No Pattern Required

By Sara In AZ

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OK y’all here are the last few pictures of my beloved neon signs! I hope y’all enjoy.

First is the Kiva Lodge Motel. The Indian with his big Headdress is so awesome. And, just so y’all know – the motel is refrigerated!

I had to include this next neon sign, even though it is actually located in Denver. I took this picture about 4 years ago while we were there visiting family. Unfortunately, I had to take the picture from the car window while we were driving.  But, it is the “Big Bunny” Motel – what is not to love about a sign with a big bunny!!! Sorry the angle is not better on this shot.

The next sign is for the Buckhorn Baths. This is a Motel AND  you could also get a bath in the natural hot springs too. It is a very sweet little place, with cute cottages you could rent out. Unfortunately, the are closed until further notice. I believe they are trying to sell the Baths, but hoping to sell to someone who will refurbish the place and open it back up. If I remember right, they opened in the late 1940s.

Next up is a special sign just for you Miss Eartha.

Well Giddy Up Pardner, it’s time for a stay at the Circle RB Guest Lodge! I absolutely love the cute kitschy cowboy theme on this old sign!

And lastly, The Starlite Motel sign. Isn’t this sign the bomb with the diving ladies! I am so totally in love with this sign. I think if they ever want to tear it down I will get it from them and set it up in my front yard. 

I don’t think my neighbors would mind at all, do you?

Well, I hope y’all enjoyed my tour of old neon signs around town. If I see any more I will be sure to snap some pics for y’all.

If anyone out there has a cool neon sign they want to share, be sure to send in a picture so we can all check it out!

OK! The countdown is REALLY, REALLY, REALLY on now for the Kozy Shack Pudding contest! Voting ends September 15th – next Wednesday! This is my last post before the contest ends next week y’all! Please remember to vote for Eartha Kitsch in the Kozy Shack Contest! Please spread the word if you can! Click HERE for the link. Thanks y’all!

By Sara In AZ

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Don’t y’all just love old neon signs? I truly do think they are such works of art and every time I see one I pray that no one will ever knock it down. There are still some old neon signs left on Main Street in Mesa (also known as Hwy 60), which was a big thru-way back in it’s heyday before we had all these new-fangled freeways and tollways! I thought it would be fun to photograph my favorite neon signs and let y’all share in my kitschy love-fest for these cool old signs.

First up is Watson’s Flowers. I really think this is such a great sign, the colors are spectacular! When Mike’s sister was married she got her flowers from here. I wonder if the sign has been there since 1927? Mmmmm, probably not – huh.

Next up is the Hiway Host sign! I realize this sign does not have as much interest or color as the Watson’s sign, but I thought it was really cool anyway. I love the Starburst on this sign, it really screams 50s!

Here we have the Bill Johnson’s restaurant sign. I love the huge angry looking Longhorn on this sign – “Don’t eat me” he says! Mike told me that his family used to go to this restaurant all the time when he was younger. Maybe we should give it a try sometime?

Lastly, we have the El Capitan sign. I love how this sign has the painted picture of the bomber plane with the Military guy relaxing at a table. So Cool!

Stay tuned everyone, I will have more Neon sign pictures for y’all in my next post on Thursday.

OK! The countdown is on for the Kozy Shack Pudding contest! Voting ends September 15th! Please remember to vote for Eartha Kitsch in the Kozy Shack Contest! Please spread the word if you can! Click HERE for the link. Thanks y’all!

By Sara In AZ

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Who amongst us caught the Mad Men episode “The Rejected”  on August 15th or “The Chrysanthemum and the Sword” on August 22? Well, I did and I was floored by what I saw! My Sunbeam clock! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Here is a picture from “The Chrysanthemum and the Sword” and it shows the clock right between Peggy and Joan.

Picture from video clip on http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/

I bought this clock a few years ago at an Estate sale, and it is the same clock Joan has in her office!!!

Totally bizarre!

Here is a close up of the hands, I think they are so cool.

This clock is really interesting because you can hang it vertically or horizontally. Here are the instructions on the back.

