All aboard for Christmases Past

12/14/2010 cladrite1 Comment

Is there a holiday gift that more effectively evokes Christmases gone by than model trains?

We never had a set ourselves, though we’ve always found them fascinating, and if ever we lived in a home that had an extra room (not likely as long we remain in NYC), it’s a hobby we wouldn’t mind adopting later in life.

We found the following footage, from 1940 and the 1950s, utterly charming and wanted to share it with the Cladrite community. It’s a lovely, if too brief, trip back in time.

And speaking of built-to-scale railroads (and the miniature villages they travel through), we love this short about the amazing Roadside America, one of our absolute favorite tourist attractions, which still is still thriving today in Shartlesville, Pennsylvania.

Roadside America is a must-see for anyone who might be passing through central Pennsylvania, and it’s especially appealing to anyone with an appreciation for model railroading.

Tumbling into the past

03/23/2010 cladriteLeave a comment

We are not, as regular visitors to Cladrite Radio know, primarily a collector’s site, but every now and then, we’ll come across a vintage collectible that’s so delightful we just have to share it.

For your consideration: A set of six commemorative glass tumblers from the 1939 World’s Fair in NYC (you know, the one with the Perishphere and Trylon).

These glasses made our hearts go pit-a-pat, and we’ll admit that we were sorely tempted to participate in the auction for them (and based on the final sale price, it’s entirely possibly we might have prevailed, though there’s no way of knowing that, of course).

In the end, our decision not to bid on them was in small part due to budgetary concerns (sadly, such concerns rarely stop us when we really fall for a vintage treasure) and in much larger part due to the knowledge that our hearts would break in a million pieces if (let’s face it, it’d be when, not if) we dropped and broke one of them.

We just couldn’t face that eventual, inevitable pain, so we passed on bidding. But we’re pleased as punch to share them with you here. Aren’t they beauties? (As with most graphics here at Cladrite Radio, you can click on the images to see a larger version of each.)

Past Paper: Dial 2-0258

11/06/200905/03/2016 cladrite

We here at Cladrite Radio have great fondness for paper ephemera—those little tidbits that so effectively transport us back to an earlier time.

So it is that we offer this 1948 photo of a florist shop in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The proprietor clearly used it as a promotional premium, as on the reverse is a small calendar.

The shop was at 529 N.E. 11th in OKC, and the phone number was 2-0258 (not even enough numerals for an exchange, which surprised us).

Click on the image for a larger version of it.