Classified History
@classifiedhistory.com
π€ 31
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Telling stories from the past, one tiny advertisement at a time
What kind of map? [New Times Los Angeles, Sept 12, 1996]
4 days ago
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When the first thing you're seeking in a partner is a power imbalance... [New Times Los Angeles, Feb 6, 1997]
6 days ago
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Lowrider magazine used to have a whole section devoted to dedications
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Classified History on Instagram: "Shoutout to the DEDICATIONS page of LOWRIDER magazine, where lovers and friends would send in songs for each other. Truly a unique interpretation of the personal ad. ...
11 likes, 0 comments - classifiedhistory on May 29, 2026: "Shoutout to the DEDICATIONS page of LOWRIDER magazine, where lovers and friends would send in songs for each other. Truly a unique interpreta...
https://www.instagram.com/p/DY8hbESlKc5/?img_index=1
7 days ago
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Superb lover [The New York Review of Books, Feb 9, 1978]
13 days ago
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This ad created the Spice Girls.
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Spice Girls ad in The Stage
Published in The Stage paper in 1994, this ad created the Spice Girls. Approximately 400 women answered the ad, including Mel B ("Scary Spice"), Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"), Geri Halliwell ("Gingerβ¦
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_1h8CnBYlKQ
27 days ago
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No dogs? GTFO! [New Times Los Angeles, Aug 22, 1996]
about 1 month ago
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The Haight Ashbury Free Press, 1968
about 1 month ago
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New Times Los Angeles, Nov 21, 1996
about 1 month ago
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Screw, Dec 22, 1969
about 1 month ago
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reposted by
Classified History
Carolina A. Miranda
about 1 month ago
Just me rooting around the archives again. Dig this ad by the old May Co. department store welcoming LACMA to the neighborhood in 1965.
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New Times Los Angeles, Aug 22, 1996
about 2 months ago
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Shane seems like the kind of guy who will refer you back to the ad if you ask any questions already addressed in the ad [The Advocate, Dec 27, 1978]
about 2 months ago
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Must be able to sing, dance and tell me what you want, what you really really want
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Published in The Stage paper in 1994, this ad created the Spice Girls. Approximately 400 women answered the ad, including Mel B ("Scary Spice"), Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"), Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spi...
TikTok video by classifiedhistory
https://www.tiktok.com/@classifiedhistory/video/7628773160489356574
about 2 months ago
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about 2 months ago
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Choose your late β70s literate New York avatar [The New York Review of Books, Dec 7, 1978]
about 2 months ago
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reposted by
Classified History
Prestidigitator John π΅πΈπΊπ¦π¨π¦
about 1 year ago
with apologies to
@xkcd.com
add a skeleton here at some point
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Mods, lads, guys, marines and Tears for Fears fans in NME in the early 1980s
2 months ago
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"Surfing is out of this world. You can't imagine the thrill of the shooting the curl. It positively surpasses every living emotion I've ever had." -- Gidget [Los Angeles Reader, Aug 9, 1996]
2 months ago
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I read Solider of Fortune magazine for the ads
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Soldier of Fortune's Controversial Classified Ads
YouTube video by Classified History
https://youtube.com/shorts/rY_xa8j6B38?si=D0qTZAiQJ13m9pv4
2 months ago
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Very good looking, truly [New Times Los Angeles, Sept 12, 1996]
2 months ago
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And I thought Soldier of Fortune was just a magazine read by weird 12-year-old boys...
