Vintage Americana...Because I Am
Vintage Americana… It’s who I am! Let me just start off by saying that I grew up in the 1960’s. My Parents were probably 20 years old, that’s really young, when they built their first house. Needless to say I grew up in a home with modern furnishings. I will admit I grew to have a love/hate/hate relationship with avocado green and goldenrod yellow. Which are two colors I still avoid to this day.
However, I am drawn to so many things vintage. I love vintage jewelry and vintage coats. I admire the simple straight lines of vintage furniture. I love 60’s music; the Mamas and Papas, the Beatles, Rolling Stones and The Byrd’s. I admire the playful patterns on Pyrex bowls and the exuberant colors of Fiestaware. My own preference for vintage bowls leans to TexasWare. TexasWare is made of melamine, a type of hard plastic. They are light and durable. They were made in a variety of colors and are highly collectable. Thanks in part to Rachel Ray’s infamous garbage bowl.
I love the combination of chrome and vinyl dinette sets. They remind me of the days when our family would stop in for dinner at the Airline Diner on old Hwy 61 just outside of New Orleans. They also remind me of the many times my Dad would take the family to the Frostop, this is the actual place, for Root beer Floats and Ice Cream Cones. I remember they had car hops and the best root beer floats I have ever tasted. They were served in frosted mugs…and the root beer was creamy and foamy and yummy!
Now I hope I haven’t given you the impression that my house is loaded down with vintage americana like this house or that I drive a Hippie Van. On the contrary, I like including a single piece of vintage americana where you least expect to see it. Which was my intent when I asked Mr. Clause for a 1961 light blue AM/FM Alarm Clock Radio for Christmas. I had my eye on a 1940’s Hippo radio. Very funky and definitely a conversation starter. But the little voice in my head reminded me that I would also need an alarm clock…the hippo is only a radio…which led me to be more practical. If you can call buying a 1960’s vintage AM/FM Alarm Clock Radio practical. Mr. Clause came through with the highly sought after vintage clock radio.
Vintage Americana...Admiral AM/FM Clock Radio
Now I realize that this little beauty isn’t everyone’s taste…but she reminds me of some very sweet memories I have of weekends spent sleeping over at my cousin’s house. We would spend the days riding our bikes around the neighborhood picking thistles…why, I do not know…swinging as high as we could go on the backyard swingset…watching the late late movie and then crawling into bed and talking and laughing while listening to the radio until we fell asleep.
I am enamored with vintage americana because It’s who I am…
Related articles
- Holiday Home Tour Offers up a Vintage Americana Retro Christmas (nolagirlatheart.wordpress.com)
- Americana the Beautiful: Made in the USA Collections (apartmenttherapy.com)
- Vintage Vogue Paris Original Patterns + Fall Sale (thebestinvintage.wordpress.com)
nola girl at heart...lifestyle blog 
We used to have one of those admiral AM/FM thingys. I was like 5 years old and fascinated that there was a clock and radio all in one.
🙂
So far the only problem I am having is the clock is not illuminated…I didn’t realize how often I looked at the clock during the night until now. It’s true you don’t know what you have until it’s gone.
I love vintage anything. Vintage things are so interesting.
When I plugged the radio in for the first time it was tuned to the oldies station…I laughed out loud!
Lovely memories, Jeanne. I have some vintage jewelry . . . but mostly from Scotland. Also loved going to the drive in for Root Beer Floats ~ at A&W or Stewart’s.
Neat look to your blog. 😀
Nancy, It does have a clean, uncluttered look…but I do miss the pups on the header.
Our family loves Root Beer…there is a company in Durango Colorade called ZuberFizz…they make great root beer!
It’s nice that you can surround yourself with items that bring back happy memories!
It is nice to have your happy memories jogged from time to time…
I also love vintage.. it’s my favorite Saturday outing, wandering through the shops to find some small vintage piece that I love… and Yes! I agree about those colors. I prefer vintage white, blue, etc..
I can not count how many days I have spent wandering through antique/junk stores…It is one of my favorite “me” things to do.
omg…we had a Frostop in the East Texas town we lived in. it had the root beer mug on its roof and served up the best hamburgers. I remember my dad taking us there to pick up a bag of hamburgers to bring back home on Saturday or Sunday nights. Perhaps it was a TX, LA franchise. I remember my parents clock-radio woke up the whole house every morning.
I think the burgers were called lot-o-burgers…Now that I know the place is still in business, I plan to stop by on my next trip to NOLA.
I enjoyed this post and so want that radio! We had a similar one in our “girls” bedroom (3 of us girls growing up). I used to annoy my older sisters by keeping the radio on until the wee hours of the morning, tuning in far away American radio stations from such glamorous places as …. Omaha, Nebraska.
Your picture, and this story, took me right back to my childhood bedroom and those moments.
Thank you!
PS – isn’t it telling how many “old” things still work? It’s called QUALITY, baby!
Love the new layout, too
MJ
The radio was completely restored with new tubes and wiring…the sound is crisp and clear. I bet I could tune in one of those far away stations in Omaha, Nebraska on a clear night.
I am glad to hear you like the new layout…I like the clean magazine feel. I think I am living out my secret dream of writing for the local paper.
That radio is lovely and the color is just perfect. 🙂 What a nice gift.
I love vintage stuff that remind me of good times, too. (I still have the telephone we had in the 70s-80s, haha.) I’m into 50s-60s furnishings now even though I wasn’t around during those times. They remind me of the pictures in my mom’s Home Ec books. 🙂
Geez, jeanne. We are soooo simpatico! Except for the sofa and beds, everything we have is vintage–I’m an antique- and thrift store junkie! Can’t help myself. By the way, lovin’ the radio.
Maybe one day if we play our cards right we can go thrift store junkin together…I would love that!
There is something unique and beautiful about vintage things of the once wonderful post. My wife loves vintage jewelries which personally I think are better than the modern ones I see nowadays. I’m glad more and more people appreciate the value of old yet glamorous things. Great post my friend. I was born in the 70’s but I’m a fan of my parents era of the 50’s and 60’s. Happy New Year!
There really is something about the quality of some of the things from our past. I have discovered so many interesting things..I am looking forward to sharing them with everyone. enJOY today!