Thursday, September 30, 2010

That Gorgeous Golden Gate

Check this out: how fabulous would it be to have a view like the one visible from the window shown in this room??

I cannot even begin to imagine! (And I love the blue and green in that living room, by the way.)
Below, a pretty picture of the Golden Gate Bridge from Via Magazine, 2006:

And this lovely shot below is from Eddie Ross (Click on his name to go check out his fabulous blog!):

The inspiration to do this post came from these various pictures that I discovered in my vintage magazines. The Golden Gate as a background for fashion shoots. Love them:

Oh - and, as it so happens, I have my own (though not terribly fashionable!) shot - taken by an old boyfriend in March of 1981!
You've just gotta love that gorgeous Golden Gate in the background.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Once Upon a Time in Placerville #4: A. S. Fox House, El Dorado County Free Library

Good morning. This is Tina, and I am going to share some memories of one of my favorite places in Placerville, California, the El Dorado County Free Library, which was located in the now lost A. S. Fox House. The Fox house was located on Sacramento Street, in the general location where the Placerville Post Office now stands. I haven't found any information on A. S. Fox, but there was a Fox Brothers Pharmacy in business in Placerville beginning in 1894, so possibly the home belonged to one of the owners.

The home became a library in 1947, and was torn down in the mid-sixties when the federal government purchased the home. Inside the home the rooms became the library, the kitchen was the area where you checked your books out, the front right side was the periodical room, the front left the children's area, the middle left was the "teen" section, and most other books were in the back in the bedroom area.

I learned to read at a very young age, and remember being in kindergarten when I took a tap dancing class. We were learning to tap to "Baby Elephant Walk", and I had a record which I could take home to practice. It was a standard vinyl record, and on the label it said "Unbreakable". I thought that was really cool. So I put it on the couch and aimed my bum at it and sat down on it hard. Guess what? It wasn't unbreakable. I am unclear in my memory what happened with the tap lessons, but I don't know how to tap... however, I still love reading.

Over a year later, after we moved to Placerville, my mom took me to summer reading group at the El Dorado County Free Library in Placerville. What a wonderful place. The group had a little poster board list of our names and when we read a book we got a star. The reading area was in what must have been the parlor or living room, with a nice fireplace and mantel, and creaky wood floors. I remember it being fairly cool and slightly dark. I don't remember the teacher, it could have been the librarian Edith Gantt. I went to the summer program for several summers, and read many great children's books. I remember meeting a little girl named Marcheta in my group, later we went to all four years of high school together.

Much later, in my high school years, I worked at the library. I remember proudly filing my first tax return (with the help of my father) and receiving a check for over $4. I purchased a record album with the money. (What goes around comes around... remember the elephant walk?)

After school I would walk down into town and wait in my dad's 1950 Ford pickup parked in the alley between the hotel and Dillinger's Furniture (where he worked) until it was time to start work at the library, which was just a few steps up the street. Once at work I shelved books, mostly in the back rooms, former bedrooms, where it was cool and again slightly dark. Sometimes I would check out my favorites and take them home with me. It was also my job to repair the books, loose bindings, covers, carefully gluing. When I was finished with my workday I would walk back to the alley and meet my dad around 6 p.m. and he would take me home. The librarian at the time I worked in the library was Ms. Vera Fitch. I also worked with a gentleman I only remember as Kent.
One last picture of the A. S. Fox House. Notice the two palm trees in the front, and the rock wall which was topped with many crystal filled quartz rocks which may have been unearthed when the home was built.
We have a lovely library now, built to hold books, and opened in 1978 on a hillside above the fairgrounds. An old childhood friend has been a librarian there for about 30 years. I am sure there are a lot of former children here in Placerville who reminisce about that building, but I am sticking with my fond memories of a lovely old home which ended its days as a library, and provided me with hours of reading enjoyment and one of my first jobs as well.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

And Still More Thrift Finds

We had an orange enameled cast iron skillet either very similar to or the same as (I'm not sure) this one when we were growing up. I've always liked that old skillet, and I always hoped that maybe I would find one some day.
Well, look here! I DID find one!

And it even came with the lid! What you see underneath it is part of a big roll of wallpaper I got at the same thrift store:

The same week, I found a Vera napkin, a nice copy of Anne Of Green Gables (I didn't have one), and some candle holders I am planning to paint. Oh - and another pillar candle holder for my growing collection!

