Monday, July 07, 2008

Nostalgia sells!

It was inevitable, I suppose. After all, my mother's Fiesta Ware long since landed in the collectibles shops and, it seems, every 10-year era now has its day at the antique malls. May I intersperse that I'm convinced that generation this, that and the other is actually an invention of marketing men with something to sell and/or sociology professors with nothing more useful to do. Spoiled youngsters, flattered at the attention, do their best to live up to whatever script the media feature this week.

That 70s Store is in a strip mall facing SR 69 which styles itself "Old Town Prescott Valley." Come on, guys, give me a break! All of Prescott Valley is itself a new town, dating, I believe, from the 70s. However, there are a couple of interesting shops.

Merchandise includes tie dyes galore, if you like that sort of thing, but they do make colorful pictures. Me? I was of an older bohemian generation and was more likely to wear black.

Any number of masks. Curious -- I don't recall the hippies who congregated in Chicago's Old Town wearing masks.

A disappointingly small selection of beads and other jewelry. Beads, of course, were a very big thing.

Also on sale, some rather grand bumper stickers. (Though do bear in mind the latest scientists-say-study which revealed that road rage is the property of drivers who plaster their vehicles with bumper stickers, no matter the sentiment.)

Patches -- are these a 70s thing or do they fit in more comfortably with the store's other line of goods, biker leathers?

And here are the leathers -- quite a contrast to those tie dyes, aren't they? But I suspect that the biker duds are better sellers than the hippy nostalgia. Couldn't resist the pic of the proprietor re-arming the dummy below.

Cool Sites: A splendid anti-burqa Tshirt is available here. Go take a look at an old Arizona slide show courtesy of Prescott Style. If antique farm tools are your thing, this site should be your starting point. Touch the Wind offers a picture of fruiting saguaros and Escaping Suburbia follows a bee swarm being corralled. Enjoy.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice post. I wonder how much business she does.

meggie said...

Your posts are all so interesting!
I find I dont 'get' Flickr photos. It says click for lager view, but Flickr is much smaller to me? Am I the only one who finds this?
You photos enlarged, but the Flickr ones don't.

Anonymous said...

Colorful post, GJ!

I don't remember the masks, either. Do bikers wear them?

Beads, yes!!

Monday, we had a nice late-morning walk around Linx Lake. It's so pretty there!

~Anon in AV

Anonymous said...

Jesus and Mo Shirt Shop, now that's marketing! Thanx Granny J for the link.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link! Lots of swarms around here lately.

Love the photos of the shop. :-)

Comment in response to Meggie re: Flickr... if you click on a Flickr photo, you'll get to the photo's main page. Then there should be a link above it that says "all sizes".

TomboCheck said...

'Old Town' prescott valley, thats a riot.

Also, not sure why but some of your photos didn't open for me the first time around (specifically; the masks, glasses, and the first bumper sticker image). I refreshed the page and they came up all-right the second time around. :)

Granny J said...

steve -- I wondered that also.

meggie -- check below with Kate about the Flickr photos; hope it works for you.

anon av -- glad you got to the lake; were the eaglets still there in training?

style -- if I see one of those Ts around town, I'll know it's you.

kate -- thanks for helping SnS; I found the bee man fascinating.

tombo -- OOPS!

Anonymous said...

You were in a charitable mood when you called Prescott Valley a "town."

Granny J said...

boonie -- the "town" fathers are trying, really trying. There are even a couple of buildings over 2 stories high!!!

Anonymous said...

We arrived at the Lake about 11am, so (wisely) I think they were resting, staying out of the heat. LOL

We saw plenty of ducks tho! :-)

Granny J said...

anon av -- any geese? we usually have aggressive, hungry geese in the spring, along with phalerope & mud hens.

Anonymous said...

OOHH! Sorry I missed this shop!! Makes me want to be 16 again, roll one up, and watch a river flow by!

Granny J said...

Famous Niece -- doesn't it ever!

 
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