Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[tonyb]

I'm not so sure that's the guy I want teaching me how to cut lumber with power tools.

Along these lines ...

I've been gradually undoing the previous owner's DIY improvements ever since we moved in. Or, more accurately, I've mostly paid real tradesmen to do it.

It annoys me to see materials wasted by shoddy installation. Or, worse yet, to see perfectly good stuff torn out to make way for inferior "updates."

Being something of a craftsman myself (I make hats), I can attest that most of the processes are simple and straightforward, which is NOT to say they are easy to execute. And it's certainly not to say that a craftman would look back on his early work with pride. A person who has done something a thousand times or more knows where the pitfalls lie. I'm a good enough painter (I've painted since I was old enough to hold a brush), but for most other projects around the house, I hire pros.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The main reason I bought my house, as opposed to any other, was that it was relatively free of ham-fisted "updates," and those that did exist were easily eliminated. The brown paneling on the living room walls was on a burn pile within three hours of my taking posession, the unpleasant plywood "vanity" in the bathroom followed shortly after, and finally I got rid of the '80s white stick-on vinyl floor tiles. Demolition can be very very satisfying.

 

[scottyrocks]

For all the bashing of Home Depot, I have often found it to be a savior.

Hardware stores, regardless of where in my areas I have gone, had terribly inadequate selections of goods. HD has a much better assortment. Maybe the quality isn't what hardware stores used to carry, but if I can find it quickly, and it works, then that enables me to get projects done without running around the island looking for stuff.

In fact, HD sells tools known for quality - Dewalt, Milwaukee, just to name two. If the quality of tools, or parts, in general, has declined over the years, then HD is not the only place they are available. It's the state of things, in general.

 

[Fading Fast]

So many thing we did in our 1928 apartment were simply taking out stuff previous owners had put in or bringing something back to how it was.

One immediate "win -" if you believe good original architects knew what they were doing and that a home / apartment / building is at its best when it reflects its original intent and times - was when we took off (what I believe is called) "crown molding" around the natural (and structurally necessary) exposed ceiling beams in the apartment.

The added on molding gave the ceilings a cheesy look as if you were trying to make a fine and respectable Ford look like a Lincoln by putting Lincoln hubcaps and a Lincoln hood ornament on the Ford. Once gone, the original beams had a simple functionality to their look that felt organic to the rooms.

The other was repainting the original "Sanitary Movement" bathroom back to off white (as it would have been in 1928), thus eliminating the burnt-orange paint that seemed forced and jarring in that room. Now the room's off-white tile and off-white and light-gray floor all look consistent with each other and the overall intent of the architect and the Sanitary Movement.

 

[ChiTownScion]

The main reason I bought my house, as opposed to any other, was that it was relatively free of ham-fisted "updates," and those that did exist were easily eliminated. The brown paneling on the living room walls was on a burn pile within three hours of my taking posession, the unpleasant plywood "vanity" in the bathroom followed shortly after, and finally I got rid of the '80s white stick-on vinyl floor tiles. Demolition can be very very satisfying.

Sounds like my wife in our first home in the city: came home from work less than a week from the closing, and she was pulling out the industrial grade paneling that a previous owner had installed to "kid proof" the place from his eight offspring. "Didn't even let the ink dry on the closing docs, didja?"

We did a lot to restore the 1910's past of that place: restored a fireplace that had been covered for over half a century, stripped decades of cheap wallpaper and restored the original plaster walls, restored the original oak flooring, put in leaded glass in a front window, etc. We got the place for $85,400, and sold it for nearly twice that seven years later. It's been assessed at close to a million recently. Alas, moving to the 'burbs for better schools was what we had to do as parents: had she followed MY plea ("A sailboat. NOT babies!") methinks we'd be making some CPA a lot happier.

And those days of real estate profit of the 90's are long gone. I'm only hoping that we can get what we paid for the current home back when we fully retire and sell.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Quilted dressing-gowns.

They still seem to be in production, but who's buying them?