Here is a close up of the Sunbeam label.

And, finally, here is the clock hanging in it’s natural habitat – on the wall above my one armed couch!

Please remember to vote for Eartha Kitsch in the Kozy Shack Contest! Please spread the word if you can, we need to get Eartha’s votes up! Click HERE for the link. Thanks y’all!

By Sara In AZ

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OK, are y’all ready for Part 2 in the block series? Here goes!

Here are 2 different variations on a ‘Diamond’ type block pattern.

Here is a fancy “H” type design. These are actually at my In-Laws house!

When I first saw this one I thought “Diamond” pattern, then I thought no, “Circles”.  No “Diamond”. No “Circles”. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

It’s whatever you want it to be!

Don’t y’all just love this fancy “Circle/Diamond” type pattern!

These “Flower” type blocks are actually on a Church right by my house.

These geometric type blocks are the cats meow! *Meow Meow*

Here are some lovely “Starburst’ blocks! Soooo awesome!

I have to say that these next decorative blocks are my favorite pattern yet!  So kitschy, yet so MCM. I have never seen them on another house around here besides this one, so I wonder if they were custom? Me really loves!

And, lastly, I had to show you this city building in Mesa that is COVERED in decorative block! And when I say covered, I really do mean covered. The block is all over the front and back of the building! So totally cool! You can kind of see some windows behind the block.

Here is a close up of the block.

I know there are a zillion more block patterns out there. When Mike and I go on another block recon mission I will be sure to snap more pics!

Please remember to vote for Eartha Kitsch in the Kozy Shack Contest! Please spread the word if you can, we need to get Eartha’s votes up! Click HERE for the link. Thanks y’all!

By Sara In AZ

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OK, let’s get the bad part out of the way first. I hate to tell y’all about misfortune in the MCM world, and I know there might be a few tears shed by what I am about to tell ya – esp. by Annie B. who has a special fondness for concrete screen block. But just know that I feel as badly as y’all do about this. There is a house in my neighborhood with this AWESOME full wall of decorative concrete screen block surrounding the front door and porch area in the front. Mike and I would always pass by and admire the block because it really added something special to the house, it made it stand out from the others. Recently we saw the house go up for sale and unfortunately a flipper bought it. We fretted that they may knock down the wall because, well because it is different. I watched the house and when the flippers put the house back up for sale the block was still there. Whew…… And then I passed by about 2 weeks later and half the wall had been taken down. I about threw myself on the ground and almost had a tantrum right there! I quick looked in the alley hoping they had dumped them there and then I could haul them all back to my house, but nothing was there. Bummer. They must have taken them all down and brought them to the dump immediately. Double bummer. In my own little dream world I hope the screen block that was taken away is in a much happier place now!

Decorative Screen Block Heaven perhaps???

Here is a before picture of the house.

And here is the dreaded after.

Here is the block from the inside of the half wall. You can see the cool plus sign type design.

Are y’all throwing a tantrum like I did? I know, I know. Sara is here for y’all – now, now it is gonna be OK. Poor little screen block.

OK, glad that is out of the way!  I thought it would be fun to go around Phoenix and try to find as many different types of decorative concrete screen block as we could. We have concrete screen block out the wazoo here, especially in the older areas built in the 1950s, 1960s and into the 1970s! We do LOVE our concrete fencing around here!

Check out this kind of ‘Reverse Plus Sign’ type of block.

And who does not love the wagon wheel? I do!

And here is the double wagon wheel, so it actually looks like a wagon wheel. Weeeeeeeeee!

I like to think of this one as a type of hourglass design with a diamond in the middle.

Here is a cool fancy X type design.

I totally love the circle block!

And do y’all remember this house that was for sale a while back here in AZ? It has the same awesome circle block, as pictured above, fencing in the whole courtyard! Be still my heart!

Here are some more circle blocks  just on a smaller scale. Me loves!

And lastly, this ultra cool block in sort of a  lightning bolt pattern. I love how the design of all the blocks together makes either an X or O pattern depending on how you look at it. Really awesome block!

