Ultra Swank - Retro Adventures

Kitsch

Home Decor of the 1960s
Written by Guest Writer in Interior

Home Decor of the 1960s

When people think of the 1960s, they often picture a vivid series of images. Youth in rebellion. The first walk on the moon. Space age cartoons like The Jetsons. Hippies in tie-dye. Woodstock. Rock and roll — the Beatles, the Rolling Stones. Politics, protests and picketing. If the 1960s are associated with rebellion and the Space Age, they’re also associated with a specific home decor...

Five Common 1970s Decor Elements
Written by Guest Writer in Interior

Five Common 1970s Decor Elements

When it comes home design by decade, the 1970s get a lot of flak. How can you blame the bad-talkers when they remember things like disco balls and hot tubs in bedrooms? This reputation is a shame, though, because the 1970s also brought us a handful of fresh décor elements that feel much more real than ridiculous. In fact, the following five 1970s decor features...

A Tale of a Pink Flamingo
Written by Koop Kooper in Kitsch

A Tale of a Pink Flamingo

I remember the first time I saw the mighty Pink Flamingo formation. It was in front garden of my Aunt’s 1949 Art Deco Home. A spectacular home with a perfect lawn and a distinct late fifties sixties furnishing inside the house and a 1956 Ford Customline in the driveway. The cool thing about all of this was that the year was 1988. Not much had...

Finding Dark Shadows in the Sixth Grade
Written by Patricia Greenwood in Television

Finding Dark Shadows in the Sixth Grade

In the spring of 1969 my family moved from the pastoral setting outside of Centreville, Virginia, a small town in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains to Fairfax, a burgeoning suburb outside of Washington, D.C. A sixth grader at the time, transitioning from a country school to a more sophisticated environment was not easy for me and I found myself feeling like an outsider...

Video

From YouTube user ModCinema comes a selection of cheesy American television ads of the 1970s. The selection contains ads for among others Mister Tony’s Submarines, Space Mountain at Disneyland and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I do not know if I should be nostalgic or laugh. Do anyone of you remember these ads? The Shoe Closet (1976) Mr.Tony’s Submarines (1977) Tip 833-4000 (1977) Meyer: Your...

Video

Ever wonder how early computer animations was created? This video from 1971, complete with spacey synthetic music, demonstrates not only one of the first interactive computer systems for animation, one used for production, it was also an outstanding example of early user-centered design, including one of the first computer mice. The system was developed by Marceli Wein and Nestor Burtnyk, both of whom won Academy...

Video
Written by Katharine Miller in Television

Get Smart – With Don Adams

Would you believe that Mel Brooks and Buck Henry teamed up to create one of the funniest spy shows of the 1960s? Capitalizing on the success of the James Bond franchise, television networks ordered a slew of espionage-themed programs. The Man From U.N.C.L.E, I Spy, Mission Impossible, and The Avengers brought a new level of sophistication to catching bad guys. These series used intelligence, ingenuity,...

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