http://www.ultraswank.net Retro Living and Design from the 50s, 60s and 70s Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:56:26 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.ultraswank.net/architecture/are-we-ready-for-the-jetsons-yet/ http://www.ultraswank.net/architecture/are-we-ready-for-the-jetsons-yet/#comments Thu, 14 Apr 2011 05:52:13 +0000 Amy Thyr http://www.ultraswank.net/?p=3242 What better epitomizes the visionary futuristic-utopia of the 20th century than the Jetsons? Created in 1962 the prime-time animated sitcom took place in 2062… looking 100 years into the future. Besides the futuristic gadgets and gizmos-surely ahead of their time-the architectural influence is clearly that of Googie design. Including “upswept roofs, curvaceous, geometric shapes, and [...]]]> http://www.ultraswank.net/architecture/are-we-ready-for-the-jetsons-yet/feed/ 5 http://www.ultraswank.net/science/our-friend-the-atom-%e2%80%93-part-3/ http://www.ultraswank.net/science/our-friend-the-atom-%e2%80%93-part-3/#comments Fri, 08 Apr 2011 05:32:10 +0000 James Vaughan http://www.ultraswank.net/?p=3225 The religion of The Atom died with Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. With that fall from grace came the end of many of our utopian dreams. A responsible future of conservation and organic carrots just wasn’t very exciting. Although widespread use of the atom remains controversial; 436 reactors remain the source of 15 per cent [...]]]> http://www.ultraswank.net/science/our-friend-the-atom-%e2%80%93-part-3/feed/ 0 http://www.ultraswank.net/science/our-friend-the-atom-%e2%80%93-part-2/ http://www.ultraswank.net/science/our-friend-the-atom-%e2%80%93-part-2/#comments Fri, 01 Apr 2011 05:39:04 +0000 James Vaughan http://www.ultraswank.net/?p=3194 Atomic power was projected to be very cheap. We were going to have electricity coming out of our ears! We would not have to import oil from crazy foreigners or dig up whole states looking for coal. Utility companies and government agencies around the world took up the chant of the mighty atom. Nuclear power [...]]]> http://www.ultraswank.net/science/our-friend-the-atom-%e2%80%93-part-2/feed/ 0 http://www.ultraswank.net/science/our-friend-the-atom-%e2%80%93-part-1/ http://www.ultraswank.net/science/our-friend-the-atom-%e2%80%93-part-1/#comments Wed, 23 Mar 2011 12:32:06 +0000 James Vaughan http://www.ultraswank.net/?p=3163 No modern technology has ever had such a schizophrenic and complicated identity as Atomic Energy. It is often presented in mystical terms. A Pandora’s Box of knowledge that cannot be unlearned. The magical Genie that can do both help or harm but cannot be returned to his bottle. Nuclear Power is the ultimate parable of [...]]]> http://www.ultraswank.net/science/our-friend-the-atom-%e2%80%93-part-1/feed/ 0 http://www.ultraswank.net/stores/shopping-spree-part-10/ http://www.ultraswank.net/stores/shopping-spree-part-10/#comments Wed, 12 Jan 2011 23:15:46 +0000 Chris http://www.ultraswank.net/?p=2983 Let’s kick off the new year by spending some of that hard earned money at the local shopping center. Perhaps a new color television, that black suit that’s now on sale or why not a new kitchen appliance for the wifey? There is something for everyone. Where shall we go first? Montgomery Ward, SS Kresgne, [...]]]> http://www.ultraswank.net/stores/shopping-spree-part-10/feed/ 2 http://www.ultraswank.net/daydreaming/the-glittering-lights-of-broadway-in-the-1950s/ http://www.ultraswank.net/daydreaming/the-glittering-lights-of-broadway-in-the-1950s/#comments Tue, 13 Apr 2010 05:33:30 +0000 Chris http://www.ultraswank.net/?p=2062 A short movie that takes us back 60 years or so, to a time when Broadway and Times Square were the theater and entertainment capital of the USA. Pre Disneyfication and massive tourist invasions. For those of you who likes numbers, there were apparently 40 million twinkling lights around Broadway back then. Many of these [...]]]> http://www.ultraswank.net/daydreaming/the-glittering-lights-of-broadway-in-the-1950s/feed/ 3 http://www.ultraswank.net/kitsch/how-to-be-popular-in-the-1950s/ http://www.ultraswank.net/kitsch/how-to-be-popular-in-the-1950s/#comments Mon, 12 Oct 2009 05:35:59 +0000 Chris http://www.ultraswank.net/?p=1438 Following up on my earlier post on how to get a date if you lived in 1950s America, here is a new film which show and tell how you can have a few close friends but be popular among a large group of people too. The entertainment value and kitsch-meter is going through the roof [...]]]> http://www.ultraswank.net/kitsch/how-to-be-popular-in-the-1950s/feed/ 1 http://www.ultraswank.net/interior/swank-style-surprise-discovered/ http://www.ultraswank.net/interior/swank-style-surprise-discovered/#comments Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:26:11 +0000 Guest http://www.ultraswank.net/?p=1423 I had the occasion this past summer to stay in a Motel 6 here in the U.S. for the first time in many years. I was most pleasantly surprised at the new look of the room. It was simple, utilitarian, but perhaps best of all, something new in that it reminded me of mid-century America [...]]]> http://www.ultraswank.net/interior/swank-style-surprise-discovered/feed/ 8 http://www.ultraswank.net/kitsch/how-to-date-in-the-1950s/ http://www.ultraswank.net/kitsch/how-to-date-in-the-1950s/#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:53:11 +0000 Chris http://www.ultraswank.net/?p=1432 How would you get into dating if you were a teenager in the suburbs of America in the 1950s? Ever wonder how social life was like for your mother, father, grandmother or grandfather? The video is taken from the Coronet collection, which features lots of swell vintage movies about growing up in the 1940s and [...]]]> http://www.ultraswank.net/kitsch/how-to-date-in-the-1950s/feed/ 4 http://www.ultraswank.net/architecture/1960s-whitney-smith-designed-modernism-home/ http://www.ultraswank.net/architecture/1960s-whitney-smith-designed-modernism-home/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 05:09:25 +0000 Chris http://www.ultraswank.net/?p=1270 This lovely modernism designed home was built in the 1960s by architect Whitney Smith who was made famous through the Case Study Homes program in post WWII California. The house is located in Alhambra in the US and like many other Mid Century homes it was built in the typical ‘glass box’ theme with high [...]]]> http://www.ultraswank.net/architecture/1960s-whitney-smith-designed-modernism-home/feed/ 6 http://www.ultraswank.net/stores/shopping-spree-part-5/ http://www.ultraswank.net/stores/shopping-spree-part-5/#comments Tue, 26 Sep 2006 13:05:00 +0000 Chris http://www.ultraswank.net/uncategorized/shopping-spree-part-5/ 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 [...]]]> http://www.ultraswank.net/stores/shopping-spree-part-5/feed/ 5