Ultra Swank - Retro Adventures

Interview • daydreaming • inspiration • kitsch • event

The Challenge of a Vintage Lifestyle in a Twenty First Century

When it comes to living an authentic vintage lifestyle nowadays, I believe it’s a lot harder than when I first started hanging out in the Rockabilly scene in the late eighties. Back then it was easy to avoid technology, it was easier to be separate from the mainstream society. Back then if a buddy pulled out a cell phone or admitted to us that he...

What Kind of Man is a Lounge Lothario

Today’s “me, me, me society” has led to a different type of man, a man who stands for little. A man who has a lot of unhealthy personal habits and very often is unattractive to women because of these self centered habits. Koop Kooper is a traditional man who is self confident and clear in his intentions in both love life, career and friendships. Today...

Let’s Play Swinging JiveCat Voodoo Lounge – A Retro Board Game

Game designer Seth Roback was raised in 1970s southern California and was considerably influenced by Disneyland, Googie architecture, and Jay Ward cartoons. Today, Roback resides in Seattle and has taken his love of mid-20th century pop culture and turned it into his first board game, Swinging Jivecat Voodoo Lounge, which is currently crowd-funding on Kickstarter. Here’s what he had to say when he discussed his...

Back To The Bricks with Flint Foto Factory

Every Mid-August for the past five years, Joe Dennis, creator of Flint Foto Factory, leaves his day job and his Chicago home to enjoy the week long Back To The Bricks Festival in Flint, Michigan, his hometown. Flint is best known as the prototype for the rise and fall of the American auto industry and is often cited as an example of the economic downward...

Skate Crate – Taking Skateboarding Back to the 1950s

Roll down the sidewalk like you own the town with the retro inspired Skate Crate. Modern design meets the roots of skateboarding. Skate Crate takes skateboarding’s original concept of a 2×4 with metal wheels and a fruit crate and fuses it with modern designs and components, creating a smooth ride and stylish mode of transportation. The initial product line includes both easy-to-build and decorate DIY kits...

Guitar Legend: Al Viola
Written by Guest Writer in Interview

Guitar Legend: Al Viola

In 1992, I was performing extensively under the stage name Jimmy Ross through Orange and Los Angeles Counties as a solo pianist/vocalist entertainer and occasionally in jazz trio and quartet settings. I had just started a double emphasis graduate program in piano and vocal performance at California State University. I was performing two nights a week across the street from where Diana Krall was performing,...

Merry Retro Christmas to You All

The Holiday season is upon us, so it is time to pull out all those swanky and kitschy retro christmas advertisements from the past! These hand drawn illustrations are so awesome. Produced in mid century America they perfectly depicts the happy-go-lucky mentality of those decades. Which one do you like the best? From all of us, to all of you – Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah...

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