Memory Object

Even if you haven't seen one in 40 years, this magic copper wand can bring back instant memories of sitting around a kitchen table, dipping hard-boiled eggs into glass ice cream bowls filled with vinegar-scented colored dyes rehydrated from tiny tablets; and the eggs, slowly drying, standing upright in holes punched out of the cardboard kit box; and sometimes-smeary decals or crayon resist doodles. Someone out there designed and patented this simple, specialized, and magically unforgettable human tool.

Plan now! Palm Springs Modernism Week, Feb 17-27: films, lectures, cocktails, and tours, from trailer parks to Frank Sinatra's estate. Plus, the opening party for our new exhibition, Desert Mod, on Feb 18, 5-8pm.

This former Howard Johnsons turned Denny's, is now reincarnated as the flagship restaurant of the hipster Ace Hotel in Palm Springs. The floor-to-ceiling windows have been hung with Land-of-the-Giants macrame and beads, but we love the googie roofline supported by mid-century rockery.

For more images from our exhibition, Desert Mod, head over to Swank Modern Design.

Incense, peppermint, rosemary and thyme. Mattel fed the heads of the children of 1969 with this Peter-to-the-Max zodiac fortune telling set, Mystique Fortell Cards. Mixing day-glo colors with graphics appropriated from medieval woodcuts, and tapping into youth fascination with all things occult and Kreskin, it remains an exemplar of classic 60s pop design. Among its definitive prognostications: "far out behavior" and "pickup by a flying saucer."

For more vintage pop tripiness, head over to Swank Modern Design.

Merry Retro Xmas! DIY Light-Up House Ornaments

Growing up in the early 1960s, we had a mid-century Christmas ornament set of miniature houses, delicately dusted with glitter snow, that would light up from the inside when tree lights were inserted. Resting on a pillow of glass "angel hair," or hung on the branches of a tinsel-strewn pine tree, I would stare at them obsessively like a pajama-clad Gulliver. Now you can craft your very own retro Xmas versions, pictured above, in either "butterfly roof" Alexander home style or traditional cottage style. Just print out Swank's free design template (includes pre-decorated and blank versions for advanced crafters). Paste onto thin card stock. Cut out, score, and fold. Decorate with colored tissue paper behind cut-out windows and doors. Use a pin to punch light holes onto trees and cactii. Glue together onto base, add roof and chimney. Add liberal sprinklings of clear glitter or micro glass beads to the exterior. Gently push Xmas light through the hole in back. Gloria in Excelsis! -- the Little Dreamer Boy