Our own vintage town

[Forgotten Man]

Radio!

WE MUST HAVE A RADIO STATION!!!

Playin' original radio broadcasts of the 30's to the 40's and original records and radio shows! And commercials will be short between acts! Not 10 minute breaks!

The station will be a modest streamlined concrete building with a nice tall tower with the call letters in neon mounted to the frame. And each letter will light up from top to bottom then flash on and off a few times... that would be perfect!

 

[M Tatterscratch]

Kids,

Golly, I'd like in on this! I saw that EPR25 wants to be your sign-painter, but do you have an advertising agency yet? If so, I'd like to be the Copywriter (Probably NOT the Creative Director, since he'll be swamped with calls telling him that his latest billboard isn't "period" enough). I'd just like to write the Burma Shave signs going in and out of town. Here are my initial efforts:


A beard’s like a neglected spouse
It runs amok and wrecks your house.
So keep them, for domestic bliss
Both close enough to let you kiss.
Burma Shave

A husband and his beard - Dismay!
Both rub you wrong from day to day
But we’ll see to it that a wife
Is only stuck with one for life.
Burma Shave

Lovelorn beau, so sadly mooning -
Think your girl’s no heart for spooning?
Here’s the scoop – your girl’s not fickle
Win her heart and lose the prickle.
Burma Shave

If you want domestic bliss,
Then give your wife a little kiss.
But if you want unending trouble,
Leave a little razor stubble.
Burma Shave


As for names and weather, I'm fine with whatever you choose. I'm of Cajun descent, so snow is hard on me, but I do like looking at it, and will gladly put up with it to live the life I want if I can hire someone else to shovel it. The South is a nice choice in another, more Tennessee Williams way. If we're in the South, I'd just like to be Mr. Dolphus Raymond from "To Kill a Mockingbird".

Whatever happens, we shouldn't have a dive in town - What we want is a Jook Joint out in the woods, a place named after it's owner that serves Homemade in Mason jars and fried catfish and cornbread you can knock a man out with, and grape Nehi and an' occasional "cuttin'" just to keep the local hospital and police on their toes. Okay, now that's all strictly Southern. The Joint in Madison was near my Aunt Irva's place and she said at night you could hear the singing through the woods. I'd have gone, even if they beat me up, if I could have stayed after.

If it didn't sound so ungainly, I'd say we should call the place Yore (as in Days of) or Yester. If we wanted an old early-settlement Native-American sounding name, we could call it Wunceapunna. Our newspaper could be "The Wunceapunna Times". Yuk yuk!

I say Mr. MK should be our first mayor, since I believe he's the one who brought us all together. After that, we'll have elections, yes?

Senator Jack should come through in a fancy car and stump (on a real stump) every so often, even if there aren't any elections.

We need a brass band to play on the bandstand in the village green, too.

And we need a church just like the idyllic scene at the end of "Places in the Heart" - Everyone welcome.

Over and Out,

T.

 

[M Tatterscratch]

P.S. - Almost forgot, for the old-fashioned in town, we need a vintage clothing store - You know, a place where you can still get breeches and frogged coats like old Andy Jackson wore...

T.

 

[Ada Veen]

It would be nice to have a 'chinatown' area too, with delicious exotic chinese shops and chinese style architecture, vintage chinese clothes and homewares, loose tea shops and pagodas and things.

 

[Forgotten Man]

I say Mr. MK should be our first mayor, since I believe he's the one who brought us all together. After that, we'll have elections, yes?

Yes, we owe a lot to MK for what we have here at the Lounge. As for a mayor of a “vintage” town, I feel someone who has a deep appetite and passion and knowledge for the 20’s to 50’s is a man who’d fill the shoes of mayor the best. Mr. Key has an appreciation for golden era however, to truly have a period correct town for say, we’d need a stickler to details and one who also knows how to run a fair city. Also Mr. Key is already very busy… must let the man rest some times.

