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Vintage Beach Pix

Pretty maids all in a row–maybe at the Jersey shore?

Love these three–especially the Al Capone type on the right with the dangling cigarette!

For a couple of years now, I’ve been hoarding vintage black and white beach snapshots. My collection started with a snap of my mother, at the age of 17 or 18, standing on the Pass-A-Grille Beach in our hometown of St. Petersburg, for a small-time modelling gig she did around 1950. As children, we always believed she’d been Miss America! Then I found some old snaps of distant relatives from the 1920s on the beach, and my collection had a name. A few of them really are family, but most are of total strangers. Last summer in Franklin, Tenn., I bought the cutest framed snapshot of what looks like a 1920s shot of orphans at the beach. Adorable! Then I bought a few more in August, at Brimfield. My friend Beth, who buys fine English and French antiques, thought I was nuts, but I love ’em. I just got the above two pix in the mail that I bought off eBay, and then there are the other two are the ones I bought at the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market on Sunday. I’ve seen lots of great vintage beach snaps on Flickr, but I’m such a techno-dweeb, I can’t tell if it’s possible to download and print these, or buy them or what. Anybody know? In the meantime, enjoy these, without getting any sand in your shoes.

Sunday in New York

The weather was perfect, sunny and warm, and seemingly every single soul in the city decided to come out to play on Sunday in New York. I got in around noon, dropped my suitcase at my hotel and hotfooted it over to Hell’s Kitchen to wander around the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market for a couple hours. Here’s how you know you’re in New York: an elderly lady in lilac lipstick calls you “bubbe”. As in, “that’s a great deal, bubbe. You should buy.” Hampered by the fact that I could only buy what I could fit in my purse, I kept my purchases to two tiny vintage black and white beach snapshots. I’ve got big plans for those little prints. I’ve already blown them up to 5-by-7 size, and they’ll join the other old beach pix I’ve been collecting for the stairwell at The Breeze Inn. But oh, how I wish I could have bought the pair of yellow motel chairs–$20 apiece–a steal! I would have air-lifted them down to Tybee and The Breeze Inn, painted them pink and planted them in the front yard. Or how about the vintage yellow and turquoise beach cruiser? After a late lunch at the Hell’s Kitchen Cafe–where hordes of chic young gay men were idling away the day with “all you can drink Bellinis and Bloody Marys”, I wandered down Fifth Avenue to Central Park, where I found a mime dressed as Lady Liberty, and an energetic break-dancing crew entertaining the crowds. Anyway, here are some of my snapshots, so you can enjoy the day vicariously.

Covering Dixie…Like the Dew

You say you miss all your old friends who used to write for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution? Do you pine for Piney Woods Pete? Want to know what Eleanor Ringel thinks about movies? Want some thoughtful coverage of the South and Southern issues? We’ve got just the cure for your AJC jones. Join me and a bunch of other wonderful writers at a brand new online newspaper,
LIKE THE DEW. It’s fun, it’s free, it’s fat-free. And I’ve got my first piece posted there today. So check us out…leave us some comments, put us on your RSS feed, and tell all your friends. The South (and Southern journalism) shall surely rise again.

Breeze Inn Progress Report

Boomerang Boy’s crib
Home is where you hang your hat–on your hall tree

Andrews party? Table for six?

My eBay find–1920s bathing suit

The breakfast club–Tybee style

Screened porch—walking in a wicker wonderland

Yikes! Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful.
We’re almost there…After a long work week at Tybee Island, I came home last night for my signing at the Atlanta Junior League Kitchen Tour, just as Mr. Mary Kay and our son-in-law Mark were headed down to Tybee to build the picket fence. As you can see in the last photo, after a week of painting and fluffing, by the time Friday rolled around, I was tore up from the floor up. But here’s what we accomplished–and by “we” I mean me–with the huge help/direction of friend/sidekick/savior Jacky, and Tom, the philosopher handman–and about a gallon of cheap chardonnay and extra-strength Ibuprofen: 1. Installed, primed and painted bookshelves in living room. 2. Got Savannah navigational chart hung in Andy’s bedroom and 1920s framed bathing suit hung in stairwell. 3. Reinforced, sanded and painted octagonal wicker breakfast table. 4. Cupboard to cover hideous electrical box in utility room built, primed and painted. 5.Screened porch cleared of all construction debris (and auxiliary refrigerator), blown off, hosed down and arranged. 6. Victorian mahogany hall tree patched up, re-mirrored, primed, painted and screwed to wall in utility room. 7. Brimfield screened door retrofitted for front door, primed, painted and installed. 8. Wall brackets mounted in master bathroom. Oh sure, there were glitches. The original cabinets I bought to hide the electrical box were the wrong size and had to be returned to Home Depot. One whole set of shelves for the bookcase were an inch too short–which we discovered after I’d already primed and painted said shelves. The gate kit I bought for the picket fence was also the wrong size, and also had to be returned to Home Depot. And the post-hole diggers I bought for the fence-builders has somehow mysteriously de-materialized. But we’re this close to being done. And Easter weekend, the whole family should be able to relax and enjoy our new beach house.

