Retro Roadtrip: The Blue Swallow, Tucumcari, NM
We have had the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, NM in our Motel Directory for a long time.It’s as much of an icon along Route 66 as the WigWam Motels. Owner Lillian Redman, a legend along Route 66 ran the motel from 1958 to 1997. By a stroke of luck, owners over the years after […]
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 […]
Mid Century Time Capsule in the Oklahoma Panhandle
Traveling over the holidays, we made a point to stop at the Cimarron Heritage Center Museum & Information Center in Boise City, Oklahoma.Why you may ask? The primary draw at the time was that it houses the largest collection of dust bowl memorabilia in the United States. With photographs and even some of the amazing […]
Save the Houston Astrodome
The Houston Astrodome was designed by architects Hermon Lloyd & W.B. Morgan, and Wilson, Morris, Crain and Anderson. The world’s first indoor, air conditioned stadium. The home of Astroturf. An architecture icon known as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” On Opening Day, April 9, 1965, a sold-out crowd of 47,879 watched an exhibition game […]
Underground house for sale – another cold war bunker, but with style!
If you’re looking for another unique cold war home, you can’t get any better than this. Girard “Jerry” B. Henderson built a 6,000 square foot luxurious underground home near the Alexander Dawson (named after his father Alexander Dawson Henderson, along with the Alexander Dawson schools) buildings in Las Vegas where he lived . Henderson, made […]
Preserving the iconic gas station in your area
There is almost nothing as iconic as the Mid-Century Gas station. Once placed obviously along the road to attract weary travelers and to feed the gas to move along the road, now quite a few of the most wonderful architecturally stand empty and deserted. This particular gas station in my area got me thinking about […]
Dome Theaters in San Jose in danger!
In danger of demolition are the Winchester Theaters, a group of dome-shaped movie theaters which opened nearly 50 years ago showing It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World to herald both the space age and new cinema. The buildings—originally called the Century Theaters—were the first theaters of their kind. Designed by San Francisco architect Vincent Raney […]
Pasadena Heritage presents Pasadena 1940 Forward
This spring, Pasadena Heritage will offer unique programs in a Getty-initiated celebration of the city’s modern architectural heritage through exhibitions and programs at cultural institutions in and around L.A. A leading historic preservation organization founded in 1977, Pasadena Heritage will host a three-part lecture and panel discussion on May 16 and an architectural tour of […]
'30's House post – My friends are doing "Trading Spaces"
So, for the next few days I’m going to digress from my love of 1950’s vintage homes because my two friends in the neighborhood who own 1930’s homes are both taping this week for an episode of “Trading Spaces”! What’s particularly amusing about this, is that neither house (or owner) is particularly “design challenged”….I think […]