wedges," and workers had been renovating them one at a time. Flight 77 struck the wedge that had just been completed. Of the 4,500 people who normally worked in that section, only about 800 had moved back in. Without the reinforced construction and the incomplete occupancy, experts believe the casualties would have been catastrophically higher.

2

The Cold War and the hot dog stand

In the middle of the Pentagon’s five-acre center courtyard once stood a modest hot dog stand. According to a Cold War legend (one still retold by official Pentagon tour guides on every public tour), between the 60s and the 80s, Soviet satellite images tracked large groups of high-ranking military officials converging on that small building at the same time every day.

Soviet intelligence reportedly concluded the structure must be the entrance to some underground bunker in America. In reality, all it did was sell lunch. In 2006, the original stand was torn down, and a sandwich shop was built in its place.

3

Its construction began on September 11th, exactly 60 years before the attack

Builders broke ground on the Pentagon on September 11, 1941. That was exactly 60 years to the day before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that would strike the same building.

Construction had been ordered by Army Brigadier General Brehon Somervell, who wanted a permanent headquarters for the Defense Department to replace its then-17 scattered offices across Washington, D.C.

The project was extraordinarily ambitious: plans called for the world’s largest office building to be completed in just 16 months. In the end, the conception, design, and construction of the entire Pentagon building took a total of 15 months.

4

The same person oversaw its construction and the Manhattan Project

Colonel Leslie Groves of the Army Corps of Engineers took charge of Pentagon construction in August 1941. He worked six days a week and drove his team relentlessly, at one point employing more than 15,000 workers around the clock.

When the Pentagon was finished in January 1943, Groves was assigned to lead the Manhattan Project, America’s secret program to build the atomic bomb . His deputy, Captain Robert Furman, followed him into the Manhattan Project as chief of foreign intelligence. Together, the men who built the world’s largest office building went on to produce the weapon that ended World War II.

5

Why is it shaped like that?

The Pentagon’s iconic five-sided shape was the consequence of a geographic accident. The original site selected for the building, near Arlington Cemetery, **happened to be bordered on five sides by roads. **Architects designed the structure to fit those boundaries, producing a pentagonal floor plan. Then President Franklin D. Roosevelt intervened: worried the massive building would obstruct the view of Washington, D.C. from Arlington, he ordered the site moved to its current location along the Potomac River. But the five-sided design had already been drawn up, and nobody changed it.

6

It was the first desegregated building in Virginia

When the Pentagon was designed in 1941, segregation was the law in Virginia. Original plans called for doubled bathroom facilities: separate ones for Black and white employees, as required by Virginia statute. But President Roosevelt had signed Executive Order 8802 in June 1941, prohibiting racial discrimination in federal employment and government contracting.

As a federal building, the Pentagon was exempt from Virginia law. It became the only building in the state where segregation was not enforced. A fully desegregated federal workplace that opened in 1943. The doubled bathrooms were built anyway, as the plans were too far along to revise, but were never used as separately designated spaces.

7

Its construction was surprisingly frugal and incredibly fast

Ground broke on September 11, 1941, and construction finished on January 15, 1943, just 16 months later. More than 15,000 workers were on site around the clock. Wartime office shortages were so severe that employees moved into completed wings before the rest of the building was finished. Steel was too scarce to use extensively, so builders relied almost entirely on reinforced concrete. The 689,000 tons of sand and gravel required came directly from the nearby Potomac River, cutting transportation costs. The project was budgeted at $35 million, but the final bill was $63 million, which would translate to over $900 million in today’s dollars.

8

You can walk between its farthest points in only 7 minutes

The Pentagon is the world’s largest low-rise office building: 6.5 million square feet of space, which is three times the total floor area of the Empire State Building. Each of its five outer walls is 921 feet long. It has 7,754 windows and 17.5 miles of corridors. Approximately 26,000 military and civilian employees report for work there every day.

Despite that scale, the building’s concentric ring design is so efficient that it takes only about seven minutes to walk between its two farthest points.

9

The man who secretly lived inside its walls

During construction, Colonel Groves drove his deputy, Captain Robert Furman, so relentlessly that Furman rarely left the building. To cope, Furman had contractors build him a small, windowless apartment hidden inside the walls of the Army’s Ordnance Division. In this private room, he could sleep and shower without leaving the premises.

When construction ended and personnel dispersed, knowledge of the hidden room was never passed on to building management. Months later, when Furman returned to Washington on Manhattan Project intelligence business, he found the apartment undiscovered and exactly as he’d left it.

For over a year, he would slip back to the Pentagon, pop open a wall panel, spend the night, and emerge in the morning with his suitcase. He was finally caught in 1943 and forced to surrender the keys. It was never disclosed whether the secret apartment was maintained or eventually absorbed back into the official floor plans.

10

It houses over 30 restaurants, including everyone's favorite chains

The Pentagon feeds roughly 26,000 people a day, and its dining options read less like a military headquarters and more like a mall food court. The main Concourse Food Court, which opened in September 2009 and seats 875 people, is the largest of several dining areas.

Confirmed chains currently inside the building include McDonald’s, Five Guys, Subway, Popeyes, Starbucks (multiple locations), Dunkin’ (two locations), Panera Bread, Taco Bell, Panda Express, Baskin-Robbins, Potbelly, Jamba Juice, and Moe’s Southwest Grill, among others. The building also houses a CVS pharmacy, a florist, a jeweler, and a dry cleaner. In the summer of 2024, Potbelly became the first restaurant to open in the center courtyard. Yes, the very spot where the legendary Cold War hot dog stand once stood.

