Shopping in Luleå in the north parts of Sweden was the first indoor shopping mall in Europe. Built in 1955, designed by the famous architect Ralph Erskine, who wanted to create a mall for people to enjoy and socialize - even with the cold winter climate of northern Sweden. Apparently he got the idea when visiting a outdoor shopping mall in Canada during the winter.
Trams are a thing of the past. Nowadays, they have been replaced by buses, subways or cars. Sweden have had its share of trams. I can name at least five major cities that had them. Stockholm was one of them, but the Stockholm transport authority decided to remove them when Sweden switched from left side, to right side traffic in 1967. The cost of replacing cars and what not would have been too big.
I recently discovered a Swedish website that featured abandoned and disused places, buildings and what not. One of the locations was one of those old motel / restaurant / bar establishment thingies that was a common sight along the Swedish highways up to the 1980s. The interesting thing about this place is the design. It looks like nothing I have seen before, at least not in Sweden and I was delighted to find out that even a small country like Sweden got a touch of the famous Googie design that was very common in California, USA in the 1950s and 1960s. You can also clearly see it was inspired by the American model of combining roadside motels and diners together.
I have a keen movie interest and I try to fit as many movies as possible into my busy schedule each week, although my spare time seams to have become smaller and smaller recently. However, I would like to recommend some lush movies I have seen the past. Most of them are what most people would refer to as "oldies" (why does that name have a bad ring to it?), but I think some of the best movies was made in the 50s, 60s and 70s. If you are thinking that I am going to recommend huge masterpiece by famous directors, you are wrong. I watch movies that make me feel good, happy or movies that has a certain feel to them. And that is all that counts.
Ultra Swank takes you back in time into the kitsch, chic and swank living of the 50s to the 70s. We mainly focus on the design, architecture and the lifestyle of the happy-go-lucky and space-age-living mentality from that era - but also on the mood music that takes you back to happier times. Ultra Swank is run by Chris who resides in Sweden. More | Contact
This is the House of the Future (or Plastic House of the Future) at Disneyland, California circa 1957 – where you could get a glimpse of what the future held in technology and comfort in the year 1986. Look at all those fancy buttons all over the place, I crave more buttons in my apartment [...]
If you lived in the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s or even the ’80s, you probably spent some of your time watching television during the Christmas season (when it wasn’t more inclusively referred to as ‘the holidays’, like today.) Apart from the Christmas or holiday-themed episodes of your favorite TV series, you might have sat through a [...]
Share your retro images in the Ultra Swank Pool at Flickr!
Interested in contributing to Ultra Swank? Do you have a story you want to share? Submit it and get a chance for it to be read by lots of swell retro fans from all over the world!
Receive Ultra Swank updates to your mailbox. It's quick and easy!
Ultra Swank is your blast from the past that takes you back to a more civilized and elegant era with lush cocktail parties, retro design, tasteful architecture and dreamy mood music.
About | Contribute | Contact | Advertise
Copyright © 2005-2010, Some rights reserved. Ultra Swank is presented under a Creative Commons noncommercial-share alike licence.
