Before streaming services we had Blockbuster - but did you know one remains in operation? On this episode, we share the downfall of Blockbuster, and how the Bend, Oregon location keeps its doors open to this day. 

Over the more than 200 years of its existence, the US has become home to a number of iconic sites that domestic and international travelers alike place at the top of their must-see lists. The classic memorials and museums circling Washington, DC spring to mind, of course, because of their importance to both the history and future of our country, but other cities outside our capital possess an immediate connection with a building or structure: for instance, San Francisco’s graceful and majestic Golden Gate Bridge, the futuristic and awe-inspiring Space Needle in Seattle, the formidable and photogenic bronze lions guarding the entrance to Chicago’s famed Art Institute. America’s largest metropolis, New York City, is famous for, among other things: the Statue of Liberty, whose promise of freedom welcomed millions of immigrants to America’s shores; the legendary sports and performances at Madison Square Garden; and the delicious, titanic corned beef sandwiches and knishes at the Carnegie Deli. But one building alone symbolizes the strength, beauty, and spirit of New York.

The small town of Wamego, Kansas, with its modest population of nearly 5,000, is not a sprawling, sepia-toned farmland featuring Aunty Em, Miss Gulch, and Professor Marvel. It does not look like much of the Midwest landscape that comes to mind. Oh, no. Wamego, Kansas has poppy fields and Emerald Cities; yellow brick roads and ruby red slippers and lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Because somewhere over the rainbow is Wamego, Kansas, a town whose cultural identity has been oz-ified into no place like home.