Ultra Swank - Retro Adventures

1950s

Eichler numbers marks the spot
Written by Christopher in Design

Eichler numbers marks the spot

If you are a lucky owner of one of the 11 000 mid-century Eichler homes located in northern and southern California, chances are you are also a design and architecture savvy person who appreciates fine details. Proud Eichler home owner Carmen realized this and are therefore offering authentic Eichler house numbers for sale through her website eichlernumbers.com. You can buy any digit combination from two...

Beach Fashion in the 1950s
Written by Christopher in Inspiration

Beach Fashion in the 1950s

Seeing summer is around the corner, why not catch up with the latest trends and styles in beach fashion for women. Here are a handful of beach fashion photos from Life Magazine circa 1955. The photos were taken by film director, musician, journalist and photographer Gordon Parks who is mostly known for directing the 1971 blaxploitation movie Shaft starring Richard Roundtree. Many people have no...

Elegant Mid-Century Office Design

Look at these lovely vintage photos scanned from adverts in Fortune Magazine from 1963 and 1964. I love the way how clean and elegant everything is organized, the calming color schemes and use of typical mid-century rectangular angles. The furniture is designed by Thonet Industries and Steelcase who has been active in designing office perihelia since 1912. For more Steelcase office photos and mid-century goodness,...

Video

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...

Beautiful End Titles
Written by Christopher in Film

Beautiful End Titles

Stumbled upon these fabulous end titles from various classic mid-century movies. They don’t make them like this anymore. You can see stills from My Fair Lady directed by George Cukor, How To Murder Your Wife, Destination Moon and 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her from Jean-Luc Godard amoung many others. It seems that these kind of end titles are a long lost art...

Found Soda Crates
Written by Christopher in Inspiration

Found Soda Crates

Love these vintage soda crates courtesy of Pottery Barn. Once used to transport sodas to vending machines and restaurants in the US, they are as stylish and useful today as they were 50 years ago. Sadly though it seems that they are currently not available to buy through Pottery Barn, but fingers crossed that they will find more of these gems from the past. What...

Revival of the Radio
Written by Christopher in Design

Revival of the Radio

British portable radio manufacturer Robert’s has been making radios since 1932 and can today be found in homes all over the world, even the Royal British family. There have been numerous models in production, but the one that is instantly recognizable is the vintage looking Revival radio that takes its inspiration from classic mid-century design. Robert’s have modernized the inside with DAB technology for digital...

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