Category Archives: Our Collection

1962 the Voice of Music Model 1448 Integrated Amplifier and Model 1462 Tuner

Posted on April 27, 2020 by Hepcats Haven

While I was searching for a cool vintage Heathkit audio set up I stumbled across this really cool “the Voice of Music” set up which includes an amp, tuner, record player and reel to reel. As you may remember this is not our first product from “The Voice of Music”. We also have a Tri-O-Matic Model 560A.

These units are in really good shape. I was hesitant to purchase them because the amp did not have all its original knobs. After a short search on eBay I managed to find some knobs that should look very close to original.

These units are completely functional and the tuner is very strong and clear pulling in stations easily. It’s crazy how tight they pack the units into their cases. When these old tuners and amps run the tubes can get so dang hot. Most folks take the cases off so the electronics can breathe.

It’s hard to believe how little info there is online about these units.

The outside cases have some kind of durable textured finish that seems pretty bullet proof.

This is the record player that came with this ‘the Voice of Music” lot. This was taken out of a stereo counsel. The gentleman I purchased it from actually did a good job building a wood platform base for it. I need to have a power cord installed and audio jacks so I can run it through the amplifier.

My purchase also included a small reel to reel that I got for free. It isn’t functional. I prefer the larger reel to reels and will be looking for one. I also want to locate some “the Voice of Music” speakers to complete the set. If you got any let me know!!! This will all be dealt with once we get down to Texas. I can not wait!!!!

Vintage Heathkit/Daystrom Component Audio System

Posted on April 25, 2020 by Hepcats Haven

As I mentioned earlier I have always wanted to assemble a really cool vintage audio component system. It took some time and some money but I was able to do it. After pouring over all the options out there and what looked the most atomic I decided on Heathkit. The four components I was able to find were the Heathkit AJ-30 Tuner, AA-100 Amplifier, AA-11 Pre-Amplifier & AC-11 Multiplex Adaptor. I am in no way an audio aficionado. I am gonna have to figure this out as I go. Of course since these are vintage I need to get them completely checked out before I seriously start to use them. It is kind of hard to know an exact date these were produced. Searching online I have seen folks say 1961 and as late as 1963???

What I dig about these are the saddle colored cases, chrome tapered bezel and of course how the displays light up!

As usual with newly acquired vintage electronics they will need work. It appears the pre-amplifier lighted display isn’t working. Once I get these all dialed in it will be something to see!

The next thing I want to locate is a Heathkit record player, Heathkit reel to reel (AD-22) and also some matching Heathkit speakers (Heathkit/Altec Legato).

Heath was one of those companies that help started the kit business. Ed Heath founded the company in 1926 with, of all things, an airplane kit. He died in a test flight in one in 1935, but Howard Anthony kept the company going. Right after World War II, he bought a batch of electronic surplus. Out of that came one of the first successful kits, a small oscilloscope for $50, which was a real achievement in its time. With that success came many new products. Heathkit most notable product is their ham radios. Tragedy struck yet again in 1954 when Howard Anthony was also killed in an plane crash.

Edward Heath

Howard Anthony

Products Heathkit produced over the decades have included electronic test equipment, high fidelity home audio equipment, television receivers, amateur radio equipment, robots, electronic ignition conversion modules for early model cars with point style ignitions, and the influential Heath H-8, H-89, and H-11 hobbyist computers, which were sold in kit form for assembly by the purchaser.

What was great about Heathkit is folks could either order a kit to assemble these products or order them already assembled. Heathkit manufactured electronic kits from 1947 until 1992. After closing that business, the Heath Company continued with its products for education, and motion-sensor lighting controls. The lighting control business was sold around 2000.

I can’t recall where I read it but it appears Heathkit is back making kits and if that’s so I am sure there are a lot of folks out there who would love to get their hands on one of those kits. Once we get down to Texas I will have these tuned up and hopefully be well on my way to finding the other items mentioned above. If you have a line on any of the items I mentioned above feel free to reach out to me.

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Posted in Our Collection, The Makin's Of Our Pad and tagged 1950's, 1960's, 50's, 60's, Atomic, audio, audiophile, compomets, home audio, mid century, Music, pre-amp, pre-amplifier, preamplifier, reciever, retro, sound system, speakers, tuner, vintage. Bookmark the permalink.

