This past weekend I had a fun vintage weekend soย thought I would share it with you. First up on Saturday I was part of an event in Toronto called “Rosie O-Rama in conjunction with 2 events. V-J day (Japanese surrender that marked the end of World War II) and the Guinness Book of World Records “Most Rosie the Riveters in one spot” that was happening in California that day.

Rosie the Riveter Guinness World Record
Some of the original “Rosie the Riveter” women sitting in the first row, who worked in the Richmond shipyards during WWII (Anda Chu/The Contra Costa Times via AP)

Since I don’t live in California a few of us got together (including fellow blogger Irene from Petite Plus Meow) and dressed up as Rosie (or for us Canadians ‘Ronnie the Bren Gun Girl‘) and met at City Hall in Toronto by the fancy new 3D sign for photos.

Rosie the Riveter
Vintage Inn-Rosie the Riveter
Rosie the Riveter Toronto
Toronto’s ‘Rosies”

We then got out of the hot hot sun and zipped over via public transit to our fav “Rosie the Rebel” reproduction clothing store for some shopping and then ended our adventures at the super cool vintage Malt Shop- Bean and Baker‘ for yummy goodies.

TTC Subway Rosie the Riveter 1940s
Riding the subway to work ๐Ÿ™‚

Rosie the Rebel Toronto

Rosie the Riveter Toronto
Inside Rosie the Rebel

Ice cream time at Bean and Baker!

Bean and Baker Malt Shop Toronto
At Bean and Baker Malt Shop

mmmm handcrafted cherry coke and an Astro Pop!

Bean and Baker Malt Shop Toronto

It was a great day with these 4 ladies of the Toronto Vintage Society.

Bean and Baker Malt Shop Toronto

 

SUNDAY

On Sunday my hubby was working so I decided that I was going to jump on the streetcar and head to one of my fav vintage stores in Toronto-Gadabout on Queen St. East.

gadabout toronto vintage store

Gadabout is one of these stores where you need to clear your calendar and even go alone so that you can spend hours filtering thru all the wonderful goodies they have. The owner Victoria is so nice and so is all her hardworking staff. I feel so welcomed every time I go.

For today’s trip I was on the hunt for vintage photos (I love my vintage photos) AND possibly a new Tiki dress for the TVS Tiki Party August 29th. I spent a couple of hours and brought home the following:

Find #1: This great souvenir photo taken at the Historic King Edward Hotel in Toronto in the 1940s.

Vintage photo King Edward Hotel Toronto

It looks like these lovely young people are on a double date at one of the fanciest hotels in town. I wonder if they went dancing after in one of the gorgeous ballrooms at the hotel? Don’t they look like they are having so much fun? The gentlemen on the left is in mid laugh ๐Ÿ™‚

Vintage photo King Edward Hotel Toronto

Find # 2: Beautiful photo from the 1930s of a very well dressed mother and her adorable son.

Style alert! The mothers dress is simply beautiful and her shoes…wow!!! I love the hat as well. Very very nice.

1930s vintage photo of boy and mother

Find # 3: This image instantly caught my eye when I saw the wonderful head scarfs and the cool Hawaiian shirt the man on the right is wearing. Then I started to look at it more and realized that I believe these lovely people are at a seaside resort somewhere. Wonderful!

1940s photo of people at a sea side resort

Find # 4: I love her dress, that is why I took this image home with me.And I giggle when I see that someone’s finger got in the photo ๐Ÿ™‚

1940s woman in a pretty dress

Find # 5: I believe this picture is of a mother with her very handsome son and gorgeous well dressed daughter (isn’t her dress just divine and her hair is perfect). I’m enjoying that the mother does not seem happy to be taking the photo but the kids have nice smiles on their faces and don’t seem to mind at all.

1940s vintage image of a family

Find # 6: I remember when I went to summer camp and at the end of the week we would get a photo of the whole camp and then we would spend the day running around getting everyone to sign the back of it. When I found this image of a group of young ladies in the 1940s, possibly at summer camp and the back was signed I just knew this was a keeper.

1940s girls at summer camp

The back has cute “nicknames” that the girls had given each other. Like “Tiny” Jones and “Cookie”.

1940s girls at summer camp

Find # 7: Here comes the bride all dressed in..not white but who cares! She looks wonderful (want her dress!) and her husband..so handsome. He reminds me a bit of Don Draper of Mad Men fame.

1950s vintage wedding picture

Image # 8: Here is another happy couple from the 1930s. Her husband/boyfriend/”friend” looks so in love with her, I just adore how he is looking at her in this picture. And once again, the lovely lady wins in the style department. Look how dainty her gloves are? Swoon…

1930s vintage couple

Find # 9: FLAMINGOS!! I love flamingos and when I saw this wonderful menu from a still in business restaurant in Toronto, I just had to have it. I belive it’s from around the 1950s from the prices you see in the next image.

Flamingo restaurant menu Toronto

Inside of the menu. I love the section on “Milk drinks”. Milk Shakes, Malted Milk, Egg Nogg, Egg Malted. That’s a lot of Milk ๐Ÿ™‚ And don’t forget the “Hot Ovaltine”.

Flamingo restaurant menu Toronto

Last but not least I also bought myself a vintage dress for the Tiki party I mentioned above. Here is the fabric but you won’t see the dress until Tiki party time (it’s a surprise).

vintage tiki dress 1950s

Did you have a good weekend? Find any vintage goodies yourself?

Liz ๐Ÿ™‚

12 Comments on My Vintage Weekend Finds and Fun

  1. My weekend wasn’t much to speak of – I much prefer your weekend! Love all the lovely Rosie outfits you ladies put together and the whole day’s agenda sounds like a blast. As does the shopping jaunt.

    Those are some great photos! It always seems a bit sad to me that someone’s photos have ended up in a shop rather than with family, but at least they find good homes with people like you who will care for them. ๐Ÿ™‚

    • I so agree with you regarding the photos, that is why I’m glad I can take them home and share them with the world so that they breathe new life (even if we don’t know who they are).

  2. That is all kinds of awesome! I really, really adore that you lovely ladies paid homage to our incredibly hardworking WW2 foremothers (and fathers). Thank you!

    Big hugs,
    โ™ฅ Jessica

    *PS* Oh my gosh, I didn’t know they still made Astro Pops! I loved those when I was a kid!

    • Astro Pops are the BEST! I enjoyed every moment of the candy hehehe.

      What was fun about the day dressed up, was the amount of people who stopped us to talk and ask questions. It was great to be able to share the story of “Rosie’s” and “Veronica’s” to people who did not know.

  3. Lovely to see all those Rosie’s! You all had great outfits. Nice to see the photo with some of the original Rosie’s too! You did very well indeed on the vintage photo front. I enjoyed looking at them all but that mother in the 1930’s dress and the signed group photo were my favourites. I scored a brooch and a number of 1950’s needlework magazines the other day do was very pleased!

    • Yay awesome vintage finds! 1930s mother in that dress is one of the favs as well for me. Her shoes…ohhhh soooooo good ๐Ÿ™‚

      It would of been cool to have been at that Rosie event but I’m glad that people documented it, so that I could enjoy it from afar.

      Liz

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