Let's catch up!

Howdy all!

What's shaking at Vintage Roadside you ask? Here's an update of a few of the things we've been working on along with a few things coming up later this summer.

We had our first photography show here in Portland. Thank you to everyone that came down for the opening reception at The Original - we had a blast! And thanks again to those who purchased our art work. We hope you're enjoying the photographs!

We took a short road trip down to the southern Oregon coast. We're suckers for chainsaw carvings.

We were vendors once again at the Rose City Round-Up hot rod show. We've been all three years and this was the best yet!

We've endured endless rainy days to finally get out and shoot a few more things here in Portland. Wonderful to see the 6th Ave Motel neon sign restored.

We restocked our Jet Lanes, Thunderbird Lanes, 29 Palms Roller Rink, Hula Hut & Walters Maroon Ambulances t-shirts.

Here are a few upcoming things for the summer. We'll post more details about these events as we get closer.

The July Antique & Collectible Expo. Over 1400 booths of just about anything you can imagine. We always find that one thing we never even realized we needed.

Jake the Alligator Man's Birthday Party. A Friday night bachelor party followed by a hot rod show and Bride Of Jake contest. We're also designing the limited edition t-shirt for the party again this year.

Hotrod-A-Rama returns this year. One of the great traditional hot rod shows in the NW.

Tiki Oasis. We'll be launching 3 new t-shirt designs and presenting a symposium on the history of Aquarama.  Our symposium will also include a very special guest - Marina the Fire Eating Mermaid!

Now that we're caught up we'd love to hear about your summer plans! Any road trips coming up? Eat at a great drive in lately? Win a round of miniature golf? Feel free to leave a comment here or post over on our Facebook page located here.

Hope to see you this summer,

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside

Come see Vintage Roadside at Crafty Wonderland this weekend!

Howdy all,

If any of you are planning on attending the very first Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Spring Sale this weekend stop by and say hello to your friends from Vintage Roadside! We'll be there all weekend ready to provide you your first new t-shirt of 2010.

There will be over 200 booths of Portland area goods to choose from so bring your wheelbarrow or possibly a pack mule, although we're not sure of the Convention Center's policy regarding service animals, so maybe leave the mule at home.

• What: Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Spring Sale
• When: May 1st & 2nd. 11:00 am - 5:00 pm
• Where: Oregon Convention Center, Hall D. Portland, OR.
• How Much: Free admission!

See you there!

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside

Sale at Vintage Roadside!

We're in the throes of spring cleaning here at Vintage Roadside and have decided we need to make some room. What this means for you is that you can now add our Moonlight Motel and 77 Ranch Tourist Court t-shirts (men & womens) to your Vintage Roadside t-shirt collection for a song. That song would be titled "Sweet! $12.00 + shipping." Limited to stock on hand. Our normal retail price is $20 for men and $22 for women.

First up is our Moonlight Motel shirt. The Moonlight Motel was once located in Independence, Missouri (boyhood home of Harry Truman) and offered telephones, radios, and room controlled heat. You can pick one up for $12 + shipping on our website here.

Our Moonlight Motel shirt is available for both men and women in Navy Blue.

Next up is our 77 Ranch Tourist Court t-shirt. Dallas, Texas' 77 Ranch was the place to stay along Hines Blvd. in the 1940s and offered shady porches and rustic wooden furniture. You'll find our $12 + shipping 77 Ranch t-shirt on our website here.

Our 77 Ranch shirt is available for men in Light Blue and for women in Orange.

We hope everyone is enjoying spring!

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside

Ontario, California - Charles Phoenix, Graber Olives, and Thunderbird Lanes

Before we jump into our tour of vintage Ontario, we'd like to begin the wrap up of our Palm Springs trip with a few thank you's.

First, a huge thanks to everyone that stopped by to say hello and pick up t-shirts at the Charles Phoenix show and the following day at the Vintage Airstream show. We truly appreciate it!

We'd also like to say thank you so much to Jacques Caussin, Nickie McLaughlin, and Christy Eugenis from the Board of Modernism Week for letting us be a part of the show. We had an amazing time and can't wait for 2011! And a tremendous thank you to Charles Phoenix for spending a Sunday showing us the sights and sharing the history of his hometown of Ontario.

On to the field trip!

Our first stop of the day was at the Ontario Museum of History & Art. Housed in Ontario's second city hall, the museum has a wonderful collection of local artifacts on display. A few of our favorites were the items from the former Hotpoint factory, the Road Ways exhibit, and the neon sign from the former Thunderbird Lanes.

One of the highlights of the Hotpoint display was seeing the great product names once used by the company. Can you imagine the buzz at the dinner party once you announced you were now the proud owner of a brand new "El Stovo"?


Happy Hotpoint. Most famously portrayed by Mary Tyler Moore in the Hotpoint commercials of 1954. We're calling dibs on this outfit for Halloween 2010!


The mighty Thunderbird! When we began our initial research on Thunderbird Lanes as one of our t-shirt designs, we were thrilled to discover the museum now housed the sign. We'd been looking forward to seeing the sign in person and have to say, seeing a 17' wide neon Thunderbird at eye level is quite an experience. (If you'd like to see how our Thunderbird Lanes t-shirt turned out you can click here.)


The museum is open Thursday - Sunday and admission is free. If you're ever in the area it's well worth a stop. You can find more information on their website here.