Rare 1943 Lumitone Radio Lamp

Posted on March 28, 2020 by Hepcats Haven

I stumbled across one of these while I was cruising eBay. I had never heard of these before and was fascinated by the design and the idea of it. For the next few months I searched for them on auction sites and luckily managed to secure two of them for our collection. What’s crazy is one of these lamps was produced in 1943, that’s only 2 years after the Pearl Harbor attacks (the other lamp has no info on the bottom). With World War 2 occurring, did that influence the style of these lamps? Who knows, but they are cool!

The ones I ended up purchasing had different bases. One was cream like the body color and the other was a gold color.

These are in found condition and I plan to restore the cases and make them both have the gold bottoms.

The shades I put on these units are not original. The original shades were kind of lame and to me did not compliment the lamps. I’m not sure what lamps these came off of (maybe Majestic), but I like the look they give these Lumitone lamps. They look more Atomic.

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It’s crazy how expensive things become over time. It’s cool to see ads with the original price.

The all cream Lumitone unit had all its tags on the bottom. The other one seems to be missing all that info.

With us moving to Texas in the next few months, I plan to create a music/audiophile room. These are the perfect pieces to compliment that set up.

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Posted in Our Collection, The Makin's Of Our Pad and tagged 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, Atomic, bakalite, chalkware continental, Majestic, MCM, midcentury, midcentury light, Moss, Reglor, tube radio, VIntage Light. Bookmark the permalink.

1970’s Easy Listening Room (“Easy Like Sunday Morning”)

Posted on February 15, 2020 by Hepcats Haven

At one point Mel and I had a house in Sacramento and an apartment in San Jose. This was required because of Mel’s work. It was just easier for Mel to stay in San Jose during the week for work, and then come home to Sacramento during the weekends. As somebody who loves to decorate, I saw her apartment as an opportunity to decorate in space-age decor. When we decided to go “all in” in the bay area and buy a house, we didn’t want to get rid of all the space-age furniture. We ended up deciding to devote one of our rooms in our house to 70’s space-age.

I would of loved to have been able to find some super large vintage lava lamps but I don’t trust them.

These two really large lava lamps were purchased online from Wal*Mart.

While I really do enjoy decorating with atomic Mid Century decor, it’s nice to explore a different genre. Decorating in a different style can really get your creative juices flowing.

We purchased two of these lava glaze lamps at an antique shop up in Paradise CA.

I’m not sure if that shop is still around after the major fire they had up there.

We would hit Paradise all the time when we were on the hunt for cool stuff. I hope they come back from that tragedy.

The real issue was going from decorating a full apartment to decorating just one room. It came down to a battle for space. We had so many cool pieces in her apartment, but they coudn’t all fit in one room. We tried to keep the coolest items from that collection.

I am big into music. I wanted to create a room to hang out in and listen to records and cassettes. I think I’m one of the few out there who are still listening to their cassette tapes. LOL! I remember the first cassette I ever bought was the “Black Celebration” album by Depeche Mode. I was raised on 80s music, but listen to everything! This is our wall of cassettes! I also use this wall to display some choice records.

We were able to keep Mel’s Seeburg Olympian 160 jukebox. Because I was a kid raised in the 80s, we loaded this sucker up with all 80s music! Since space is an issue, I took the closet doors off and created a cove for the jukebox. I also had an electrician come out and wire an outlet into the closet so I didn’t have extension cords hanging out.

We have a few space-age radios and TVs, and the shelves in the closet above the jukebox are great for displaying those.

You might remember this Chromcraft couch, chair and ottoman set. We blogged about them a while back after we had them reupholstered.

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I’m not sure who the maker of this red chair is, but we also had this one reupholstered. It is so comfortable to sit on.

This corner table is really unique. We came across it at an antique mall, and I knew it would be a great addition to the space-age decor. The bottom is a terrarium and I was able to put some of my favorite artificial cacti in there.

I suppose this table could also have been used as an aquarium. I’m not sure if that would work, but it might be a cool idea.

