Home - Mid-Century Style Magazine

From Flame to Flicker: Inside a Working Neon Shop

You walk into a neon shop expecting nostalgia. You leave thinking about chemistry, electricity, municipal zoning codes, and 1940s craftsmanship. That’s what happened when I toured Morry’s Neon, a family business opened in 1985 by Morry and his son Glen, a business built on a neon legacy that began in 1946 when Morry first started bending glass. Established the same year America decided diners, drive-ins, and optimism were perfectly reasonable things to mass-produce, Morry’s has

Route 66 at 100: Why the Centennial Is Igniting a New Era of Retro Road Trips

As the Route 66 Centennial approaches, something interesting is happening. This isn’t just an anniversary tour or a nostalgia lap. It’s a full-scale reawakening of interest in the American road trip—one rooted in history, preservation, and the lived experience of the road itself. The centennial is acting like a spotlight, illuminating not just the highway, but the stories, architecture, roadside culture, and communities that grew up along it. And people are paying attention. Travelers want

Los Angeles Potteries: A Whimsical Walk Through Mid-Century Ceramic Dreams

From our retro coffee table to yours comes a great book – an awesome gift or something to pour over in our own home! Suppose you’ve ever spotted a cookie jar shaped like a hamburger or a canister set with tropical fruit motifs and thought, “I remember that design!” or “I have to have that design!”. In that case, you’ll want to get your hands on Los Angeles Potteries: A Collector’s Journey through Artistry, Craft,

El Cortez Hotel: Where Vintage Vegas Still Lives

Opened in 1941, the El Cortez Hotel & Casino is one of Las Vegas’s oldest operating casinos — and one of its most authentic. In a city obsessed with reinvention, the El Cortez is a rare survivor, maintaining its vintage spirit while still feeling alive and relevant. Preservation That Matters In 2013, the El Cortez earned its place on the National Register of Historic Places, and it’s easy to see why. The building’s Spanish Colonial

Interior Decorating, the retro way

Taken from the “Better Homes and Gardens Decorating Book” Copyright 1956, we thought we’d turn Mid-Century Photo Friday into a learning experience. Each chapter has these wonderful illustrations taking you step by step through the process: Which style are you? As usual you can leave a link to your Mid-Century Photo Friday in the comments.

Mid Century Color – or why 50's TV was black and white

I can hear Pam screaming in argument, but I really think one of the issues with incorporating TRUE 1950’s decorating styles into our lives today is that the colors were SO bright. In their defense, I don’t even think these two rooms are really that bad. The bottom one is supposed to be a little girl’s room and the top one is definitely cheerful. But I do think this amazing leap in color is one

Mid-Century Photo Friday: Cheyenne preservation?

I LOVE the architecture of this motel – it doesn’t get rave reviews on any sites, and so we took a pass on staying there with the kids, but don’t you LOVE the lines? Anyone up for an awesome preservation project?

Best renovation strategies – or how to start a controversy

Based on this article which ran a while ago (although it was published in February so it’s even older than that) – this makes for a fantastic discussion among re-modelers and preservationists. If you read the article in the link, they did research and then tried to make the remodel look progressive. In preservation, we’ve certainly run into a lot of this on the road with mid-century motels where they have to keep it looking