Thursday, September 26, 2013

Trailer Trad Collecting: A Coke and a Smile

A gentleman at the flea market brought a very nice collection of Coke trays. These are not reproductions but the original lithographed trays produced by Coke in the 1930s through the 1960s. 



Thursday, September 19, 2013

Trailer Trad Time Travel: The Early 1970s Mostly Sucked

I don't REALLY remember the early 1970s as portrayed in these photos do I? Yeah, I pretty much do.
Is it just me or did the early 1970s just seem dirty. Litter was everywhere. People looked sloppy and beaten down. Gas lines. Greasy hair. Polyester. Crappy TV on three fuzzy channels and crappier music on fuzzy Top 40 FM radio stations. Yuck.

 Photo credit: National Archives "Documerica Project"

Friday, September 13, 2013

Trailer Trad North Carolina: An Eastern North Carolina BBQ Institution

Wilbers Barbecue in Goldsboro is one of a half dozen barbecue pillars in North Carolina, especially eastern north Carolina barbecue. Located about half way between Raleigh and my daughter's camp, we make a point to stop there on the way home. Wilber's doesn't go overboard with cooking methods, sauces, atmosphere, etc. It just makes a nice pulled pork sandwich that is really representative of the style. Make no mistake, it is not as good as Allen & Son in Chapel Hill (not really Chapel Hill-more like less chic Hillsborough) but, then again, none is. Allen & Son really should be its own unique category separate from Lexington Style (Lexington Barbecue and Barbecue Center in Lexington) west of the Triangle and Wilber's, Kings, etc. in the east. 
Wilber's is one of three pork-related tourist attractions in that area of the state. Another is the Nahunta Pork Center. Wilber's has a bright red bench out front that proudly proclaims "America's Largest Pork display."Walmart might disagree when they assert that. I only mean that Walmart has really, really large refrigerated cases filled with pork products. - Actually, I've never seen them but I assume that they do.
This is what barbecue is all about. Located behind the restaurant, the shockingly crude fire pit and smoke house combo looks like they were constructed by two drunk brick masons while camping one weekend in 1954. Awesome. This may be some of the crudest, yet most profitable fixed capital stock known to modern, Western man.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Trailer Trad Attire: Classic German Engineering

I picked up a great vintage wool toggle coat by German company Loden Frey and thought that I'd check out Loden Frey's web site. A lot of their stuff is cool but I especially approve of their festive dirndyl collection. -Do you think dirndyls will find their way into the women's sections of department stores in Raleigh this Fall? Hope so.