“I’ll see you at the luncheonette” is not a phrase most people hear anymore in America and most people wouldn’t even recognize the term luncheonette. A luncheonette is similar to a diner, but is not a diner – the biggest differences being that a diner has a larger range of food and is a full restaurant. The main focus of a luncheonette was to serve...
In the Atomic Age retro scene, there have always been folk with a taste for the gothic. You can thank The Cramps. One of the first punk acts to use the word “gothic” to promote themselves in the 1970s, The Cramps went on to influence what would eventually become the post-punk Goth scene. However, unlike Siouxsie and The Banshees, Bauhaus, and other Goth scene progenitors,...
Exotica jazz is no longer well-known to the average joe. It’s a genre of jazz that is based on exotic locales and sounds that emerged after WWII, predominately within the span of the 1950s to mid-1960s. The music was influenced heavily by Asian, tropical islands, South American, and African sounds, whether native beats or sounds of nature. Many men and women musicians emerged after the...
To paraphrase our friend Koop Kooper, the Lounge Revival life isn’t historical reenactment. And that’s a good thing. Modern life has plenty of advantages and there’s no reason to eschew them just because they didn’t exist way back when. As much as we complain about how we annoy each other with our mobile devices, few of us are ready to give them up just to...
Without a doubt the one film character to define the term “cool” is James Bond. With the twenty-fourth installment of the series, SPECTRE, due out later this year, it’s time to look at the biggest lifestyle contributions made by the greatest secret agent of all time as taught by, still the best Bond, Sean Connery. What to Drink Despite his Scottish heritage, Bond is never seen drinking Scotch in...
After collecting cookbooks for over 5 years now, I can say that, with the exception of the occasional chapter on grilling and barbecues (which were dad’s domain, after all), all of the mid-century cookbooks I own are written with the lady of the house in mind. Entire chapters are dedicated to “Meals Men Like” and “Man-pleasers” or, in the case of the Smirnoff Brunch Cookbook,...
Huddle was a chain of coffee-shops and restaurants primarily located around California. Designed around the ever so popular and playful Googie-type theme that was found all over the state in the 1950s and 1960s. Bold and colorful lettering, shapes and swirls and patterns that was meant to be a reference to space-age living. But, what happened to them? Huddle was the brainchild of entrepreneur Paul...