Our next stop was Graber Olives. In business since 1894, Graber's is the type of place we love to visit. We're huge fans of "factory" tours and the tour of Graber's did not disappoint. Along the tour we saw how the olives were cured, canned, and labeled as well as hearing stories of the people behind the olives past and present. Two of our favorite parts of the tour were the equipment they still use, which dates to the 1940s, and Betty, our tour guide.

Tours are offered throughout the year along with group tours by request. You can learn more about Graber at their website located here.

Below, Betty explains how the labeling machine (over her right shoulder) operates.


A shot of one of their prize winning boxes designed by artist Rex Brandt.


We wrapped up our day in Ontario at Vince's Spaghetti - an Ontario institution since opening in September of 1945 as an open air French Dip stand. According to Vince's website they "serve over 9000 meals a week, over 1500 miles of spaghetti each year, and over 21 tons of spaghetti every month."


Below, Charles shares his tips on making the most of a visit to Vince's with Mrs. Roadside as well as trying to convince her that his dubbing of us as "Jelly" is a win-win for everyone.


After a great day around Ontario we pointed the car north and headed back to Vintage Roadside World Headquarters - with a few detours along the way.

Mini Jake stretches his legs in the pet area of a highway rest stop.


Hope everyone had a nice start to their week,

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside

Vintage Airstream and Trailer Show - Modernism Week 2010

We were excited to be asked to be a part of Modernism Week's first-ever Vintage Airstream and Trailer show held at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs. And while we were there as vendors, we did manage to sneak out of our booth for a few photos. Here's a little of what we saw out there.

The shot of the Ace Hotel below is intended to be used as photographic proof that there are places where the sun is actually visible to the naked eye in the month of February. We also wanted to say thank you to the staff of the Ace - we had a wonderful stay and everyone we worked with went above and beyond. Thanks again for everything!


We were pleased to have the opportunity to spend some time over the weekend talking with John and Steven from Funky Junk Farms. They have an amazing collection of just about everything we love (old signs, vintage cars, vintage appliances, etc.) and one of the finest collections of vintage travel trailers out there. Below is John's 1948 Westcraft.


A perfect 1952 Silver Streak owned by Better Shelter.


The Ace provided a great setting for this vintage Airstream.


One of the highlights of the weekend was meeting John from Scoot Palm Springs. We had noticed people zipping around town on scooters and thought that seemed like the perfect way to see the area. John's company rents scooters for half days, full days, and weekends. You can pick your scooter up at the Ace Hotel or for an additional charge they'll even bring them to you.

In addition to friendly scooter rentals, John possesses mad modeling skills. Below you'll see John in our Chi Chi t-shirt. (Thanks, John!)


A detail shot of Steven of Funky Junk Farm's 1954 Spartan Royal Manor.


Here's the Spartan Royal Manor in all its glory.


We had a fantastic time and want to say thank you to everyone that stopped by our booth to pick up t-shirts, say hello, and offer tips on things to see in the area. We're already counting the days until Modernism Week 2011!

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside

Vintage Roadside and Modernism Week

It's February in Oregon. While we've had a mild winter we've still had our share of rain, gray skies, and temperatures that won't have us grabbing the scissors and making that first pair of cut-offs for 2010 anytime soon.

So...let's load up the car and head someplace warm!

Point B on this road trip will be Palm Springs, California. We're headed down to Modernism Week to host a Charles Phoenix book signing and to be a part of the first Vintage Airstream & Travel Trailer Show at the Ace Hotel.

And away we go.

One of our favorite stops along the way was an antique store and collection located in Kramer Junction, California. The shop features an amazing collection of gas, highway and other random signs along with several vintage vehicles. The shop is located east of Boron at the junction of Highways 58 & 395.


Before we settled in we wanted to see a couple things in Rancho Mirage. First up was the amazing Rancho Super Car Wash. Once part of the Elephant Car Wash chain that stretched throughout Washington, Oregon and California the elephant is one of the few remaining vintage neon signs in the area.


Our next stop was the former Chart House Restaurant. Built in 1978, this was one of several Chart House buildings designed by Kendrick Bangs Kellogg who also designed the Doolittle residence in Joshua Tree.


The restaurant is currently closed but there are signs stating that a new establishment will be "opening soon".


We were able to get down to the area a day early and had the pleasure of spending an afternoon and evening with friends.

Below you'll see both Stinky and Mini Jake enjoying the late afternoon sun on our day off.


Fast forward a day and here we are all set up for the Charles Phoenix book signing on Friday night. We'd like to thank Jorg and the rest of the engineering staff at the Ace Hotel for setting us up with the great lighting.

Charles had a packed house for his slide show and we'd like to thank everyone who stopped by after the show to pick up t-shirts, books and to say hello. We had a great time!


We'll have our day at the vintage travel trailer show in our next entry.

See you soon,

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside

Indio Bowl & Hula Hut back in stock!

Hey all,

Just a quick update to let you know we've completely restocked our Hula Hut and Indio Bowl t-shirts in all sizes for both men & women. Operators are now standing by.



Also, if you'd like to be included in our new product announcement emails you can sign up for our newsletter on our website. The sign-up box is in the lower left corner. We send out around 1 or 2 emails a month with new product and restock news and we never share your email information.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Jeff & Kelly
Vintage Roadside