Before Starbucks, Espresso House, Nero and other major coffeehouse chains invaded every city on the western hemisphere there were thousands of smaller coffee houses or coffee bars as they were referred to back then. London, England saw a major expansion of these quaint places in the early 1950s, right about the same time as the first Espresso machine was introduced there. The clip below is taken from the DVD Look At Life - Swinging London, which features sixteen kitschy and fascinating short films about London life in the 1950s and 1960s. Groovy!
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Digital painter Melvin Hale uses modern technology to make old black and white photos come alive again. Melvin's studio is located in Palm Springs, California where he has been working on refining his technology of digitally colorizing and restoring vintage black and white images of mid-century America - including roadside attractions, portraits, buildings and a handful of other subjects. Melvin has also been awarded several prizes for his work, one being the prestigious Crystal Award of Excellence from the California State Fair which has been a exhibitor of fine art since it opened in 1884. For those who are interested in swanking up their living room, copies of his colorized vintage paintings can be bought through Melvin's website.
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Stumbled upon these fabulous end titles from various classic mid-century movies. Above "My Fair Lady" directed by George Cukor from 1964 and at the bottom the end title from a MGM cartoon produced in the 1940s. It seems that these kind of end titles are a long lost art form and all we can do now is admire the style and grace of times gone by. If you want to see the rest of the stills, be sure to stop by the The End photo group on Flickr.
Like out of a modern love story, musicians Charlotte from France and Magon from Israel first made contact online. Two years later, they met face to face at the airport in Tel-Aviv after Magon invited Charlotte to fly over to produce a vintage influenced pop album with him. Two weeks later they had written nine complete songs and fallen deeply in love. Charlotte & Magon's music can best be described as magical and dreamy, like you are running in slow motion next to a seashore in 1969 with a luke warm breeze in your hair, the sun reflecting in your eyes and your loved one next to you. Their debut album is entitled Love Happening - a reference to that love really can happen anytime and anywhere, especially when you least expect it. I suggest that you pour your self a glass of red wine and visit their MySpace page for soundclips and find out where you can experience their love live.
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Love these vintage soda crates courtesy of Pottery Barn. Once used to transport sodas to vending machines and restaurants in the US, they are as stylish and useful today as they were 50 years ago. Sadly though it seems that they are currently not available to buy through Pottery Barn, but fingers crossed that they will find more of these gems from the past. What would you guys use them for?
Welcome to the the cool side of the moon, I have worked hard to ensure that your stay will be an enjoyable and fun one. This update is the biggest one since the launch of the site back in September 2005 and lots of time and effort has been put into moving the blog into another publishing system while at the same time giving the design a update. The decision of moving over to Wordpress was a swell one and it will secure the future of Ultra Swank allowing it to grow and to have new features added easily. I would love to hear what you think of the changes. Is there anything that you dislike or could be improved? Please leave a comment or two to let me know what's on your mind. More information about the changes and the future of the blog after the jump.
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British portable radio manufacturer Robert's has been making radios since 1932 and can today be found in homes all over the world, even the Royal British family. There have been numerous models in production, but the one that is instantly recognizable is the vintage looking Revival radio that takes its inspiration from classic mid-century design. Robert's have modernized the inside with DAB technology for digital radio and a smart LCD-display at the top. I bet that these would look snug on any breakfast table around the world. Suggested retail price is around £150.
The iconic ‘Revival’ DAB radio is a nostalgic 1950s style retro radio with advanced DAB features. In a range of colours it not only looks great it sounds great too. Now with 120 hours battery life this fantastic DAB radio is more portable than ever. The ‘Revival’ features rotary tuning and volume controls, RDS station name display, a stereo line out socket, headphone socket and portability thanks to its carry handle.
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Moving back to Sweden again for a while and more specifically to the Swedish automotive industry. For those who aren't in the know, Sweden has two major brands; Volvo and Saab. Today we are going back to the mid 1950s to look at how the advertisements for model 121 also known as the Amazon were portrayed in the country that brought you all ABBA, IKEA and Maud Adams. The Amazon first saw light in 1956 and remained in production to 1970. And according to Phil Seed's Virtual Car Musum they are "seemingly indestructible". More photos and tv commerials after the jump. [Thanks Fhardyfan]
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