These vintage concert posters are all original prints. We purchased them from a dealer at Midway Antique Mall. The story behind them is that an elderly lady living in the bay area back in the 60s would see these posters on telephone poles and light poles. She would take them down and save them not really knowing that they’d be worth so much later. Anyway, the house she lived in was being demolished and I’m assuming she had passed away or moved on. A couple of observant ladies were walking by the dumpster that was being used and noticed a bunch of papers rolled up. Since they were being thrown away, they grab them. When they got home it was a massive collection of original concert posters from that era. They went to Midway Antique Mall and sold quite a few of them to that dealer. One man’s junk is another man’s treasure!

Vintage Novelty Tribal Figures (Blackmoore/Black Americana)

Posted on February 11, 2020 by Hepcats Haven

This is my whole set of these natives. The only marking on the bottom is “Japan”. If anyone knows who the maker is reach out!

These novelty figures were made during 40’s & 50’s. This kind of Black Americana or blackmoor collecting is sometimes uncomfortable for folks. Obviously it was a different time from now. During the last century a lot of races were depicted by stereotypes & in unfair ways that by today’s standards would be unacceptable. My goal with my blog is to share our collection and this is part of it. I don’t share it to make people feel bad or uncomfortable, I share it to show what existed during that time.

: This one appears to have the original spear.

: This one has seen better days. It’s going to be a small restoration project.

: These are about twice as large as the “Happy Cannibals”

: This native has a bow and arrow. I am missing the string and arrows.

I have been collecting these figures for sometime. For all of us who really enjoy the tiki/tribal feel, we try to create microcosms in our collection. It is not enough to just have a tiki cup on a shelf, you have to layer your collection to make it more interesting. I am always looking for a new way to add layers to our collection.

: Obviously, this one is missing his weapon. A toothpick will have to suffice for now

: I am not sure if I am missing anything or if this native is just praying

: This was the first one I ever purchased

As you can see these figures were painted with bright color accents and sometimes things like skirts, bows, spears and even earrings were added.

It might be a little hard to tell from this photo but this is a native fishing. It appears this native hooked an alligator! I am missing the pole and string.

Gilner, an American ceramics company who was known more for its pottery and pixie figures produce something called “Happy Cannibals”. They would adorn planters with small tribal figures and also created standalone figures. NAPCO also produced tribal figures.

I see plenty of the “Happy Cannibals” while cruising the antique shops. I have not seen the guy in the cooking pot before.

Most of these figures were mass produced from Japan and were more than likely travel trinkets tourists would pick up to remember trips to far off & exotic places. People were always bringing back trinkets from their trips, sometimes it was a souvenir tablecloth, souvenir spoon, salt and pepper shakers and even these figures.

: This was one of the first Gilner tribal planters we purchased

: I like to use fake succulents to fill all my planters. I suck at gardening.

: As you can see, some of them are missing their earrings.

: This is another one that still needs to be restored.

: This is one of my favorite Gilner planters

: This tribal figure had no paint when I got it. A quick touchup fixed that.

: This is a pretty common one.

: This little lady looks kind of shifty.

: I have not had a chance to plant all these yet. There are too many

: This is one I have not seen before

: I purchased a sample set of model paint and touched all these up

Our collection is elaborate and diverse. Things that were once normalized in the past are looked at with different insight today. Though some may be offended by these figures and might even feel it perpetuates the stereotypes, I promise you that is not my intention. In the end my only mission is to share my collection.

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Posted in Our Collection, The Makin's Of Our Pad and tagged 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, 40's, 60's, African memorabilia, african warrior, Atomic, cannibal, hawaii, head hunter, islander, MCM, mid century, midcentury, retro, tiki, Tourism, travel, tribal artifacts, tropics, vintage, vodo. Bookmark the permalink.

Vintage Poloron Plaid “Pelican” and “Tartan” Coolers

Posted on February 9, 2020 by Hepcats Haven

With the purchase of our 59′ Willys Wagon we are trying to find some cool items to stage with it when we go to car shows. I love the plaid yellow and brown reptile skin graphic. Since the Willys is going to be a Tiki Wagon these will be great!

I was really lucky to find these all together as a set. I came across them driving by a yard sale on the way home from a doctors appointment! Overall they are in very good condition. I was surprised at how large the Poloron Tartan Toter is.