I’m not sure if there’s anyone here on the lounge that could fit the bill… I have the passion and I am pretty savvy regarding the golden age… however lack the knowledge of running a city. And, I wouldn’t want to be a mayor… not much into politicin’

I say who so funds this venture would know something regarding running a city… also, should be the mayor… then, elections would be held to choose the next mayor.

 

[M Tatterscratch]

It would be nice to have a 'chinatown' area too, with delicious exotic chinese shops and chinese style architecture, vintage chinese clothes and homewares, loose tea shops and pagodas and things.

Opium dens. Never forget opium dens...

Sounds a little bigger than a small town, though. I'm sure Maycomb wouldn't have had a Chinatown, but that's the South...

Gonna Get a Big Bowl of Beef Chow Mein,

T.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Of course, to be perfectly period accurate the mayor would need to be backed by a political machine run from behind the scenes at the Elks Lodge. And there'd need to be a bunch of ward heelers to go around with their thumbs in their vest pockets, handing out a little folding currency as they get out the vote.

 

[M Tatterscratch]

I say who so funds this venture would know something regarding running a city… also, should be the mayor… then, elections would be held to choose the next mayor.

I don't know if a Plutocrat and a good mayor are one and the same, but anyone who put up the gelt to found at town should at least name it, I imagine. The first mayor would be a real groundbreaker, though.

I don't know a thing about Mister K. our digital benefactor, but if he's gone to all the trouble to set this place up for us, I can only imagine he'd want to come along.

I can tell you that if I thought we might all do this, I'd sell my things and go. Perhaps the thing to do is simply move into a little town that's already there. The one that comes to my mind is Uno, a tiny place in Virginia that consists of perhaps four buildings and two families. However, I don't know who owns all the land around there, so perhaps that wouldn't work.

Before I came to Germany, I was looking at Victorian homes around Chicago, in Elgin and such places, and I have every intention of making my little corner of 190-something to 1930-something (I'm a stickler for feeling, not dates) sometime in the near future. Two friends and I were also looking into opening a very peculiar Bed and Breakfast, before family tragedy struck one of them and put things on hold. Either way, I'm going back to where I belong...

T.

 

[M Tatterscratch]

Of course, to be perfectly period accurate the mayor would need to be backed by a political machine run from behind the scenes at the Elks Lodge.

Ahh, the sinister Elks! Don't forget the Masons, Moose, Shriners, Woodsmen, Grangers, Kiwanis, K of C, and the Order of the Golden Dawn.

Blavatsky! Gesundheit!

T.

 

[Miss Brill]

I LIKE THIS ONE BETTER!!!

That is stupid. Being narrow minded makes one look ignorant---not cute.

 

[Edward]

So, I've happened along late. Strikes me you folks will need a lawyer in the town. Me, I'd be happy to pass through town once in a while in travelling theatrical shows in the town theatre (you do have one, right?).

 

[pennyseranade]

That is stupid. Being narrow minded makes one look ignorant---not cute.

I believe there were no tie die shirts and women sans their underpinnings in the Golden Era. We'er talking 30s-40s not 60s-70s.

 

[dhermann1]

Yeah, but there was Woody Guthrie, and Joe Hill, and Mae West, and a whole lor of other off beat characters. Why do human beings seem to need somebody to hate?
The question is, is this meant tongue in cheek, or for real? I mean, seriously?

 

[panamag8or]

Yeah, but there was Woody Guthrie, and Joe Hill, and Mae West, and a whole lor of other off beat characters. Why do human beings seem to need somebody to hate?
The question is, is this meant tongue in cheek, or for real? I mean, seriously?

