Modernism Week 2026: Charles Phoenix: The Great American Retro Road Trip

 

By Jonathan Bilski

Palm Springs Modernism Week 2026 has come to a close. The mid-century modern schemes of so many will remain in the Coachella Valley. But one man will spread his vision of Americana across this nation. Charles Phoenix. He's the host ready to roast this great nation. And, at the same time he loves every tourist trap, every famous landmark and anything that look like it came out of post-WWII. I sat down with a crowd trapped in the past and it was a fun visit at Charles Phoenix's: The Great American Retro Road Trip show.

For those who don't know the guy, we've probably posted on him quite a few times over the years. Charles Phoenix makes fun of history, more specifically on a tour bus or with the use of a slideshow. Except, the slides aren't his. You can think of him as sort of a guide on Instagram where all the photos are posted on the past. And, he gets the likes for making fun of how high people's pants were in the past. That and a lot more dirty stuff.

And, the audience ate it up. Charles does not tread lightly, he's loud and ready to make fun of anyone who decided posing while grabbing a pole or showing off their butt was a good idea.

On this slide show we were on Route 66, with it's 100th Anniversary happening now and visited the East Coast to the West Coast with everything between looking at random slides in the 50's and 60's. It's a time capsule capturing how bad people were taking photos back then as they our now.

Through every slide, Phoenix cracks jokes, like how some people look like they were ready to be dead or the fashion of the day was not the best, but he's also extremely knowledgeable of what it was like back then, the history of the buildings and how even places are holding up now. Not so many survived the test of time.

We visited iconic locals, like a corn palace in South Dakota that stands till this day and the The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, which you can apparently go on? You see it through the eyes of people on vacation and a man making fun of them.

An hour thirty flew by as we made our way back and forth across the U.S.A. making me wanting to see more of the country, meeting new people and taking my own bad pictures to make fun of.