The large Tartan Toter and Tartan jug with spout are a part of the same series made by Poloron.

This large Poloron Pelican Cooler has the same yellow plaid but does not share the Tartan name. I am not sure why they are not all Tartan but I am sure Poloron had their reasons. Poloron made soo many cool pieces you will be torn when choosing a set. As you can see there are so many cool kinds…

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All New for 1959, The Willys Maverick Wagon

Posted on February 4, 2020 by Hepcats Haven

So we got rid of our radical 70’ Camaro with a 427 racing motor. It was too much car. My wife has gotten used to me being around and that car was a widow maker. We wanted to pick up something with power but could shuttle the family around.

I was surfing Craigslist when I saw this yellow dream 1959 Willys Maverick Wagon 4X2. I had the great pleasure of meeting the owners of the Willys, Kelly and Janice. They took such great care of this Willys. This car was actually restored top to bottom in the early 2000’s. Kelly said the previous owners spent around $40K to restore it! It was restored as a promotional vehicle for a coffee shop in L.A.. That business went under and the Willys was sold to Kelly & Janice. They used it mainly as a grocery getter and to shuttle grandkids around for ice cream.

This Willys was built right. It sports a Chevy 350 motor that really moves this wagon because of the lightness of the vehicle. Wagon comes equipped with A/C, power windows, power seats all new gauges, newer seats and interior. This is one of the cleanest Willys classics I have ever seen. These vehicles were work horses and usually did not survive the hard life they were subjected to.

Things Mel and I want to do is add whitewalls, alarm, maybe a cool vintage roof rack and a new aluminum radiator (better cooling). I also want to add wood grain vinyl decals to the recessed rectangular areas on the body to give it more of a “woodie” feel. That is about it because everything is done.

I think this is the original radiator. It does the job and has an electric fan installed. If you have ever owned a classic, traffic can be a real headache because of lack of air flow. These fans run off a thermostat and kick on to keep the engine cool. Someone at some point also added an under the dash switch to manually turn on the electric fan. I drove this wagon home from Stockton about 80+ miles and she did alright.

The seller Kelly told me usually the roof on these wagons are smooth. He said while researching this wagon he could only find one other one that had the linear recesses on top. He mentioned at one point, Willys was in talks with a refrigerator manufacturer to produce body panels and he wonders if maybe this is a prototype???

Another thing we need to look into is maybe raising the Willys a couple of inches. This is due to the fact that the exhaust manifold hangs down and on rare occasions it may drag/rub.

The interior is still very fresh and in overall good condition. Having a power option on this wagon is a trip, because when they were built they were very basic.

All the panels inside have this cool Willys logo design. I actually think there might be speakers under each logo. This thing has a good sound system, but I don’t see any speakers.

Because Willys basically have no dash top, I had to create a small shelf for our Aloha dancer to perform on. I can’t make this a beach wagon without one of these!

Another quark about these wagons is that they don’t have access to the back seat. This means passengers have to enter through the back hatch to sit on the back bench. I guess they didn’t see any issues with that design! Thank god I am the driver because I am too big to crawl around in the back!

This is in no way a Concourse level restoration, but it is one of the cleanest drivers I have ever seen. It has little areas that might need attention, but once it is dialed in that’s it! Here are some other photos, enjoy!

I came across an original waterslide Beach Boys decal and I just had to add it.

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Posted in Our Collection, The Makin's Of Our Pad and tagged 1950's, 4x4, Atomic, beach, beach boys, bronco, jeep, mid century, midcentury, retro, surf wagon, suv, vintage, willies, willys. Bookmark the permalink.

2017: Year in Review

Posted on December 31, 2017 by Hepcats Haven

This past year was about turning the page. If you’ve followed our blog, you’re aware that we recently moved. This was a MAJOR move for us. What some of you may not know is that we had a house in Sacramento and an apartment in San Jose that Mel lived in during the week for work. This move included moving out of both homes, moving out of Midway, selling a house, and buying a house. All of this happened in less than 4 months. For our year in review, we’d like to focus on key events related to our move and cover some of the fun stuff we were able to squeeze in.

