Vintage Florida Tourist Brochures - or Wish You Were Here

I had lots of fun going through a big package of vintage tourist brochures and listing them! I am always happy to find these vintage brochures, especially 1950's to 1960's vintage. They make me happy because I remember fun family vacations during my childhood (a bit later, 1960's to 1970's), and I suspect other people feel the same way! The ones I just found from Florida are so neat that I had to share a few photos. Some of the attractions featured include:

1. Lightner Museum of Hobbies in St. Augustine, Florida





2. The Oldest House, St. Augustine, Florida





3. Potter's Wax Museum, St. Augustine, Florida





4. Ripley's Believe It Or Not, St. Augustine, Florida





5. Chimp Farm, Dania, Florida





6. Sea Zoo, Daytona, Florida





7. See Rock City, Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, Tennessee





8. St. Augustine Alligator Farm, Florida





9. Florida's Finest Attractions - especially nice 1955 brochure





10. St. Augustine's Mystery House, Florida





11. The Great Masterpiece, Lake Wales, Florida

How is that for a dream retro Florida vacation? If you could add in the Weeki Wachee Mermaids and Silver Springs with the glass bottom boats, you would be in retro travel heaven!

Here are a few of my brochures - I have about 100 more to list.

http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Birdhouse-Books__W0QQ_sidZ81052548?_nkw=%28brochure%2Cplacemat%2Cmotel%2Cmotor+court*%29

Ruth Chew, Vintage Fantasy Books for Children

Ruth Chew is a wonderful (too-rarely mentioned) vintage author of fantasy books for children. She was born in 1920 in Minnesota, and moved to New York to raise her family. I believe she is still living. Her books are wonderful! Some involve time travel, and some involve magic. You can find a list of her books by publication date at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_chew
I always try to keep several of her books listed in my store as well:
http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Birdhouse-Books__W0QQ_sidZ81052548?_nkw=ruth+chew

British Pub Songs - and Elsa Lanchester

When I was in college, I worked for a time as a waitress at a British pub. Once a week an older lady came in and played British pub songs on the piano. I just found this CD to list and think it is great fun. It's by Elsa Lanchester - The Bride of Frankenstein - and she is singing Bawdy Cockney Songs. It's such a hoot that I couldn't resist passing a song list along:

Fiji Fanny
At the Drive In
Please Sell No More Drink to My Father
When a Lady Has a Piazza
Linda and Her Londonderry Air
If You Peek in My Gazebo
Catalog Woman
Rat Catcher's Daughter
Never Go Walking Without Your Hat Pin
The Husband's Clock
Lola's Saucepan
The Yashmak Song
Faith, Hope and Charity
Little Fred
I'm Glad to See Your Back
My New York Slip
The Janitor's Boy
The Ruined Maid
Mrs. Badger-Butts

I love unusual finds like this - they make my eBay day interesting!

What is the difference between a salt shaker and a pepper shaker?

Well, one holds salt and the other holds pepper.

But there's another difference as well -- the salt shaker has one hole and the pepper shaker has multiple holes.

I learned this today while researching this cute baby chick vintage salt and pepper set.

I had no idea! See, eBay can be educational. :-)

1940's Vintage Valentines

Couldn't resist posting a few good examples of 1940's graphics with these charming Valentine cards. I especially like the die-cut card that features a soda fountain. Great example of vintage design - and you have to love the malt shop appeal! I believe that the little boy playing a drum is a Boy Scout. Very cute!

Whitney Made Valentine Card

This is such a beautiful Valentine that I just wanted to share the photo. It's a Whitney Made, which is collectible. Most of the Whitney cards I've carried open, as this does. They often have this type of elaborate frame work at the edges as well. I would date this as 1920's. It's a charmer!