Word: peoria
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Peoria has given me all of that. After all, the third-largest city in the state has long been equated with the essence of middle America...
...Peoria, Illinois. When I moved to this city of 112,000 in June, I expected to find myself living among all things all-American...
...years, Peoria was the test-marketing capital of the nation before the equally unremarkable Des Moines, Iowa, stole away that distinction. Company after company brought their products to the heart of Illinois, assuming that if their TV dinners and stainless steel knives were good enough for Peorians, they were good enough for the rest of blue-collar America. The old vaudeville saying, "Will it play in Peoria?" took on new meaning as the city became a benchmark for the nation, helping to gauge American attitudes toward politics, religion and culture...
Pardon me then when I was disturbed to learn that one of Peoria's most famous and accepted social institutions is a strip club. Big Al's, a "world-famous gentleman's club" located in the middle of downtown, features "the world's most beautiful women," fine cigars, cognac, a lunchtime buffet and Wednesday night wet T-shirt contests...
...manager, Eric Clapton was once spotted in the audience. The same manager says comedian/actor Sam Kinnison was a regular during his lifetime. On more than one occasion, when I have told people outside the tri-county area (that my newspaper covers) that I live and work in Peoria, they have asked--sometimes jokingly--if I've been...