1

King C. Gillette: Safety razor

In 1895, traveling salesman King C. Gillette was struggling to shave with a dull blade when he came up with an idea for a safer, more convenient shave. He envisioned a razor with thin, disposable blades, but it took him years to turn the concept into a working product . Finally, with the help of engineer William Emery Nickerson, he launched the Gillette Safety Razor company in 1901.

The real breakthrough was the business model: customers could keep the handle and buy inexpensive replacement blades, which proved to be more convenient than sharpening or replacing an entire razor. The idea helped build a lasting fortune, and Gillette remains a household name to this day.

2

Bette Nesmith Graham: Liquid Paper

In the 1950s, Bette Nesmith Graham worked as an executive secretary using an IBM electric typewriter. She was frustrated that even a small mistake often made it necessary to retype entire pages . Inspired by painters who covered errors with an extra coat of paint, she developed a white liquid to hide typos. She began selling it to co-workers as Mistake Out, later rebranded as Liquid Paper .

The product caught on despite early setbacks, including accusations that it was a way to "cut corners." In 1979, Graham sold Liquid Paper to Gillette for a reported $47.5 million. Her office trick for covering up mistakes became a million-dollar business, even as computers eventually reduced the need for correction fluid.

3

Josephine Cochrane: Dishwasher

Josephine Cochrane, a Chicago socialite married to a successful merchant and politician, was frustrated to find some of her heirloom dishes chipped after being handwashed. She wasn't the first to imagine a dishwashing machine, but her design was the first that used water pressure instead of scrubbers.

After the death of her spouse in 1883, Cochrane was left with little money and significant debt. However, she kept working on her machine and received a patent in 1886. Her main customers were hotels and restaurants; it wasn't until the 1950s that dishwashers became popular for home use.

Cochrane built a successful business around her invention and, after her death in 1913, her company was sold to KitchenAid in 1926.

4

George Eastman: Kodak film roll

In the 1870s, George Eastman was a bank clerk, but he developed an interest in photography. Back then, most cameras used plates that were cumbersome and difficult to work with and develop. He began experiments to create flexible film rolls to replace plates and make photography more convenient.

In 1885, Eastman received a patent for a film roll, and in 1888 he patented and released the first Kodak camera . The camera came loaded with a 100-exposure film roll and could be mailed back to the Eastman Company for development.

Eastman's invention made amateur photography accessible to the general public, and he used the considerable fortune he amassed to pursue various philanthropic endeavors.

5

Chester Carlson: Xerox machine

Chester Carlson, a patent attorney, grew frustrated with the tedious process of copying documents in the 1930s, which involved multiple steps, photographic equipment, and special chemicals and papers.

Carlson developed xerography , a method of electrostatic printing that requires no liquid chemicals. He received a patent for it in 1942, and by 1946 he had signed an agreement with the Haloid Photographic Company to develop xerography into a commercial product.

It took almost 18 years before a fully automated xerography process was developed. This work resulted in the Xerox 914 machine, sold by Haloid (later renamed Xerox Corporation ) to huge commercial success. Carlson continued to earn royalties on his patents, and he became one of the wealthiest people in America.

6

Edwin Land: Polaroid instant camera

Despite leaving Harvard after his freshman year and holding no formal degree, Edwin Land was fascinated by optics and light, and dedicated his life to studying them. He invented inexpensive filters for polarizing light, which allowed him to develop a practical system for instant photography.

Land co-founded the Polaroid Corporation , and the first Polaroid instant camera reached the market in 1948. He ran the company until 1981, but considered himself a scientist first and foremost, and made multiple contributions in the fields of military photo intelligence and color theory.

7

Lonnie Johnson: Super Soaker

In 1985, Lonnie George Johnson, who had previously served in the Air Force, worked at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He conceived the idea of a pressurized water gun while performing experiments for a new type of heat pump. In 1989, he managed to secure funding from the toy company Larami.

The first version of Johnson's water gun hit the market in 1990 as the Power Drencher, but it achieved commercial success in 1991 after changing its name to Super Soaker . The toy generated over $1 billion in lifetime sales, making Johnson a wealthy inventor.

8

Willis Carrier: Air conditioning

Willis Carrier was a young engineer when a printing plant in Brooklyn asked him to solve a humidity problem that was ruining paper and ink. In 1902, he developed a system that controlled both temperature and moisture, thus inventing the first electrical air conditioning unit.

Carrier founded his own company in 1915. What began as a solution for a specific problem in a specific industry eventually transformed homes and workplaces worldwide. The Carrier Corporation is still a household name not only in America, but all around the world.

9

Earl Tupper: Tupperware

Earl Tupper first developed lightweight, airtight containers while working for the chemical company DuPont, using leftover pieces of polyethylene. He founded Tupperware Plastics in 1938 and began selling his products at department stores in 1948.

Tupperware's commercial breakthrough came through Brownie Wise , a pioneering saleswoman who caught Tupper's attention by explaining the benefits of selling his products via at-home "Tupperware parties." Their partnership proved successful, and by the 1950s Tupperware had become a household staple.

Tupper and Wise had a much-publicized falling-out in 1958. Wise was forced out, and Tupper sold the company to Rexall for $16 million that same year.

10

Milton Hershey: Affordable chocolate

Milton Hershey had very little formal education, but was trained in the confectionery business. In 1883, he started the Lancaster Caramel Company, which was successful enough that he sold it in the 1890s for $1 million to start the Hershey Chocolate Company.

Hershey's company supplied mass-produced milk chocolate, which had previously been a luxury good. The first Hershey bars, known as "The Great American Chocolate Bar," were first sold in 1900 and became immensely popular. The area around the factory eventually developed into the company town of Hershey, Pennsylvania.

During World War II, the Hershey Company supplied the Armed Forces with military chocolate bars and was rewarded for exceeding expectations for both quality and quantity.