I also got a revolving spice rack that I think I'll use for sprinkles or glitter, a nice glass canister from a friend's yard sale, lovely little saucer for a dime, and the little chef spoon rest was in the free box at the Humane Society thrift store:

This is the type of find that I usually only see at antiques shops - a gorgeous deco style powder jar. Love it!

The recipe box on the left was actually from one of our favorite eBay sellers in Placerville - she will deliver our items to Lori at the yogurt shop so we can save the shipping charges (thanks, Jane!), the one on the right was 75c at a thrift store, and I got some free Martha Stewart Living and Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion magazines; the little rosebud and corn salt shakers were in the free box, also:

I found a yellow utility cart - the kind with an electrical outlet - at a yard sale; a nice, useful item:

All of the trinkets, pins and charms shown in the next three photos were in a big bag of miscellaneous stuff. There were a lot more items in the bag than what you see here, including some buttons:

Western-themed stuff:
The little copper dachsund pin is so cute!

Wanna hear the best part? That whole bag of stuff was in the free box, also!
I surely do LOVE the free box!

Monday, September 27, 2010

And More From Peg Bracken

I did a post a while back about some of the books authored by the late, great Peg Bracken. I mentioned in that post that I hoped to find more of her books. Well, guess what??
My search has been successful, as you can plainly see:
You can see at the top of this paperback copy of "The I Hate To Cook Book", below, that it is the "Birds Eye Edition":
Which, apparently, meant that purchasing it included this little booklet:
Which included Menus......
......and recipes incorporating frozen foods from Birds Eye:
Peg Bracken became a spokeswoman for Birds Eye, doing more than eighteen commercials for them.
I was not aware that this year marked the 50th anniversary of her first book. I read the foreword written by her daughter Jo Bracken for the 50th Anniversary Edition on Amazon.com. It actually brought tears to my eyes.
I found another copy of the appendix, as well - see the differences between the two:

Great books, all.
Thank you, Peg.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

A Few Vintage Kitchens

I adore these first two vintage kitchens. I would dearly love to have a linoleum floor, and a table in the middle of the room to work on and eat at. These are both from 1929, an advertisement for GE:
And one for Congoleum:

A Youngstown kitchen from 1949:

And one from a 1954 Family Circle Magazine:

I still hope that some day we can get some much-needed work done on our 1940's kitchen!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Then and Now #70 Rit Dye

It's all about Rit Dye in today's "Then and Now" post.
First up is this ad from 1959 "Just push the button on your washer"

From 1962 "Give your dining area new life":
And '62 again- for your little girl's room this time:

1965 - You can dye just about anything, I guess:

Breakthrough! Rit Liquid was new in 1966:

Design a groovy vest (1969)

Now, here we go - tie dye it! 1970:

Still tie-dyeing in 1971:
I must admit, I DO love this lady's wall hanging, from 1973. Pretty cool:
My "Now"? Well, this dye is sitting waiting for me to use it:

My husband won't let me use the washer to do it....

Friday, September 24, 2010

Bisquick Party

"Bisquick's right for so many things!", states this advertisement from 1954:
When I found this ad in a 1958 magazine, I thought "Hey! I have that!"
My friend Robbi had given me this little brochure a few years ago:
The back cover:
Table Of Contents page:
And more photos of Bisquick delights:

Let's have ourselves a "Bisquick Party" soon, shall we?

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Bright And Colorful 70's Bedrooms Featuring Drexel Furnishings

From Seventeen Magazine, these bedrooms I am sharing today all feature Drexel Plus One furnishings:

I must say that I would have thought it was pretty darned cool back then to have had this furniture in my room - although Stanley's Ole set will always remain my first and truest love:

And it isn't only this bright and colorful furniture that I am loving - it's all of the accessories! I look at every single detail, and I see all KINDS of things I would love to own, even today!
Pillows, clocks, lamps, rugs wall decor - I spy some pretty great things in these layouts:

Inside yet another issue of Seventeen, I found a three page advertisement for the same furniture. It began with this page- sorry I couldn't fit the entire thing on my scanner:
I think they may have been wiser to have shown the actual grooviness of the furniture itself in full color, rather than these artisitic renderings:

Still pretty cool, though:
Hope you enjoyed seeing it!