DC Big Flea Market: September 18-19

I've posted about this show once before, but haven't been back in months. Sometimes it's good to take a little break; especially since it's usually the same dealers hawking the same old tired junk. This weekend's show was limited to the one convention hall, but was packed to the rafters with people.

If you are going with the intent to buy, I have found that it is always good to have a plan. For example, today I knew I was going to be looking for vintage deskware for the new office. This greatly limited impulse spending.

Now, on to the goods...

This dealer had a pretty good selection of vintage movie posters.

This guy's booth always draws a crowd. Now you know why.

Dollhouse? Interesting.

These types of kits were popular throughout the 1960s. This particular one must have been a store display piece, and featured a real working engine and drifeshaft.

A small but amazing selection of mid-mod furniture and accessories.

Vintage military gear is always popular.

The formica dining table was unique in that the leaf was included. That's pretty rare.

What a great sign. Unfortunately the mercury was long gone.

"I Pity the Fool!"

Vintage Ray-Ban aviators and a can of Old Milwaukee suds? Sounds about right to me.

I've always been a Pac-Man junky, and I had that exact same lunchbox when I was a kid. Not a bad buy at $65 (I didn't get it) considering the thermos was included.

The Jimmy Carter Presidential Campaign coloring books were a warehouse find. Absolutely hilarious.

I'll be kicking myself later for not purchashing that vintage Georgetown pennant. They are impossible to find here in the DC area.

Some pretty decent furniture, but those two matching chairs in the front were going for $650. Rip. Off.


So what the hell did I buy? I actually made out pretty well. See for yourself:

I popped immediately on this vintage plant stand. I've wanted one for awhile, and at only $40 it was way cheaper than what I've been able to find on eBay. The fiberglass is a little scuffed and scratched, but I have a few project ideas in mind.

I saw this desk fan and knew that I wanted it for the office. It was only $18 and needs a little cleaning up, but it works great. I date it back to the 1940s.

Shusett Demo

I have been tracking this story about an endangered John Lautner designed home out in Bev Hills for a couple of weeks now. Having been away on vacation all of last week I returned on Friday to some bad news.

In the battle of architectural preservation vs. practicality the homeowners have come out on top. The demolition permits were approved and the house was demolished on September 2nd. What a damn shame.

Here's the official press release:

Beverly Hills celebrates 9.02.10 — and allows demolition of significant Lautner house

Press release from the John Lautner Foundation:

The same day that the city of Beverly Hills begins celebrating its world-famous zip code – 90210 – demolition begins on a significant John Lautner house: the 1951 Shusett residence just above Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills 90210. Months of discussions between The John Lautner Foundation, preservationist Michael LaFetra, a possible buyer, and the owners of the Shusett house failed.

John Lautner is considered internationally to be one of America’s most important architects of the 20th century. He was a student of Frank Lloyd Wright (who referred to him as the ‘second-best architect in the world’) and his work foreshadowed the expressionism of architects like Frank Gehry (who referred to Lautner as ‘a God’).

After a series of interesting, but small houses built in the 1940s, the Shusett house, where the public spaces are arranged in a crescent around an enormous, now 130 year old Canary Pine, is one of the first two major commissions in Lautner’s career (the second is the Harvey House in the Hollywood Hills). Both houses, over the course of several decades, underwent significant alterations and suffered neglect. The Harvey House was in extremely poor condition when it was purchased by the current owners, actress Kelly Lynch and writer Mitch Glazer, who rescued the house by undertaking an exemplary restoration.

The John Lautner Foundation was informed last April that a demolition permit for the Shusett house was being processed by the city of Beverly Hills. Since then, the Los Angeles Conservancy and The John Lautner Foundation have been in contact with the owners of the Shusett house, Mr. and Mrs. Enrique and Katalin Mannheim, who owned the house for 23 years, to discuss the possibilities of restoring or selling the house. Mr. LaFetra, the interested buyer, was in direct contact with the Mannheims. Once the demolition permit was issued last Friday, the city of Beverly Hills facilitated a meeting at the house between the owners and The John Lautner Foundation to discuss moving the house. Mr. LaFetra, again, was in direct negotiations with the Mannheims, but sadly, this last minute effort did not produce a viable agreement.

The city of Beverly Hills has no historic preservation laws (such as the Mills Act, which allows owners of historic and designated properties to receive tax credits for restoration expenses), or landmark ordinances which, in cases like this, would allow the necessary time to explore alternatives to demolition.

For questions please contact:
Frank Escher (author and former Administrator of the John Lautner Archive): (323) 665 9100
Christopher Carr (Vice-president, The John Lautner Foundation): (323) 462 2225
Karol Lautner Peterson (president, The John Lautner Foundation): (906) 869 6357
Or John English (director, The John Lautner Foundation and preservation law expert): (323) 807 1154

Automobiles d'Art Deco

"Life imitates art far more than art imitates life."
-Oscar Wilde

If you are a lover of classic automobiles and you find yourself in Oxnard, California it would be worth a visit to the new Mullin Automotive Museum.

