Episode Twenty-Two - Charles Phoenix

Merry Christmas! This week, Ellie and Ryley sat down with the king of cool, Charles Phoenix, for a post-Christmas chat. Charles Phoenix is a mid-century expert, professional presenter, and writer who has written a number of books on the mid-century style we all love. Charles Phoenix is best known for his slide shows displaying mid-century Kodachrome photos, but he’s also an avid car enthusiast and a chef who’s known for the coolest kitchen creations.

Charles Phoenix got a foundation of his love of style while going to his father’s car lot and seeing cars of the 1950s and 1960s. The chrome, fins, and dramatic changes between years drew a young Charles Phoenix into the mid-century style. By the 1980s, Charles was a thrift store connoisseur finding hosts of vintage clothes and forgotten treasures from years past. At this point, there was no term called “mid-century modern” or Googie, but Charles enjoyed driving around the San Fernando Valley finding old restaurants, coffee shops, bowling alleys, and anywhere else he could find mid-century eye candy. While he was doing this, he never let his love of cars fall out of sight so he regularly owned cars that he grew up idolizing.

By the mid-1990s, Charles had collected a vast amount of vintage Kodachrome film slides depicting life in yesteryear. As his collection grew, he felt that he needed to share these photos with others so he could keep the spirit of post-war America alive. At first, he encountered mixed reviews from those who didn’t believe people would be interested in seeing these photos, but boy did he prove them wrong. His slide shows took off and eventually spread into a LA-based driving tour, visiting remaining Googie monuments. The attraction kept growing and eventually he began working of a number of books that he released throughout the late 90s and early-2000s. Never one to shy away from a new way to spread the mid-century style, he began using social media platforms to share his passion for the topic. Now, Charles does live presentations of his various slideshows across the country where you can watch his passion for uniqueness, creativity, and color feed the flames of nostalgia growing in your soul. But, if you can’t make it to the live shows, recorded versions of the presentations are available to watch on his website or YouTube.

You can find Charles Phoenix on Instagram at @_charlesphoenix, on his website at charlesphoenix.com, or on his YouTube at www.youtube.com/@_charlesphoenix.

Thank you for joining us for The Tiki Talk Show’s last episode in 2025. We’re looking forward to 2026 and all of the amazing things that will come with the new year. Be sure to check out our other show, Tiki Today, to see what’s going on now in the tiki space, made possible by all of the revival efforts of the past. If you’re interested in being interviewed, send us an email at thetikitalkshow@gmail.com. Click the link below to see our link tree and find us on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also fill out our Google Form to get on our postcard mailing list.

It’s been good talking to you, and we’ll see you in 2026!

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-Ryley and Ellie