Stay tuned y’all! More Decorative Concrete Screen Block on Thursday!

Please remember to vote for Eartha Kitsch in the Kozy Shack Contest! Please spread the word if you can, we need to get Eartha’s votes up! Click HERE for the link. Thanks y’all!

By Sara In AZ

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Sooooo, one of my huge obsessions is vintage clothing. I love it. I have loved vintage clothing ever since I was in High School. I remember I would watch all the black & white shows back then and want to dress exactly like the women on them. I really loved Laura Petrie from the Dick Van Dyke Show. And Donna Reed too!  I was always particularly obsessed with the super full skirts with the petticoats – I just am soooo in love with that look. My only problem is finding vintage that fits me! It seems like all the women back then were sooooo tiny! But, I still love it all anyway.

I was out thrifting last week and came across a few interesting items I wanted to share with y’all.

First up is a cute little aqua blue shirt dress/day dress.

I soooo wish I had a mannequin to put this on so I could show you how pretty the full skirt is.

Here is a close up picture of the pleats at the waist.

The dress has a nice detail down the front where the buttons are, and also some cool button closures.

Here is the tag. Looks like it is ‘Avalon Classics’ – I think!

Next up, and gorgeous taffeta flocked glitter skirt. I love this skirt sooooooooo much but it is teeny-tiny. I had to buy it anyway!

I almost hate touching this skirt for fear the glitter will all fall off.

Here is a close up of the flocked glitter areas.

There was no tag in this skirt. It is possible it was homemade, but I did not really think so. Maybe the tag fell off?

Lastly, this super cute maternity top. I am not pregnant, but I just thought this was the most darling top. I cannot remember ever, in all my years of shopping vintage, coming across any maternity  clothes. I wonder if they are hard to find?

The shirt has all these little pleats down the front and back. Here are the pleats down the front.

And here are the pleats down the back. Just darling!

The buttons are so cute, they each have a rhinestone in the middle.

The tag is the best! Stork – A – Lure Maternities! Love it!

So that’ it y’all! What do y’all think? Did I find some treasures?

Please remember to vote for Eartha Kitsch in the Kozy Shack Contest! Please spread the word if you can, we need to get Eartha’s votes up! Click HERE for the link. Thanks y’all!

By Sara In AZ

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Probably by now most of you are aware that Mike and I are searching all over the Phoenix area for our very own 1950s time capsule house. I’m not saying it has to be anywhere near perfect, I’m really not expecting to find perfection at all. Just something that is kinda original, maybe has been maintained a bit, and in our price range. Well, there are slim pickins’ here in Phoenix for a 4 bedroom with an enclosed garage that is kind of time-capsuley. Reader Shen (who has a Phoenix time capsule of her own) has been helping me on my mission, sending me links for time capsule homes when she finds them. But there has been no luck so far. It has probably been about 2 years since we have really, actively been looking – but nothing has jived yet. It is either a wrong location, wrong layout, crappy neighborhood, no garage, to small, flippers have already gotten to it so no time capsule left, etc., etc., etc. I am not giving up hope that something is out there for us. I may have found a *possibility* house, but the price is over $300,000. And, there is no possible way we could afford that. So, if y’all found it in your hearts, could you put a special prayer out into the “retro house” universe that they will lower the price of the *possibility*house! I don’t want to blog about that house yet. But I will let y’all know what happens. So anyway, I came across this house in my never ending search for our time capsule house and it was funny because Shen did too. She sent me the link, but I e-mailed her that I had already seen the house and the pictures look a whole lot better than the actual house. Flippers had gotten to it, you see. I was really excited when I first saw this house come up because I thought this could be the perfect house for us. We made an appointment with my agent to see it they very next day. Just to back-track a bit here is a pic of the house from 2000, before the flippers got to it.

So charming. I would have begged Mike to buy it even though it did not have an enclosed garage!

And here it is now.

