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You could build a computer way back in 1956 if you were so inclined! The EC-1 came from Heathkit, and it resembles a modern computer in name only… Continue reading Build your own “Computor”
It might seem hard to get excited about plumbing fixtures, but just look at this awesome streamlined kitchen from 1950….There’s such a fabulous diner vibe to that round breakfast table that it’s almost hard to focus on the sink! Continue reading Everything and the Kitchen Sink
Famous artists? Midcentury design marked such an explosion in style after the restraint of the Second World War.This 1954 Sears catalog offers a textbook in a single page of…fabrics. Continue reading Signed Originals by Famous American Artists
In 1958, Ward’s introduced new washers and dryers in that most mid-century of colors – pink. Their new washers are “so truly automatic that you’ll spend only 5 minutes of your own time to wash and dry a full 8 lb family load”…
Continue reading Start The New Year In The Pink
Definition of a fad: you’re lookin’ at it. A Nylon Christmas Tree. “Thousands” of families made or bought them for a little while in the late 1950s. Continue reading A New Kind of Christmas Tree
In 1958, Velcro was brand-new, space-age technology imported from England. The ideal place to use it? Down the front of a man's jacket! At least that's what Sears did for Christmas. Continue reading The hot new Christmas Gift for 1958: Velcro!
For many people, the holidays are a lonely time. Separated from family, isolated from friends. What better way to deal with the holiday blues…than a good game of solitaire! Continue reading How to Be Alone and Like It
We’re talking about a toy gun, to be sure. But compared to our current world, where guns and what to do with them have become a flashpoint of fevered opinions and arguments, it’s breathtaking to behold how different things were 60 years ago. Continue reading Give your kid a gun for Christmas
Twixteen: a nice portmanteau which has utterly vanished from everyday language. In both photos and the illustrations, these are charming mid-century debs and twixteens, seemingly straight out of black and white television sitcoms… Continue reading For Young Debs and Twixteens
Spencer Gifts! Mainstay of malls. After 70 years, Spencer’s still offers the frivolous and the faddish, whereever shopping malls still draw visitors. God, how I loved Spencer Gifts stores and catalogs when I was a certain age. The Mood Rings! The Day-Glow Posters! The Black Lights… Continue reading S-l-o-w-l-y a Pale Hand Emerges