According to the museum website:

The French Curves Collection exemplifies the zenith of the French automobile. The collection includes some of the most beautifully styled and amazingly engineered French-built cars covering several decades: Bugattis, Delages, Delahayes, Hispano Suizas, Talbot-Lagos and Voisins.

Many notable cars in this collection have won prestigious awards at concours d'elegance throughout the world. In addition, a number of the race cars have been past winners of historic races, such as the Grand Prix de Pau and Le Mans.

Gorgeous.

Photo credit to eXtravaganzi.

The 'Mad Men' Look Contest: Final Results

Remember the Mad Men Look Contest that I entered?

*Spoiler alert* I lost.

I knew once that the heavy hitters started rolling in that I didn't have a shot in hell. There's no way that I can possibly compete with houses designed in the mid-century by award winning architects. Nope. Ain't happening folks. But I was contacted once by a Post employee so at least I felt like I was still in the running.

Just check out the winners already.

The 'Mad Men' Look Contest: The Washington Post

Mad Men season 4 begins at the end of the month and I'm pretty damn excited about this. It's far and away the best show on television. Shame on you and get with the program if you're not already a fan. Feelin' guilty yet?

Anyway, I was equally excited when I came across this recent article in the Washington Post:


Details about The Post's Mad Men Look contest
Saturday, June 26, 2010

Knotty pine. Wallpaper. Formica. Venetian blinds. Those lamps! They help form the distinctive look of homes portrayed on AMC's "Mad Men" television series, set in the 1960s.

As the series's new season draws near, we're looking for the Washington area home that most captures that look and feel. We invite you to pull back your pinch-pleat draperies and show off your home's late '50s-to-mid-'60s vibe.

Enter The Washington Post's Mad Men Look contest by submitting a photo of your place, whether it's a house, condo, apartment or even a single room. Entry deadline is midnight July 11. Entries must be for residences in the District, Maryland or Northern Virginia.

Entries must be of your own residence, whether owned or rented. Finalists must be available for photographs and an interview between July 14 and 18.

Finalists will be judged by a panel of Post editors and designers, along with Daniel Donnelly, owner of Daniel Donnelly Modern Design Studio in Alexandria.

Photographs of the winning entry will appear online and in The Post's Real Estate section July 24, the day before "Mad Men's" fourth season premieres.


I read this and thought, "why the hell not?" Sure I live in a small brick condo building built in the early 1980s, but have long been a fan of post-war modernism and mid-century modern style. Over the years I have cultivated furniture and various other odds-and-ends to match my particular tastes. I have an artistic eye and am pretty adept at scouting out oddball pieces from places such as thrift stores, flea markets, Ikea, Craigslist, eBay, etc.

I never win contests, other than a beauty pageant in Texas when I was 5 (true story), but I kind of really want to win this one. The contest is ramping up and the competition is fierce. Call me a Mad Man.

Click here to view all of the photos: http://washingtonpost.com/madmenlook.

Modernism Alive and Well in NOVA

Modernism is an absolute passion of mine, but having lived in the Northern Virginia/DC Metro Area most of my adult life I have grown accustomed to the stodgy conservative architecture encompassing the region.

That is why I was stoked to stumble across an article in the Spring 2010 issue of Modernism magazine about the Hollin Hills neighborhood.

Situated a couple miles north of Frank Lloyd Wright's Pope-Leighey House, this 450 home development is anything but bland.

According to the article:

Hollin Hills got its start in the late 1940s when Robert Davenport, who had previously developed an experimental neighborhood in the same area, called Tauxemont, with colleagues from the Department of Agriculture, teamed up with Charles Goodman, one of the few modernist architects practicing in the Washington area. In Tauxemont, Davenport had drawn on his agricultural and New Deal background to build simple rectangular houses made of low-cost materials purchased in bulk and arranged to reflect the topography of the site. After acquiring a tract just north of Tauxemont that most developers thought unbuildable because it was so hilly, Davenport engaged Goodman as the architect. In Davenport, Goodman found a like-minded partner willing to build modern houses instead of the ubiquitous colonials then being constructed by the thousands across northern Virginia. The challenges of the site led Davenport and Goodman to bring modernist landscape architects into the mix. Their collaborative efforts to design, develop and market a subdivision based exclusively on modernist principles was unprecedented in the United States. The quality of their product garnered immediate attention; indeed, Hollin Hills won its first of many design awards in 1951, barely two years after the first homes were completed.

I took a short drive over to the neighborhood this afternoon and was instantly blown away by the modernist sophistication and level of care that has gone into these homes. Many of them were listed for sale, but I'm not sayin' which ones. Apparently I missed the spring homes tour by just two weeks, and instead had to settle for the stalkerish photos below. I hope to visit again soon in a more "official" capacity.
































Large floor-to-ceiling windows, some in the form of doors, were standard on all Hollin Hills houses, enabling indoor/outdoor living and making the interiors of the modest houses appear larger. The interiors were so bright that many residents painted their walls dark colors. © Robert C. Lautman, Collection of the National Building Museum