Weekend Fun

Here I am with the two co-queens of the Lakewood 400 Antique Market, Lauri and Lulu of Chippys. And yes, those are vintage permanent wave pins that Lulu is wearing on her lapels and in her hair. It’s workin’, don’t you think? My Saturday signing was so much fun it shoulda been illegal. So big thanks go out to show owners Ed and Barbara Spivia for letting me come out to play. My friend Cathy Blanco of The Book Exchange in Marietta sold what seemed like bazillions of books. I met loads of fellow junkers and dealers and fans, and even scored some seriously cool swag, including a little ironstone milk jug for my kitchen collection, and a sterling sugar bowl. It was my first time at the Lakewood 400 Antique Market since they moved to their “new” location nearly five years ago, but like Gen. Patton–I shall return, and next time I’m bringing the junk posse. The big-ass basket giveaway was a success too, so I think we’ll have to do more of those. And oh yeah–Katie’s birthday party that night was big fun. Stay tuned for pix. And also a giveaway. I missed doing a giveaway for my 200th post. So I owe you guys.

FREE STUFF AT LAKEWOOD 400 SIGNING

Okay, call me spring feverish–but the first five people who show up to my signing at the Lakewood 400 Antique Market tomorrow and mention they saw the offer online get a FREE paperback of DEEP DISH. And the first ten who buy a copy of DEEP DISH get a FREE copy of SAVANNAH BREEZE. Not to mention you can enter a drawing to win a big-ass basket of free MKA books and goodies. So what’s keeping you home? See you there tomorrow, 1-3 p.m.

I want this…

Found today on Craigslist Atlanta: 16′ Dunphy 1959 Vintage boat Very Good Cond Beautiful and runs great. Everything rebuilt. 1970 40hp Evinrude Lark Good trailer new tires,rims,bearings. Ready to cruise! email for more pics. $4200 obo 352-591-2372.
I picture Mr. Mary Kay at the wheel of this classic beauty, tanned, (he stays tanned), in an open-collar shirt, myself seated beside him, with an icy adult beverage, cool vintage Jacky O sunglasses, perhaps a flowing scarf fluttering in the breeze, as we cruise around the waterways off Savannah. Reality, of course, would be unlovely. I’d be sunburnt and swatting at the damned gnats, he’d be cranky if the fish weren’t biting, totally unwilling to cruise just for the sake of cruising. Oh well, a girl can dream…

Wednesday Talk and Signing in Greenville, N.C.

If you’re anywhere near Greenville, North Carolina, please join me for a luncheon event to benefit Literacy Volunteers of Pitt County on Weds., Mar. 18. The event starts at 10:30 a.m. with a book signing, followed by lunch and my talk. Later that afternoon I’ll give a mini writer’s workshop. Y’all come!

A Very Junkriffic Weekend

Very old pressed board trunk and glass cake stand

Vintage luggage, ledger book and spatterware bowl

Walking in a wicker wonderland

The line to get into the Savannah estate sale

Okay, I’ll cop to it—I totally junked all weekend long–and a little last weekend as well. But it’s been what seems like a long cruel winter here in Georgia, and I really had a dry spell, what with signings for DEEP DISH and working on The Breeze Inn down at Tybee. Last weekend I went to the first estate sale I’d been to in ages, in Savannah, at the home of Herb Traub, a noted Savannah character who was the long-time owner of The Pirate’s House restaurant. No kid who ever visited Savannah in the past few decades left town without a visit to the treasure chest at The Pirate’s House. Mr. Traub passed away recently, at the age of 91, I think, and so the family was cleaning out the Ardsley Park home where he’d been born and lived his whole life. My friend Susan (she’s the madam at Seaside Sisters on Tybee) and I left Tybee last Saturday at the ungawdly hour of 6:15 a.m. to be in line for the 8 a.m. start of the sale. The morning did not have an auspicious start. We got to Krispy Kreme for a pre-sale snack, only to find that–quel horror!–there were no doughnuts. None. Zip. Whoever heard of such? Turns out they’d cleaned all the machinery the night before and hadn’t started the assembly line going yet. Who knew Krispy Kreme cleaned anything? I always assumed the grease there was vintage. We did settle for a couple of day-old doughnuts. Not the same thing at all. When we got to the sale, we were maybe 12th in line behind a whole slew of dealers. Still, we had a jolly time chatting, and when the doors opened, I managed to snag a few treasures, including a first edition autographed biography of Savannah native Johnny Mathis called Our Huckleberry Friend. After that I scooted over to a sale a few blocks away, this one run by a gang of affable gay guys who were totally into playing dress-up. They had racks and racks of cool costumes, but I managed to escape with only a retro 50s bamboo table and a couple old suitcases, which went immediately into my booth at Seaside Sisters. Tragically, I was unable to hang around at Tybee for this weekend’s big St. Patrick’s Day parade and doings. Mostly because Boomerang Boy and his gang were taking over The Breeze Inn for the weekend. Eight college kids. As far as I know, there were no injuries or arrests. There was a serious plumbing issue, but Roto-Rooter seems to have taken care of the problem. Oy. On the plus side, it was Scott’s Antique Market weekend. I went three days in a row. I don’t happen to think that’s excessive. Besides, I was filming video for my upcoming film: Junking 101: Scott’s Antique Market. Coming soon to a blog near you. Among my scores: two wicker planters, a wicker coffee table, a huge ’50s rattan mirror frame, a pair of oil paintings of parrots, and a pair of framed seashell prints that were part of a vintage English teaching folio. In between Scott’s jaunts, I managed to discover a cute antique shop in Tucker, Ga. called Main Street Marketplace, where I picked up three more pieces of vintage luggage for my booth. And then, finally, to top the day off, I visited an estate sale being run by an old college buddy, where I bought an old leather-bound 1900s grocery store ledger book, a glass cake stand, a sort of antique cardboard chest, some linens, a ginormous blue and white spatterware batter bowl, and a few other odds and ends. Ah. I feel so much better now.