A Brief Compendium of the Traveling Salesman’s Vintage Sample Case

Unlike most of the vintage stuff we tend to get nostalgic about on this blog, I’m not sure travelling salesmen of yesteryear rapping their knuckles on our front doors is something we’d necessarily want to bring back. While I do like to touch and feel what I’m buying, briefcase-carrying bowler hat-wearing door to door sellers hawking…

The 1930s Rooftop Aviation School of Galeries Lafayette, Paris

I came across these curious photographs from the French National library, dated to 1932 and labelled, “École d’aviation sur le toit des Galeries Lafayette” – Aviation school on the roof of the Galeries Lafayette. A rooftop flight school above one of Paris’ most famous department stores, smack in the middle of the city’s busiest shopping district? I had…

A Forgotten Ode to the Little Paris Shopfront

I was walking along the Seine this weekend, slowing my pace for the lonely bouquinistes (the open-air booksellers that have squatted the quays of the river since the 18th century), when a dog-eared paperback caught my eye. Inside, it was filled with the most delightful illustrations of French boutiques from the 1920s; each storefront’s name inspired…

The Time Machine Sweet Shop in Paris

You could stand in the endless line at Ladurée, queuing up with the other macaron zombies, or you could go on a little hunt, off the beaten path for somewhere slightly more worth your precious time in Paris … After working from home for far too long, I recently found a studio space in the old latin quarter…

The Vintage Double Decker Bus Shop & Friends

Vintage-lover Erin Sutherland found an old-beat up British double decker bus on Craigslist. When she went to look at the 1965 Bristol Lodekka on a used car lot in Springfield, Oregon, it was love at first sight and she bought it then and there. She followed her purchase up with a margarita and several months of…

Time Capsule Diner Hiding in a New Orleans Record Store

I‘m having a very ‘Americana nostalgia’ day here at MessyNessyChic HQ for some reason (see previous post on all things stuck in the 1950s), which segue-ways into today’s second time travelling discovery. I first spotted this retired mid-century diner in the archives of the instagram account American Squares. “A junk store built around an old…

Cape Town’s Vanishing Red Coke Dens

Given you’re a determined adventurer, should you find yourself in Cape Town, we figured you might be interested in stepping off the beaten track on a quest to find a slice of kitschy nostalgia. In one of the oldest suburbs of the city (and becoming the hippest), we’re looking for the illustrious red-and-white watering holes that…

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The Secret World of After Hours Magic in New York City

One of the most magical evenings you can spend in New York City, is also one of its most secret. Imagine walking down one of the busiest thoroughfares in the city, the famous Thirty Fourth Street, making your way past tens of thousands of people, who every day come to visit some of Manhattan’s most…

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Dream Home du Jour: Live like a Victorian Shopkeeper

A charming slice of London history in the heart of Spitalfields Market has recently hit the market and stolen our hearts. The three-bedroom property includes a Grade II-listed shop on the ground floor, which retains the original Victorian signage, advertising the services of a milliner by the name of A. Gold, which operated at 42…

The Last Little Music Shop in East Village

If my computer was a real place, it would probably look like Rainbow Music. Ya won’t know what ‘messy’ truly is until you’ve stepped inside the world of Rainbow music of East Village, New York. A chaos of CDs, tapes and videos stacked up on almost every inch of floor space, the shop doesn’t even…