Ultra Swank - Retro Adventures

shopping

3 Superb Places To Find Stylish & Affordable Retro Décor

The iconic shapes, patterns and colors of the swinging 60s continue to shape modern-day design to this day. Demand for 60s décor has never been higher, with homeowners using retro wallpapers and furniture to add touches of personality to dull modern interiors. Unfortunately, increasing popularity also means increasing prices. For that reason, we’ve come up with a list of three places you can get your...

Stylish Mid-Century Shopping Malls

I’ve always been a sucker for shopping malls, even as a kid I thoroughly enjoyed going to the mall with the folks. Nowadays most shoppings centers are just loud, generic and boring. Where’s that sense of soul and character? Well fear not, Ultra Swank takes you back to take a look at some of the mid-century gems. Every mid-century mall needs three things; a water...

Avenue of Light – The Lost Underground Shopping Mall of Barcelona

The historically and culturally rich city Barcelona in Spain dates back to Roman times and holds many secrets, but even this one was new for me. Having lived here for quite a few years I thought I knew about most of the well known places from the past, but this lost underground shopping mall just appeared out of the depths one night. Knowing that Barcelona...

Postcards from a vibrant Retro Boston

There are numerous times in my role as the self- appointed retro cultural historian for Boston that I feel just like Gloria Swanson in 1960 standing in that classic photo taken amidst the destruction of the once splendid crown jewel of cinemas, The Roxy Theater in New York City. Boston, like so many other American cities, has been pillaged… truly stripped bare of what made...

A Mid-Century Shopping Centre in Northern Sweden

“Shopping” is one of the first interior shopping center ever built. This mid-century gem is hidden away in the cold northern parts of Sweden. Designed and conceptualized by famed British-Swedish architect Ralph Erskine and completed in 1955. After visiting an open-air shopping mall in Canada with harsh weather conditions, Erskine wanted to create a place that would be enjoyable for everyone all year round, not...

Tesco Recreates a 1960s Style Supermarket

British supermarket giant Tesco has recreated a 1960s style store for the Goodwood Revival Historic Motor Race meeting, held each September in Essex, not far away from London. Inside the store, customers will be able to walk up and down three different aisles filled with dozens of products from the sixties. Even the check-out assistants will be dressed in vintage uniforms, with hair and make-up...

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