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

Trading Spaces: Klare's room….the pictures…..

So, I’m kind of waiting to hear if Trading Spaces will let me dish the “behind the scenes story” and all the really cool dirt about what went on! Summary…the girls, had a blast, said they’d do it again and were very very tired. There were a couple of fights and a couple of “staging” dramas….but you’ll have to check back to see if I’m allowed to talk about any of that! 🙂 So, here’s

Your guide to Retro shopping

Want the ambiance of a classical mid-century style while at home? Here are a few places that might help your redesign. Vintage Swank is located in the heart of Historic Fort Royal, Virginia –an area located along the Route 66, just southwest of D.C. This unique boutique stocks vintage furniture, lighting, and telephones. What more? They even specialize in vintage telephone restoration. Vintage Swank’s 5,000+ square-foot showroom include over 15,000 unique original vintage and antique

Fabulous 50's Motel preservation opportunity

A couple of months ago, my husband and I took our kids (and my in-laws) to New Mexico. In travelling we realized how many awesome 50’s motels are out there that are dated, but with a little love (and a website to get travellers there) would be great stops for many money-saving families out there! So, last week we just took a trip and went out of our way to stay at 50’s motels. The

Long Lost John Lautner Home

With this post, we welcome Marni Epstein, who’s going to be a fabulous addition to our team. Check out her biography and website! Editor Modern Architect John Lautner, who studied under the tutelage of Frank Lloyd Wright, is primarily known for his residential design. As a mid-century architect, his homes had a distinctly warmer quality than more typical austere designs of the time. That is owed much to Lautner’s organic-modern approach in which he embraced