Ultra Swank - Retro Adventures

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Postcards of Googie Architecture in California

Since we all love kitschy postcards, I thought this would be a great way to start off the week. Here’s a sample of postcards of yesteryear California. Including motels, restaurants, diners, bowling alleys and everything between that all share the “Googie” styled design and architecture that became popular on the West Coast in the 1950s and 1960s. The “Googie” style took its influence from futurist...

New York to London in 6½ Magic Hours

Seeing it’s Friday – why not embark on a delicious weekend trip to Europe. Our friends at Pan Am will take us on a 6½ hours long transatlantic flight from New York to London on their new Boeing 707 – the biggest jet plane of the late 1950s – holding up to 150 passengers. With a wingspan that is longer than the entire distance of...

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Written by Christopher in Roadtrip

Swinging London 1960s Fashion

For many of us the 1960s was the fashion decade of the 20th century. Especially if you lived in London at the time, which was known as “Swinging London” – a definition made in April 1966 by British magazine Time. Most of us can only daydream what it was like during that era from what we have seen or heard in magazines, music or movies...

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Before Starbucks, Espresso House, Nero and other major coffeehouse chains invaded every city on the western hemisphere there were thousands of smaller coffee houses or coffee bars as they were referred to back then. London, England saw a major expansion of these quaint places in the early 1950s, right about the same time as the first Espresso machine was introduced there. The clip is taken...

More Photos from Väla Centrum – A Kitschy Swedish Shopping Mall

I recently 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 of the time – meaning that it didn’t look typically Scandinavian or traditional, which I really love. It even had a bird cage with live canaries up until the circa the mid 1980s....

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Written by Christopher in Travel

Skyline New York

Join Trans World Airlines and Ultra Swank for a flight to the city that never sleeps, New York city! We will depart from Los Angeles and set down at New York, Idlewild airport (soon to be known as JFK airport). Our flying time is estimated at around 8 hours. Fasten your seat belts and enjoy the scenery. If you have any questions, our delightful stewardess...

More Swedish Postcards – Optimistic and Colorful Modernism

More retro Swedish postcard goodness for all of you to enjoy. There were a large number of postcards produced post World War 2 to show off everything new and modern that was erected. 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...

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