Past Perfect
(photos by Lee Bey)
Not architecture, but a few nicely-designed items from the recent past--collected by me and all in good working order.
The above photo is a Western Electric Model Model 500 black rotary phone from the 1950s. I picked it up last year at an estate sale in the Beverly neighborhood and it works fine. Around the Urban Observer's house, this 50 year old Model 500 has already outlasted two of those plastic twittery things that pass for phones these days.
(above) A Boston Ranger 55 pencil sharpener, salvaged from the old Chicago Sun-Times building by a former coworker.
(above) An Argoflex 75 film camera from the late 1950s. Still works. I shot a roll of film on it two years ago (uh need to get it developed)
(above)
The FM tuner from my 1965 KLH Model 19 stereo. The whole set-up features a pair of speakers, and a turntable/amplifier unit is a fine bit of mid-1960s Scandanvian Modern design...built in Massachusettes.
Comments
I miss the heavy feel of the rotary dial as well as the heavy feel of a real typewriter. I blew the shift key off my Powerbook the other week - it is hard to punch and type in such small spaces with so little heft.
Posted by: Vince | November 26, 2007 08:42 PM
Hey Vince! I like that feeling too. I also liked hanging it up, because you could do so with such authority.
Posted by: UrbanObserver | November 26, 2007 08:57 PM