Souvenir of Cheyenne: 1950s Vintage Yellowstone Tablecloth

If you are of a certain age, these Mid-Century graphics still resonate with you. Especially when it comes with memories of long road trips in the days of "roll your window down" if you were suffocating in a 1965 Pontiac Grand Prix rolling through the Southwest looking for vacation thrills in the late 60s.

 

Trailer Trad Grooming: Pinaud Clubman Au De Quinine Hair Tonic

I was recently in the barber supply isle shopping for Clubman talcum powder (good stuff) when I decided to sample some of the other Pinaud Clubman items sold there. Pinaud Clubman Au De Quinine Hair Tonic looked interesting and kind of mysterious. Why was it the color of port sherry? Does it have quinine in it? If it does, will it make you smell like tonic water? If so, can you make G n' Ts with it? Why does it have inscribed across the label "for professional use only?" Does that mean that I should rubber gloves when handling it?

I took a flyer on it and bought it thinking that it was cologne. It turns out that it is hair tonic. -I'm using hair tonic! Fogey alert. However, I will continue to use it because I love the way that it smells. Kind of peppery like sandlewood with perhaps a tiny bit of tobacco scent. In fact, I like it much better than my everyday aftershave Royall Spyce. I've found that none of the Pinaud Clubman colognes have that soapy, chemical smell that some fairly pricey ones have. -Maybe Clubman is so cheap that they can't afford to put whatever that chemical is into what they produce!

Where can you buy Pinaud Clubman Au De Quinine Hair Tonic ? How about that cool place that I profiled previously? Fore Club Supply has a good price on it. By the way, they've begun stocking cans of Clubman shave creme that look interesting...

 

Recent Estate Sale Finds: Badass Kitchen Equipment

The most recent estate sale that I attended yielded some great finds. It was the estate of a family very prominent in retail furniture sales in Raleigh way back in the 1940s and 1950s. In an excellent neighborhood just two houses from 'CCC' (Carolina Country Club, founded 1910), the house was very nice but relatively modest by modern 'prominent family' standards. This is usually the case. It's funny how houses that were built for these types of families in the 1950s through the 1970s seemed so impressive at the time but would be swallowed up by recent decades' McMansions. In that sense, I guess the McMansion housing boom has more in common with the Early 20th Century which saw really large houses built with luxury details ranging from the tons of finely carved hardwood details in Victorian mansions to cutting-edge Mission style homes to charming, well-crafted Sears cottages for the upper middle classes. I suppose that the Great Depression and WWII dampened enthusiasm for these grandiose homes for many decades. -Until people had forgotten about housing booms and busts that saw many of those turn-of-the-century gorgeous mansions split up into tenement housing during the Depression. -Could that happen again, I wonder?

Anyway, check out this tank of a mixer. Please don't confuse this Kitchen Aid mixer with what you can get from William Sonoma or other retailers. This is a 1960s model back when they were made by industrial food prep manufacturer Hobart. This was manufactured in Troy, Ohio and its lines resemble a Boeing B-29 Super-fortress. All business. 

Here's a tip. Really, really great design just seems to photograph well. Take a look at these vintage 1960s Gerber kitchen knives. No special lighting or camera and it looks like BBDO  spent 50k on the photo shoot. 

Oh, I just picked a nice little Danish pan in brown. It's much cooler than it photographs. Tip: If you want Le Creuset cookware but can't afford it, keep on the lookout for less well-known ceramic cast iron beauties like vintage Dansk or Copco from Denmark. =Oh my god, I just found out that Crate and Barrel has reintroduced the line that I have been collecting. Oh well.

 

Happy Fathers Day 2013!

Happy Fathers Day 2013!

I thought that I'd repost a birthday greeting and share my Fathers Day gift that I received early. My daughter has had to adjust to highschool and, as is common for kids that age, doesn't seem to have much time for Dad during her busy days. However, she needed a ride to meet a friend at the movies and wanted me to leave work in the middle of day to take her. I agreed (of course). The movie was The Great Gatsby which she had already seen. However, she really wanted to see it with her friend Lauren who she had walked around downtown shopping with the day earlier. As I pulled up to the North Hills Regency theater, I notice a young lady wearing shades and holding a cane outside of  the theater. It was Lauren. -Happy Father's Day to me!

Ouch, I'm shedding a tear because I just hit my thumb with a hammer. How I did that without holding a hammer, I'll never know.


From April 2011,

I thought that I'd make a change and do something unexpected. Instead of talking about some dusty antique that I'd found or great prep clothing that I'd scored, I would briefly brag on my daughter. She's very special and her Mom and I wish her all of the happiness that life can provide.

She's not so little anymore and probably will roll her eyes at this. After which, she will resume playing Nancy Drew video games or watching the Japanese anime cartoons that she is so fond of.

The Big Yard Sale

I finally had the BIG MOVING Sale in an effort to empty out the house pending its sale. Emptying the house of all of my junk was a titanic job but I got it done. -Even though I got rid of most of the stuff, I still have some saved for the new pied-à-terre, don't worry.

Trailer Trad-gedy: 1960's Guy Humor Novelty Signs

People who read the Trailer Trad blog comments that I receive may think that urbane, creative and very funny humor comes naturally to guys . Au contraire. Guys have often needed the help of visual aids for laughs. For example, recently I acquired a group of novelty signs from the 1960s or 1970s. These were sold at dime stores or given away at places like South of the Border as carnival prizes. Guys could get a few of these, tack them up in the basement rumpus room (man cave) over the homemade bar next to a few Billy Beer cans and, VOILA, a fully decorated room for a few dollars.