I got the impression that when it was first posted, it was a joke... or an attempt at one.[huh]

 

[dhermann1]

That's what I thought. Then a few people took it a little too seriously. There was a time when I had hair down to my fanny (the year after I got out of the service, actually, think there might be a correlation?) And while I certainly wouldn't want to go back to that point in my life again, I think it was as worthwhile a part of my life as any. I get sensitive about the poor little hippies getting blamed for all the evils of the entire 20th century, when they were just another response to the world they found themselves in. I mean, I think there's hardly anything more pathetic and bizarre than an aging grey haired pot bellied old hippy still clinging to his wigwam and peacepipe. But they contributed a share of positive things to the world as well as negative. The Lounge is about being allowed to be different, if that's what you think is right for you. Let's let others be different from us as well.

 

[J.B.]

...The Lounge is about being allowed to be different, if that's what you think is right for you. Let's let others be different from us as well.

:arated:

 

[Feebeeps]

I'm loving this thread, I gotta tell ya The idea of a private town or area built to house those of the vintage persuasion would be amazing, if not a dream. I used to design little utopias based on style generations back in high school and even earlier (Western, Medieval, 50's, future) and thought how great living there would be.

A couple of questions though: Would the area be a gated community or secluded land mass? Perhaps on a nature preserve with thick forests surrounding it (ala' The Village)? Would we allow tourists?

Second question: Pardon me if this has been asked before (I've read most of the pages but skipped a couple at the end) but would there be a technology cut-off date? Could we still have computers, internet, tv, dvds, modern medicine, etc.?

As for my role in the town, I have no idea. Any room for a former Broadway actress who tells tales of being a Floradora girl? (In my case it would be a much different show but alas) Really though, I would just do whatever I could to be a part of the society

 

[dhermann1]

Answers to your questions

The answer to all your questions is as follows: yes, no, maybe, possibly, maybe not, maybe so, probably not, hard to say, and it's debatable. If you've read most of the thread then you've discovered why this dream may be a little tricky to pull off. I mean, to start with, there's nearly been a couple of armed insurrections just on the topic of snow. But we do have fun kicking our little fantasies around. Maybe someday some clever and brave entrepreneur will put it all together, and then he (or she) will have the final say so on all those issues. Or maybe something else will come together. In the meantime, it's fun to return to this thread and share our pipedreams.

 

[M Tatterscratch]

OUR PERFECT TEXAS TOWN JUST SOLD ON EBAY...

Ladies and Gents,

Well, we missed our chance - one of them, anyway. The town of Albert, Texas sold on Ebay two days ago for around $3 million. It's around 12.5 acres, includes an ice house, general store, and an 85 year old dancehall. No inhabitants, so we could move right in. Rats!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7110528.stm

http://cgi.ebay.com/Historic-Texas-...ryZ15841QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It may be an absurd question, but how many of you brave souls would TRULY do such a thing - that is, spend your money on, then pack up and move off to some little ghost town, and try and turn it into something?

I can't think how we'd make money, other than to become a tourist attraction, with hissing busses and polite Japanese people taking our photographs, a vintage hotel with WiFi and Miss Maudie's Pie Shoppe and so on, or to rent ourselves out to moving pictures, but that might be the trade-off, and a dicey one at that, unless there's a secret millionaire among us. Factor in that we probably wouldn't get prime real estate - most likely something in the boondocks, and Texas heat or Montana cold, and you have a pioneer scenario on your hands.

For myself, I'd sell my place in Virginia and throw it over for a chance at a different life, even though my life is really good at present. Sometimes you just have to burn it down and see what grows in its place. Unfortunately, I'm no businessman, not good with money, and have only the most rudimentary notion of how finance and town planning work. I am a crackerjack adman, though, and with a good planner and media buyer I could promote the place. Sadly, the hard work is the in-between...

Anyhoo, this just shows it would be possible, if we were really hardcore enough.

T.

 

[HadleyH]

OOOOH, Just wanted to ad this real quick... I'd have an orange orchard and packing house... Live in a nice farm home surrounded by acres of Orange and Lemon trees

Yes!!!!! we'll also have an orange and lemon orchard in our vintage town!!!!!
Like that one!


(hmm... we'll have many vintage towns, everywhere )