Saturday, September 13, 2014

Vintage Peeps!

Digging through a box of vintage slides is an interesting experience. You can see hundreds and hundreds of family photos, and most are pretty dull, but occasionally one will stand out from the rest. Like today's examples!

I love this one, with two ladies out for an evening of fun (with their husbands, presumably). The woman to the right went the extra mile with her sparkly ensemble and white gloves! But what I really like is that they are at a tiki-themed establishment (A bar? Nightclub? Restaurant?), and are risking having their hands bitten off by that ferocious fellow. I wonder if he was purchased from "Oceanic Arts" in Whittier? The slide was undated, but is probably from the early 60's, and is possibly from Southern California.


Here's another SoCal scene (in fact, all of today's are from California, which was completely unintentional) - this time from 1958. Which is cool, because it shows pool party (very "Mad Men in Los Angeles") with a couple using Hula Hoops. 1958 happens to be the first year that Hula Hoops were a real craze, selling over 25 million hoops in less than four months!


And finally, I like this one with a pretty mom and her adorable daughter, and their boneless cat. It reminds me of photos from the boxes out in my parent's garage, showing a time when houses with big green lawns was almost a "given" for most folks. Pink oleander flowers are a familiar sight in SoCal.


8 comments:

  1. Oh Major-

    Why oh why do I think I've been to the location in the first picture-? The Islander, The Luau, Trader Vics-? Hmmmm. (In the meantime, check out the size of that 'rock' being worn by the purse-holding gal-!

    Thanks, Major.

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  2. In some ways these images look more professional and/or commercial than like personal family photos. Especially the middle one. It reminds me of a magazine ad. Thanks, Major.

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  3. Chuck5:43 AM

    I prefer boneless cat. Much easier to eat, although it lacks a built-in handle.

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  4. Nanook, I probably haven't been to the tiki establishment, but the tiki sure looks familiar, as if I have seen him on one of my old matchbooks or something. But I did a quick look before posting and nothing really looking the time.

    K. Martinez, maybe their more professional "look" is another reason why they stood out among the thousands of less-interesting examples?

    Chuck, in a few million years, I believe that all animals will evolve to include handles. And flavor crystals.

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  5. The coat and the jacket with fur on them in the first photo - it's probably real animal fur, not faux. Very popular back then. My Mother had a coat like the one on the left only tan with brown mink on the collar. I still have it! :) I do wear it occasionally (when the weather is cool enough - ha) and would love to wear it to a Dapper Day event sometime. The woman on the right is the spitting image of my friend's mother during that time period.

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  6. In addition to Trader Vic's, etc., there was also: Kowloon, Wan Q's and Kelbos and undoubtedly others I'm unawre of, or can't remember.

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  7. Looks like wild times. The hoop group looks like it could turn into a "blanket party" ie: guess the clothing item removed whilst covered with a blanket. Oh, behave.

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  8. nice pictures in this set. I love the outerwear on our tiki gals :-)

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