I honestly did not think it was the same house at first, but it is. I thought it still could have potential even though it had been changed  — A LOT. Well, the flip was done in a really horrible way that does not convey that well in pictures so I will try to explain as best as I can. 

As you can see from the pictures the carport was obviously enclosed. They actually made 2 bedrooms out of the carport area and bought the 3 car garage out towards the street more. They were using metal exterior doors for interior doors in that area – like for the bedroom doors and stuff. Weird.

The house did still have the original windows and the some of the rooms had floor to ceiling windows, which were awesome, but where you used to be able to open them - they were now painted and screwed shut. Screwed though the aluminum frame – from the inside to the outside. EEPS! So, no window in the house would open.

The house had a lot of slate tile. But this slate was laid by someone who had no clue as to what they were doing. Since slate itself is very un-even you have to be careful when you lay it to keep the floor surface even. This floor had really high and low points, it was really bad. There were huge gaps in the baseboards because the floor was so un-even.

This house had a really nice fireplace – minus the beige/brown paint. I guess someone thought it would be really fun to slather on a coat of really thick beige/brown paint over the original stone. Bummer. Pictures do not convey how really bad this fireplace looked. The paint was really thick and gloppy looking.

The kitchen had all IKEA cabinets. I really like IKEA and think most of the stuff they have is really great, but this kitchen was done in a really poor way. See the upper cabinets, well you had to hold those up with one hand while putting something in with the other hand. They would not stay open on their own. Those were the ONLY upper cabinets. I would probably want to rip those doors right off after one day of trying to unload the dishwasher!

This is the laundry room. I *think* the white cabinets were probably what was in the kitchen originally. The pulls look vintage. See that mess of plugs and wires and power strips off to the left on the counter. They actually had lighting from the kitchen plugged into that. The laundry is on the backside of the kitchen and there was a hole in the wall that a bunch of wires were fed though. You actually had to turn on some of the kitchen lights from the laundry room. Mike was TOTALLY freaking out!!!!! He thought the place was going to burn down right then and there. Mike went running to see if he could arm himself with a Fire Extinguisher!

Since the wiring in the kitchen area was so hodge-podgy we were wondering what there was that we could not see lurking beneath the drywall.

I actually really felt bad for the house itself. I wish I had found this little gem before it was ever touched. This looked like such a great house before, it is really too bad what happened. I hope some MCM lover will buy it up and put it all back together, but I guess it can’t be us!

Please remember to vote for Eartha Kitsch in the Kozy Shack Contest! Click HERE for the link. Thanks y’all!

By RetroRuth

So, we went up and visited my parents in Minocqua, Wisconsin over the Fourth of July weekend.  I must say, they have a sweet little set-up there.  And I thought it was even sweeter after my mom showed me the clubhouse in the little senior park that they live in.  It was completely 1960′s, and not ashamed of itself at all!

My favorite was the library with the two cute gold reading chairs.  Adorable!

I recently received this email from Brenda, who is looking to re-home her 1961 blue bath fixtures! Brenda writes:

I am getting ready to sell the house (it was my parents) and the tub walls and flooring had some issues so we are doing a full remodel in the interest of resale.  I felt especially bad the tub couldn’t be salvaged because it was in pristine condition.

Thanks for the pictures, Brenda.  That is a very interesting floor! Love all the blue shades.

If anyone is interested in Brenda’s Blue Bath, email her at bdean@cox.net.  Thanks!

Pink is the name of this game in this awesome 1967 time capsule for sale right now in Midland.  Pink counter in kitchen, pink bedroom and, oh yeah, TWO pink and blue bathrooms.  I think I feel faint. Sable, are you with me??

Anyway, the house is just under 2000 square feet with four bedrooms and two bathrooms.  They are only asking $109,900 because according to them it needs “TLC”.   Of course, I totally, totally love it.

Wait…let me catch my breath.  Those are terrible pictures of those bathrooms, I am sure they are much better than those pictures.

The only thing is…what is the deal with the oven in the kitchen??? Is it just sitting on the countertop?

Eh, who cares. I’ll take it!