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  1. tonyb

    Vintage Things That Will NOT Disappear In Your Lifetime

    But think of all the fun you’ll have learning!
  2. tonyb

    So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

    I’m not entirely pessimistic re: the future of journalism. Ad revenue is moving online at an increasing clip, or so it appears, judging from the grumbling about it. (Remember when TV was novel and the grownups griped about how they liked it except for all those damned commercials?) So now that...
  3. tonyb

    Old gas stations

    For as long as I’ve been aware of “Gas,” the Hopper painting we’re pondering here, I’ve seen a gas station operator taking the pump readings at the end of the workday. The lighting says dusk to me. But then, maybe he’s counting the quart cans of oil.
  4. tonyb

    Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

    Now we know what to give our coworker under that draw-a-name holiday gift exchange (which is entirely voluntary, of course, just like that heat we don’t feel to contribute to United Way).
  5. tonyb

    Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

    ^^^^ Soap on a rope? That made a brief appearance in my world I wanna say 53 years ago or so. It was the sort of thing you’d get in a gift box, along with the cologne or aftershave or whatever. Misty-eyed nostalgic that I am notwithstanding, fond memories of holiday seasons from my early years...
  7. tonyb

    You know you are getting old when:

    ^^^^^ Bullet bras were in fashion when I was a quite young lad. I was left with a stunningly distorted perspective on such matters.
  8. tonyb

    When understanding a design brings a new appreciation

    ^^^^^ I use the “windmill palm test” to gauge the suitability of things such as California coolers. If a windmill palm will survive the winters, it’ll probably work there. I’ve seen windmill palms in Vancouver, BC. But I doubt I’d see one more than 50 miles or so inland.
  9. tonyb

    When understanding a design brings a new appreciation

    As to West Coast house features, and in keeping with the theme of this thread, how about California coolers? I’ve seen them in old houses as far north as Seattle. What they are is a shelved compartment in a kitchen wall for keeping vegetables relatively cool for a few days. A cabinet door in...
  10. tonyb

    When understanding a design brings a new appreciation

    How common is that pea gravel in the walls thing? Was it typically done when the structures were built? Or?
  11. tonyb

    When understanding a design brings a new appreciation

    ^^^^ If I’m remembering correctly, the wall restoration fellow I alluded to above had a tool that perforated gypsum board to give the plaster coat something to bite into. I recall doing something similar to the drywall pieces that other friend and I used to fill the larger sections of missing...
  13. tonyb

    Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

    Wonder how well the old-skool garbage can “reads” to the kids, who may have never seen one anywhere but on Sesame Street.
  14. tonyb

    Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

    ^^^^ Nice shot
  15. tonyb

    Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

    Galvanized steel garbage cans. They haven’t disappeared entirely, but for most residential uses they’ve been supplanted by wheeled plastic bins with attached lids. I can see how steel is superior for tossing stuff that might spontaneously combust, but really, the new plastic jobs are superior...
  16. tonyb

    When understanding a design brings a new appreciation

    ^^^^ We used modern materials (mesh tape, joint compound, even scraps of drywall to fill where chunks of plaster were missing and the lath clearly showed) and managed to blend it all in well enough. I recall actually widening some of the cracks to get to solidly affixed plaster before filling...
  17. tonyb

    When understanding a design brings a new appreciation

    Repaired plaster walls and ceilings often have a desirable sort of character gypsum board never will. Thirty-plus years ago I helped a friend spiff up an old Craftsman that was decidedly down at the heel when he found it. We refinished the oak floors, had the five-panel interior doors dipped to...
  19. tonyb

    When understanding a design brings a new appreciation

    ^^^^ That’s just terrible.
  20. tonyb

    My Vintage Radio Collection

    Can any of you much better versed guys and/or gals tell me when it was made?
  21. tonyb

    My Vintage Radio Collection

    Just added this Stewart-Warner 01-6K1 to my modest collection. It works, and it’s in a better-than-average cosmetic condition. It’s a stylish deco/streamline moderne cabinet, which is why I bought it. Pretty veneer, nice copper inlay.
  22. tonyb

    When understanding a design brings a new appreciation

    ^^^^ My late brother Mike’s house, built 1908, has picture rails, and lath-and-plaster walls. He and his wife (also deceased) had pictures on the walls, not suspended on wires from the rails. Not sure how they did it, although I have taken custody of some of those framed pictures, which now hang...
  23. tonyb

    When understanding a design brings a new appreciation

    Chair rails, plate rails, picture rails. It was well into my adulthood when I learned that those moldings were not purely decorative. But then, no one I knew put plates on plate rails or hung pictures from wires hooked onto picture rails.

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