A hula hoop is a toy hoop that is twirled around the waist, limbs or neck. It can also be wheeled along the ground like a wheel with careful execution. They have been used by children and adults since at least 500 BC. The modern hula hoop was inspired by Australian bamboo hoops. Common lore posits the creators of the plastic hoop popularised in the US witnessed Australian children playing with bamboo hoops while driving past in an automobile. The new plastic version was popularized in 1958 by the Wham-O toy company and became a fad.
“A girl twirling a Hula hoop, 1958”
A Hoop busker balancing a guitar & hula hoop at the Pike Place Market in Seattle
A boy hula hooping using his neck in Lusaka
A performer with a fire hula hoop
Wham-O Inc. is an American toy company based in Carson, California, United States. It is known for creating and marketing many popular toys for nearly 70 years, including the Hula hoop, Frisbee, Slip 'N Slide, Super Ball, Trac-Ball, Silly String, Hacky sack, Wham-O Bird Ornithopter and Boogie Board, many of which have become genericized trademarks.
Wham-O headquarters in Carson, California
A Frisbee made by Wham-O
Vintage Blue and white Wham-O Magic Window toy from the 1970s
Frisbee political campaign advertisement designed by San Francisco-based advertising executive Bob Gardner of Gardner Communications as part of U.S. President Gerald Ford's 1976 advertising team and given to Ford at the 1976 Republican National Convention. At the time, Gardner's company also held the Frisbee advertising account.
