Vintage shopping finds Archives

This past weekend I had a fun vintage weekend so 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 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 🙂

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!

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

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 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.

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 🙂

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.

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!

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 🙂

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.

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.

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

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.

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…

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.

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 🙂 And don’t forget the “Hot Ovaltine”.

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).

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

Liz 🙂

This past weekend I attended a new event in Toronto called “The Toronto Antique & Vintage Market” at the CNE grounds. I was attending on behalf of the Toronto Vintage Society and also for my own pleasure..hello Vintage Shopping! The event was a pretty good size with booths selling everything from vintage clothing to vintage postcards and antique furniture.

I had a very limited budget so I knew that I was not going to go all hog-wild on buying things, plus my closet is getting so jammed I really have no space to store any new clothing items until I do a purge (which is going to be almost impossible). So my plan..keep it small and easy to store. Well the show had lots of that so I scored a few awesome finds, and here is what I found….

One of my favorite finds from the show-a 1940-41 Fall & Winter Eaton’s Catalogue (Take a look inside HERE).

Eaton’s was once Canada’s largest department store retailer. It was founded in 1869 in Toronto by Timothy Eaton, and it grew to become a retail and social institution in Canada. With stores across the country, buying offices around the globe, and a catalogue that was found in the homes of most Canadians (we always had one in my home). Sadly in 1999 the company went bankrupt, so now finding pieces of history like this is means just a little bit more for vintage history lovers like me (Source).

1940s Eatons Catalogue Fall & Winter Fashion — The jacket is absolutely DIVINE!

Find # 2: 1950’s Rosanna Knit Sportswear Bolero

This sweater has the most wonderful details as you can see below and is in MINT condition. I got it for a steal AND it’s small so it will fit in whatever remaining space is left in my closet.

Next Purchase a Vintage Brooch-It needs a bit of TLC but I actually don’t mind the fact that there is only a bit of green left on the palm trees. Adds Character 🙂

Now my small but mighty finds-Several Vintage Photos from the 1940s and 1950s:

The below image has a story to tell and I love it! I believe that the couple is going on their honeymoon or something very important because air travel in the 1940s was not something you just up and did like we do today. Plus they look really really nice, which is nothing out of the norm for air travel in the early days but they just look like it’s a special occasion.

I think it is also great that the plane in the background is actually a Canadian airline (no longer around) called “Canadian Pacific Air Lines“. I love finding images like that this have a bit of Canadian history tied to them.

Lastly, lets talk about her outfit. Her hat is just amazing and so very different from what I normally see. She also has great peep toe shoes purse and her classic suit goes a long long way in the “simple but stylish” department.

1940s Vintage image of couple in front of Canadian Pacific airplane — 1940s couple in front of Canadian Pacific Airplane

Next up we have this 1940s cutie in a double-breasted winter jacket, that just looks soooo warm! Hopefully warm enough to keep her exposed head and toes warm too. Aren’t her shoes great?!

I was drawn to this picture for the simple beauty coming off the paper. She looks very happy smiling for the camera, and I wonder what her story is? Maybe off to see a loved one return from war?

1940s women in a coat image — 1940s Beauty

When I saw this picture my girlfriend and I tossed back and forth whether she was wearing a playsuit or not and finally after both agreeing that is was VERY clear that she was, I had to buy it!

Her playsuit is just great and looks totally comfortable. I love how she paired the simplicity of the outfit with nice big flowing 40s hair, some sort of brooch and big bow peep toe heels. Future Pinup Model? I think so 🙂

I am curious on where she is though? Those heels don’t look to easy to walk in for a stroll in the woods.

1940s woman in a playsuit — 1940’s Playsuit for the Win!

Next up is a early 1940s (maybe late 1930s) beach photo from my hometown of Sarnia, Ontario. The beach was at Canatara Park a frequent hangout for those who wanted to catch some rays and go swimming in Lake Huron. I was super excited to find this picture because I have never really seen any cool “life images” from my hometown. So to stumble upon a postcard with this image was a wonderful surprise for me.

I’m totally digging the swimsuits and hair in this photo.

Next up we have the most stylish 1950s Housewife on the block. Lets call her Marge 🙂 Isn’t she just lovely?

What colour do you think her dress is? I can’t seem to decide personally.

I also found this super funny postcard that from what I can see was mailed in the 1950s (according to the back) from one woman friend to another. Isn’t it hilarious??!!

Lastly I did NOT buy this at the show but I had to share it. I stumbled upon a 1930s Hair Perming Machine and had to take a picture of it. It was crazy cool and crazy scary at the same time! Can you imagine sticking your head under this thing?

1930s vintage hair perming machine — 1930s Perming Machine-Made in Hamilton

And that was my finds friends! Did you do any recent shopping this weekend or week? If so what was your favorite find?

Liz 🙂

Category: Vintage shopping finds

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My Recent 1940s and 50s Vintage Finds