Ultra Swank

Originally developed in the 1930′s as a cheap alternative for small churches that could not afford a pipe organ, the electric organ became a fixture in millions of suburban homes during the 1950′s and 60′s. Along the way this all purpose instrument produced the melancholy soundtrack for countless soap operas, kept the beat at roller rinks and eventually was dipped in ‘acid’ and mutated into the keyboards of rock n’ roll and soul.

In the prosperous post war world, Lauren Hammond’s invention became the space-age equivalent of the piano in the parlor. Maybe the kids would put away that jungle music and gather with Mom and Pop around the Hammond for an old fashioned sing-a-long? The Hammond combined the nostalgia of home-made entertainment with the space-age. It was electric! It had more push buttons than a driveway full of Vista-Cruisers!

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I found some more photos of my favorite shopping mall in southern Sweden – Väla Centrum. It was built in 1974 outside of Helsingborg and took its inspiration from American shopping malls at the time – meaning that it didn’t look very Scandinavian or traditional, which I really love. It even had a birdcage with live canaries up until the mid 1980s. For more information and photos of the shopping center, see my earlier post about it.

Ultra Swank takes you back in time into the kitsch, chic and swank living of the 50s, 60s and the 70s. We mainly focus on the design, architecture and the lifestyle of the happy-go-lucky and space-age-living mentality of that era – but also on the music and movies that takes you back to happier times. Ultra Swank is run by Chris, a Swede born in the wrong decade that currently resides in Barcelona. Read more

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Time again for another visit to some various Swedish shopping centers, as they looked back in the golden days of consuming. This time featuring Stockholm and Gothenburg. Do not forget to listen to “Retro Shopping Volume 1″ while looking at the photos for the perfect mood setter.

Väla Centrum is a shopping mall located in southern Sweden just outside of Helsingborg. Been planing on writing about it for a long time now but have not been able to find anything useful – until now. This is the mall I grew up with. Many many Friday evenings and Saturdays were spent here when I traveled there going shopping with my family as a kid back in the 1980s and early 1990s.

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This is a cut from a educational promotion film that explains some aspects on why Täby Centrum was built. The film is in Swedish and narrated by the architect of the center who explains some particulars about it. If you look closely you will see the Domus sign in the background on the second floor of the mall. Domus was one of the typical anchor type stores at Swedish malls during the 60s and 70s. Most of the Domus stores are gone today or have been renamed Coop, which is the new brand for the KF owned stores. Täby Centrum is now the largest indoor mall in Sweden and one of the largest in Europe. It opened september 26, 1968 and had major expansions made in 1991. There are now plans to make it even bigger.

Listen to the dreamy shopping music that can be heard in the background inside the shopping center. If you like this kind of music, be sure to download my custom made compilation “Retro Shopping Volume 1 – Music to buy toasters by“.

Time for another peek at the past shopping experiences. This time we are leaving Sweden to have a look at some photos from an American shopping center. Since most of the Swedish malls and shopping centers that was built in the 50s, 60s and 70s all took their inspiration from the American malls, I thought it would be a good idea to compare the design and architecture of them.

This is Southdale Center Mall in Edina, Minnesota. It was built in 1956 and still stands today, but heavily modified of course. Southdale Center was the first climate-controlled enclosed mall in America. Same as Shopping in Luleå, Sweden was when it was built in 1955. So the Swedes beat the Americans by one year, which is kind of odd. For more past-time shopping experiences, be sure to visit my friend Keith’s Malls of America website.

Time again to visit the yesteryear’s shopping experience. Here are some fresh assorted postcards from two different shopping centers in Sweden, one from Stockholm and the other one from Gothenburg. I have only visited the latter a couple of times, and it is still there – but it looks slightly different today (as many other things from the past). Enjoy Keith!