Monthly Archives: April 2012

Mel and I visited Lodi last weekend and found some cool antique shops. We were finding a lot of little things but all of a sudden we came across this…

We already have a barber chair so it just seemed natural to get a 1950′s salon hairdryer. This one was way too cool to pass up. It is in great shape and just needed some cleaning.

The chair is in great shape. The only issue was a small cigarette burn near the ashtray.

The drying unit was made by Bonat

Here is an Ad on the drying unit. It turns on by flipping the visor down and shuts off by flipping it up.

The crazy thing is we purchased this not knowing if it worked or not. After I cleaned it up Mel and I plugged it in and it fired right up.

We love the colors. It is black, grey and pink.

This will be a great place to chill and listen to some tunes or read a book. I love that it even has pointy legs!

The best part about getting this was that all it needed was cleaning, so I didn’t really have to do anything.

Mel and I drove out to beautiful Clovis California this weekend to do some antiquing. We manged to find a couple of cool items. Here is what we stumbled across…

We found this fantastic little art deco clock that still works!

This is an awesome Seeburg satellite speaker. I plan to use this with our Seeburg Library Unit Jukebox. I am unsure if this one works or not but I will have to clean it up and check it out.

Next we managed to find a couple of Gay Fad state glasses. We had not planned on collecting these but I guess here we go! We found 4 states: Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi & Kansas. We already New Mexico. This means we only need to find 45 more! It’s all good, we are up for a challenge!

Mel and I found this clock in one of the antique stores. I don’t know what it is about panthers or leopards, but they are soo cool and are highly desired by collectors.

Mel found some fish as well. I can’t even tell you how many that makes in our bathroom. We had a chance to buy some fish Carlo’s but the seller fizzled out. Those would have been so great to pair with these fish.

Next we came across this really cool art deco picture frame. I will see what 1940′s or 1950′s Hollywood starlet I can put in it….maybe Doris Day or Barbara Stanwyck or Elizabeth Taylor.

We also found this great cast iron RCA Victor record holder display with Nipper! I think I have a Sinatra or Elvis record I can put in it, or maybe Pearl Bailey.

We picked this unusual Art Deco style magazine holder. I haven’t seen one like this yet. I plan on restoring it.

It was nice to find a few things in Clovis. The day was beautiful and we had a fantastic time checking out Clovis.

Mel and I had a fantastic weekend picking. I started early by driving out to the bay area on Friday. If anyone else was on the road in the bay area I am sure you felt it was more like a parking lot! Anyways, my first stop was to see our friend Vince to pick up a fantastic Heywood Wakefield coffee table, model number M905G.

It needs to be refinished but I love it!

It has this fantastic long drawer that pulls out. It has that all important makers mark.

After I loaded this into my Mini I shot over to pick up another set of Carlo’s that our friend Stephen had. Stephen was the one who sold us the bullfighter Carlos.

I know what you are saying, these are not angular frames! But, these still have the Art Metalcraft Studios decals on the back so we couldn't pass them up.

After the trip to the bay I wasn’t too anxious to get back in the car but that is what separates the true hunters from the rest. Mel and I hit all of our usual haunts and found soo many great things! Here is our haul!

Let me show you what were fortunate to find...

The first thing we did on Saturday was shoot on down to Modesto to pick up these two Heywood Wakefield coffee tables model number M794G. We got them for next to nothing but they need some work. The owner seemed really proud that he had painted one of them blue. Then he said he didn’t get a chance to paint the other one red……..WHAT?! I always cringe when I see that someone has painted something as awesome as HW.

They need a lot of work but that's what I am here for.

This is an item I have wanted for the diner for some time. It is a 1950's "Wise Owl Quizette" IQ tester and napkin holder. It needs some cleaning up and I need to see if I can find replacement IQ cards.

This is a fantastic WWII Bakelite record holder. Now that is cool just by its self but when you look closer you see these really cool military images from WWII, check it out!

Check out the soldiers and the vehicles! Sweet!

Here are battleships on the high seas.

Aircraft flying through the blue yonder!

This was the start of the Bakelite bonanza. We came across a few more really cool items, check em’ out:

I saw this on Craigslist and picked it up while we were out. This is a Zenith H664 record player and radio. It is a fantastic example of art deco styling, form meets function. I love it.

Next, Mel found this Magi-Call in a local antique store. I want to find another one so I can hook it up to the Zenith for a surround sound effect. I have to have Luis from Stereoadvisor work his magic.

We then came across this great radio bar. Mel and I saw this at Second Sunday a while back but never was able to speak to the owner. This was known as a Porto Baradio PB-520, The Porto Baradio was released in 1948. It was manufactured by the Stewart Warner company but sold by Porto Products of Chicago. The chassis number for the radio inside is 9008-B.
This is rare to find in ivory (I'm guessing plaskon).
The front, ivory dial facade is always warped in the corners.
There was a "companion" radio to this one called the Smokerette. It had spaces for pipes, a place to store tobacco and an ashtray. (Model SR-600). This unit did not come with the glassware but I will see if I can locate it somewhere.

Mel loved this mainly because the starbursts in the teal bottom section and I thought it would look great in the diner.

Haeger large gazelle figure. This may look very art deco but they were actually made in the 1990's. I just couldn't pass up the design of it. It really does compliment the other pieces in our room.

This is a Haeger wolf that we liked as well.

These are by far my favorite find. I have always been a fan of the golden era of Hollywood. I watch soo much TCM and have such an appreciation for the films they show. Anyways, these are made by Clay Art of San Francisco. I can not find any real information on them and I don't even know how many stars they produced. I am still tracking down Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, and any others they may have made.

This is Clark Gable of course. It appears to be from "Gone With The Wind".

Here is Marlon Brando from "The Wild One".

Here is my favorite, John Wayne. I think it looks like him when he played in "The Searchers". These faces are just fantastic!

Now comes the hard part. I have to clean a lot of the pieces and get them serviced if they have electronics. These will look great once they are positioned in our bedroom. It was nice to have a lot of good finds because there has been a dry spell lately.

These informational clips always make me want to travel!