Ultra Swank

Come fly with me… to fabulous and fantastic Las Vegas! Established in 1905, it was nowhere near the oasis of fun, sin and lost weekends as it is known for today. But when major developments and projectes surfaced in the 1940s, the city starting growing larger and larger. Shady organized crime personalties saw opportunities to be made in this new desert haven. Big hotel casinos started sprouting up and many of the largest ones were in fact managed by the mob. I guess you have all heard about Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel.

The most famous part of Las Vegas is the strip – a 4-mile boulevard sized stretch of road that houses some of the biggest hotels and casinos in the U.S. Huge casinos such as The Golden Nugget and Fremont are considered landmarks today. Any fancy a game of Blackjack or trying your luck on the numerous slot machines? For more information, visit gamblingplanet.

The first, but perhaps little known casino of Las Vegas was the El Rancho Vegas, built in 1941 but sadly destroyed in a fire in 1960. However, its success pawed way for many other similar ventures such as the Last Frontier and the spectacular Flamingo. But this was just the beginning.

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Here are a bunch of fine examples of postcards you probably won’t be sending to your friends and family.. or then again, maybe you might. If you want to see more fun-tastic, creepy, dodgy and simply plain weird examples, head over to Bad Postcards where you will have a whole collection of things gone horribly wrong.

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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Kitschy Swedish Postcards from the 1960s

Winter is almost upon us in northern Europe, but these newly found postcards of retro Sweden brings back kitschy summer vibes that are sure to warm anyone. Those of you with sharp eyes might spot that a few of the cards depict Sweden pre-1967, when we still had left-side traffic. Native Swedes might even recognize some or all of the places. But for those who aren’t in the know, they represent Värnamo, Kramfors along with the two suburbs Vällingby and Huddinge outside of Stockholm. Which street scene looks the most inviting or… boring?

More retro Swedish postcard goodness for all of you to enjoy. There were a large number of postcards produced from the late 1940s to early 1980s here in Sweden. The future looked optimistic, new buildings were popping all around the country and of course it had to be depicted on a postcard to that you could send it to your near and loved ones – even though many of the buildings were horribly boring and unattractive. Below are some examples of better cards.

Here are a bunch of old postcards depicting normal everyday life street scenes in Sweden in the 1960s. Progress has taken its toll on all of these places and I very much doubt they look like this today. Although, I do love the colors and how everything looked so casually organized and clean back then.