 

[Fading Fast]

116-Year-Old UES Bakery Glaser’s Will Close This Summer
The owners of Glaser’s Bake Shop want to retire

https://ny.eater.com/2018/3/2/17072872/glasers-bake-shop-closing-nyc

This is one of the Fading Fasts' favorite old-school bakeries in the city - still use original recipes, charge normal-people prices, we know everyone who works there (we are there several times a month) - very, very sad news. And didn't expect it as - as noted in the article - we know they own the building so they were not - as happens so often in this city - pushed out by rising rents.

I have pictures I've taken of it, but couldn't find them quickly, so here are some web ones (the wood cabinetry and tile floor are incredible):

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
Feels like a death in the family, and I've never even been there.

 

[scottyrocks]

I think it is horrific when stores like this close up.

 

[LizzieMaine]

As the kids say, NOT COOL.

 

[Fading Fast]

I think it is horrific when stores like this close up.

As the kids say, NOT COOL.

I know - it's very sad making. Seems the nephew didn't want to take it over.

The real killer is that they own the building - not owning the building is usually the reason these places die.

 

[1mach1]

The old fluorescent bulbs and balasts.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Toys R Us. FAO Schwarz.

 

[1mach1]

Mercury, Plymouth, Oldsmobile, Pontiac.

Always liked those brands, but they had been stagnant and putting out garbage for over 40 years.

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[Zombie_61]

Toys R Us. FAO Schwarz.

I read an article about Toys R Us a couple of days ago that claimed, among other things, that they are planning to call it quits as far as their remaining brick-and-mortar stores are concerned, but that they're also in negotiations to sell the whole company to another corporation who will treat the chain as a subsidiary that will, depending on the timing, either continue to operate, or re-open, as Toys R Us.

On the other hand, the current owners have filed for bankruptcy and part of that is that The Suits want to set aside hundreds of millions of dollars so they can give themselves big fat severance packages instead of using that money to pay off some of the company's outstanding debts, and the people who handle bankruptcies aren't having it. This could take a while.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

They have essentially rant he company into the ground. They shouldn't even get their standard pay.

 

[Cornshucker77]

116-Year-Old UES Bakery Glaser’s Will Close This Summer
The owners of Glaser’s Bake Shop want to retire

https://ny.eater.com/2018/3/2/17072872/glasers-bake-shop-closing-nyc

This is one of the Fading Fasts' favorite old-school bakeries in the city - still use original recipes, charge normal-people prices, we know everyone who works there (we are there several times a month) - very, very sad news. And didn't expect it as - as noted in the article - we know they own the building so they were not - as happens so often in this city - pushed out by rising rents.

I have pictures I've taken of it, but couldn't find them quickly, so here are some web ones (the wood cabinetry and tile floor are incredible): View attachment 109236 View attachment 109237

I hate when a Bakery closes.......anywhere! Damn low carb diets!!!

 

[Cornshucker77]

They have essentially rant he company into the ground. They shouldn't even get their standard pay.

+1!!!!!!

 

[LizzieMaine]

When's the last time you ate limburger cheese?

It was one of the most common comedy tropes of the Era -- Harry Langdon or Snub Pollard or Joe E. Brown or somebody like that is on a crowded trolley or bus or elevator and breaks out a jar of Limburger cheese and everyone reacts with wrinkle-nosed dismay. We've all seen the gag, and understand what it means -- Limburger cheese has a strong and flatulent aroma -- but when's the last time you saw a jar of it in the store, let alone had some on a sandwich? Has it gone the way of canned sardines and round bombs with a fuse? Is it just an old joke no longer having any real-world frame of reference?

 

[3fingers]

When's the last time you ate limburger cheese?

It was one of the most common comedy tropes of the Era -- Harry Langdon or Snub Pollard or Joe E. Brown or somebody like that is on a crowded trolley or bus or elevator and breaks out a jar of Limburger cheese and everyone reacts with wrinkle-nosed dismay. We've all seen the gag, and understand what it means -- Limburger cheese has a strong and flatulent aroma -- but when's the last time you saw a jar of it in the store, let alone had some on a sandwich? Has it gone the way of canned sardines and round bombs with a fuse? Is it just an old joke no longer having any real-world frame of reference?

I may possibly have knowledge of it being applied to the exhaust manifold of a certain tyranical high school teachers exhaust manifold, which was a compromise over the original idea of putting it in the defroster vents.