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Back in the day, mercenaries would advertise their services in the back of a magazine. #soldieroffortune #truecrimetok
TikTok video by classifiedhistory
https://www.tiktok.com/@classifiedhistory/video/7620601756673789215
2 months ago
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He's not really giving us much info about himself β or maybe he is? [New Times Los Angeles, Aug 22, 1996]
3 months ago
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Six word short story [Thousand Oaks Star, May 4, 1988]
3 months ago
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Super, super big things and super, super big bubble butts for friendship [BLK, Jan 1991]
3 months ago
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Mom: We've got Bill Clinton at home. [New Times Los Angeles, Feb 6, 1997]
3 months ago
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I don't even recall how I first wound up in the archives of the California Aggie, but there have been so many short stories in that paper's personals section over the years. [The California Aggie, Mar 16, 1965]
3 months ago
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reposted by
Classified History
Hester Pangs
3 months ago
I always wonder how many of these people ended up succumbing to doom-scrolling 20 years later after decrying channel surfing.
add a skeleton here at some point
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Back when not owning a TV was a personality [New Times Los Angeles, Feb 6, 1997]
3 months ago
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I absolutely love this uneven typewriter, especially the way the word "calling" came out [The Haight Ashbury Free Press, 1968]
3 months ago
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Sounds kind of painful actually [New Times Los Angeles, Feb 6, 1997]
3 months ago
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The Love Lines column in Lowrider Magazine was a gem. [Lowrider, Sept 1993]
3 months ago
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Release the files! [The Village Voice, Mar 2, 1967]
4 months ago
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I look at a lot of old newspapers, and I know a fair amount about history, but I still have trouble believing some of what I read, right out there in the open
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When an enslaved person ran away, slavers would place ads in the newspaper describing the fugitive and offering a reward for their return. With the exception of abolitionist newspapers, we can find th...
TikTok video by classifiedhistory
https://www.tiktok.com/@classifiedhistory/video/7607224568163388703
4 months ago
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I think this is some kind of device that electrocutes you if you get turned on? [The National Police Gazette, Oct 21, 1905]
4 months ago
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Happy Valentine's Day! [Gay Community News, Feb 15, 1986]
4 months ago
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Squeezer and Turbo [Lowrider, Nov 1995]
4 months ago
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reposted by
Classified History
Captain Pooky
over 1 year ago
Spotted in the missed connections section of the local Little Village magazine.
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Surely this couldn't have been hard to find in 1970s New York [The Village Voice, Aug 8, 1974]
4 months ago
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Attractive and vigorous. Married. [The New York Review of Books, Feb 9, 1978]
4 months ago
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When you think it's about one thing but then you keep reading. [The Village Voice, Jan 26, 1967]
4 months ago
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Kim Deal is the coolest.
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Birth to the Pixies
This month marks 40 years since the founding of the band Pixies. It all came together when Kim Deal answered an ad in the Boston Phoenix. Black Francis and Joey Santiago were looking for a womanβ¦
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcWNe9MgHlc
4 months ago
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The mustache is an obvious focal point. But also, those bangs!
add a skeleton here at some point
4 months ago
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The number in the bottom right corner, for those of you who are wondering, refers to the issue in which the ad would've expired. In this case, September 11, 1996. [New Times Los Angeles, Aug 22, 1996]
4 months ago
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Anyone else love Ronnie?
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4 months ago
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Distaste for dance clubs [Los Angeles Reader, Aug 9, 1996]
5 months ago
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The story of Oney Judge, Martha Washington's slave who ran away to freedom
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George and Martha Washington had more than 300 slaves in their lifetimes, and they had to place ads in the newspaper on at least two occasions trying to get back ones who had run away. #blackhistory #...
TikTok video by classifiedhistory
https://www.tiktok.com/@classifiedhistory/video/7596869946815171871?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7550698293146191373
5 months ago
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Someone stole the bird's nest out of the cemetery. [The National Police Gazette, June 12, 1847] This could be a prompt for the next Knives Out,
@rianjohnson.bsky.social
5 months ago
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Not enough onomatopoeia in personal ads, if you ask me [The Advocate, Dec 27, 1978]
5 months ago
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What did Kathie Lee Gifford ever do to this guy? [New Times Los Angeles, Aug 22, 1996]
5 months ago
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Chillin' out, maxin', relaxin' all cool [New Times Los Angeles, Aug 22, 1996]
5 months ago
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