Chinatown Postcards

Postcards from San Francisco's Chinatown, between 1900-1925.

Miscellaneous

Where is this? Who saw it? How come no one took it apart? What else is there? How will I ever find out?

UPDATE: Thanks so much to Stefano, who has let me know that this was taken by Kyle Telechan in  2009. Its title is Abandoned Ferris Wheel. The photographer doesn't remember the exact location of it, other than it's in North Carolina.

FURTHER UPDATE: Digging deeper, I found that it's actually in Mercer County, Virginia, at the "haunted" Lake Shawnee amusement park. There are shit-tons of personal accounts of people who spent time there to wade through at photographer Karen Steuben's website (though very many of the stories are nearly intelligible due to their poor grammar and writing skills.)  There is interesting history of the site as it was a Native American-Colonists' battleground, leading to cursed land, leading to present-day hauntings.

Beach babes are so brave, ca. 1930's

1970 Ferrari 512 S Modulo concept car, by Pininfarina. See how the roof slides forward to open? It must not rain if you plan to drive, or the car will totally get messed up on the inside.

 The media in the 1920's declared Paul Whiteman as the King of Jazz.

Poster remake for Jim Jarmusch's 2003 film, Coffee and Cigarettes. The clever design by Viktor Hertz is a big improvement over the original (in terms of design, anyway.)

Miscellaneous

 Jil Sander handbag, Fall 2011

An antique Masonic charm from Hungary

An ad for Wire, found in an '87 issue of Spin

Passenger Lists for the S.S. De Grasse, CGT French Line, February 1928 and September 1927, both Le Havre to New York.

Amanda DeCadenet is a fashion photographer who became famous for hosting a British TV show as a teenager.

I can't tell if this is a photo that she took or if it's a photo of her. She looks generally like this and she was approximately this age in the 80's, but it also looks close to her photo style.

Whatever it is, I like the shot a quite a bit; it's kind of posh and bratty at the same time. It might be a visualization of my childhood aspirations!

Cards

Back of a vintage playing card, 1950's.

Above and below: These, of course, are not real. They're part of a series called Rock-n-Punk Baseball Stars, from Glyph Jockey. These were my faves. Hilarious.

Mille Bornes is a French-origin card game having to do with a car rally. I had it as a kid; it wasn't this edition though. This one looks to be from the 60's or 70's, and I think mine was from the early 60's. It probably came from my grandparents' house.

Oooh! Just did a quick search and found the exact set I had! Below:

Above and below are cards from a 1940's British game called Vacuation. I haven't been able to locate much concrete information on it.

Vintage Cosmetics Ads

As someone who works in the business of fragrance and beauty products, I find vintage make-up ads incredible. I love the glamorous shapes and styles of the old packaging. Click the images for higher details.

Coty, 1939

Coty, 1938

Charles of the Ritz, 1946

Coty Self Tanner (!?), 1929

Miscellaneous

 A Romanian sign telling us to "work only with goggles"

Old friend, David Bowie

Esther Williams' pool

1960's London

Miscellaneous: Really Random

A still from Eyes of Laura Mars, starring Faye Dunaway and Tommy Lee Jones. As it's about a fashion photographer in the 70's, it's filled with fantastic ensembles.

Packaging for Fogal pantyhose. I like everything here: color palette, typography (the secondary type is not the best though), and the logo for Fogal.

I used my phone to take photo of this ad for Maui and Sons that was in a 1987 issue of Interview magazine. I couldn't steal/buy the magazine, so there was no opportunity for scanning. I wish the photo looked clearer. I optimized it as best I could.

Anyway, I have a special thing for late-80's surfing/skating brands, and I am loving the geometric shapes and neon-pastels they're using.

Memphis-style tea pots

Magic poster for Lee, a phone hypnotist, from 1898. Here is the only info I could find on him.

Miscellaneous

Dazzle Denim Jeans (men's) byA Child of the Jago.

YSL nail polish

George Méliès, 20,000 Lieues Sous les Mers (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), 1906.

(available to view on YouTube).

George Méliès was a fascinating experimental filmmaker, active during the turn of the 20th century. He was referred to as a "Cinemagician" due to his pioneering special effects. Most of his 500+ films were destroyed and recycled during World War 1, as they weren't particularly valued at the time.

Harry Callahan (1912-1999), New York, 1955

Miscellaneous

Robyn Hitchcock. I'm happy to see him wearing those pants.

  

Jane Daly getting into costume for The Mysterious Island, 1929. The film is an adaptation of Jules Verne's L'Île mystérieuse (The Mysterious Island), published in 1874

I like the package design of these snacks. I feel like I would probably be a bit more rigid than this, and put the logo/product name in the same location across packs. The firm who designed it is Pearl Fisher.

Cocktail napkin

Miscellaneous

Kraft Singles! I have a thing for food on the ground. I like the brightly colored foods (especially processed kinds) juxtaposed against gray concrete. Any time I can, I try to take a photo of it.

I was pretty sure that I took this photo, but it looks like my leg in the lower right. How would I be able to take a photo from that angle if my leg is there? I have just totally forgotten the whole scenario. It was a long time ago.

I forgot the source of this.

Probably a stock photo.

Miscellaneous

Yves St. Laurent by Roxanne Lowit, 1983

Artinfo has an interesting and extensive article about this piece that Andy Warhol did for an exhibition celebrating Leo Castelli Gallery's 10-year anniversary in 1967.

They are portraits of the rest of the artists who were also in the exhibition, silk screened on plastic boxes. There were 225 made, all with different configurations of the boxes.

This is from a New York Times article in 1981, around the time of the Clash's residency at Bond's.

Locks in an upstate NY antique shop by Mimi Jung, of the blog Brook&Lyn. I really enjoy her blog and her style.

Another negative-space illustration by Coles Philips, probably adapted to a Life magazine cover.  Such an interesting style, especially for the time period in which they were done (the 1910's).