Sold 1959 Ranch

People would often say to us that they would hate to be us if we ever moved. Mel and I have been collectors our whole marriage (13 years this coming Feb) and we’ve amassed quite a collection of vintage home decor. To be honest, we probably would have moved sooner if the idea of moving wasn’t so daunting. We began packing in mid-July, and the house hit the market on August 20, 2017. The house went pending a week later on the first day of our open house. We accepted a contingency offer over asking, and the house closed on October 3, 2017.

Here are a few shots before and after we packed the rooms up.

Tiki Room: Before & after packing.

Living Room: Before & after packing.

Master Bedroom: Before & after packing.

Closed our Showroom

Once we started packing, the next thing we did was begin liquidating our inventory in our showroom at Midway Antique Mall. We became dealers at Midway in August of 2013. Coincidentally, we closed our showroom almost exactly 4 years later this past August, 2017. Here are some photos of how our showroom evolved over the years.

Moved out of San Jose Pad

In our San Jose pad, we were able to decorate outside our usual atomic fifties style. This was a fun change. Luckily, we were able to keep a lot of this collection. We’re creating a music listening room in one of the bedrooms in our new house, and we’re decorating with a lot of these pieces. Below are some photos of our pad before we moved out.

Photo Shoots

We squeezed in a few photo shoots before we started moving. Our house in Sacramento was decorated in fifties atomic and tiki, while our San Jose apartment was decorated in a more space age, mod style. Below are some photos from shoots that occurred at both locations.

Location: Sacramento Atomic Fifties Ranch

Photographer & MUAH: Marilee Caruso, Model: Julieta Martinez

Photographer & MUAH: Marilee Caruso, Model: Roxy Ruckus

Photographer & MUAH: Marilee Caruso, Model: Donna McDougal

Photographer: Feathered Flash Photography MUAH: Heather Elizabeth Camacho Model: Sharon Eileen

Publication: Pinup Kulture Magazine, Photographer: Feathered Flash Photography, MUAH: Heather Elizabeth Camacho, Model: Sadie LaSalle

Location: San Jose Mod Pad

Photographer & MUAH: Marilee Caruso, Model: Bo Vixxen

Photographer & MUAH: Marilee Caruso, Model: Tecia Marsh

Publication: Delicious Dolls Magazine, Photographer: Shogun Photography, MUAH: Brandi Proffitt, Model: Kitti Von Paige

Collection

Even with all the chaos and stress of moving, we had some time to add to our collection and knock out a few restorations.

Barzilay Furniture Mfg. Co. Record Player Stand Restoration

We added one final piece today to our collection for 2017. Thanks to Christina and Chris Lindquist for thinking of us when they decided to re-home this amazing Frederic Weinberg piece.

Name Change

When we started our blog about 6 years ago, our focus was on sharing our mid-century home decor collection and restoration techniques. Over the years, we’ve evolved and become more diverse in our collection and we decided to no longer offer restoration services to the public (we’ll still blog about pieces we restore for our collection). Because of this, Hepcat Restorations no longer represented who we were. So, we rebranded ourselves as Hepcats Haven.

Hepcats Haven Designs

I’ve always thought of myself as an artistic person. As a kid, I used to spend endless hours drawing. I decided to embark on a new adventure and try my hand at graphic design. My portfolio isn’t very large yet, but I plan to build this up. You’ll find a variety of designs in my collection including fifties atomic, tiki, seasonal, Panton era, etc..

Currently, I’m using the Redbubble and Spoonflower platforms to showcase my collection. You’ll be able to buy the images I design and have them printed on clothing, books, and home decor such pillows, bedding & clocks. You can purchase my designs on fabric, wallpaper, and gift wrap via Spoonflower. Click on the links below to check out my designs.

Hepcats Haven Designs on Redbubble

Hepcats Haven Designs on Spoonflower

Here are some examples:

Our New 1961 Ranch

Special thanks to James Safonov Realty and Brad L’Engle of Guild Mortgage. James actually sold our house in Sacramento and helped us with buying our new home. He drove from Sacramento all the way to the Bay Area every time we had homes we wanted to check out.

We found our new Hepcats Haven in early November. This is what we’re starting with. We’re putting our touches on it, and will show you some after photos once we get our landscaping more dialed in.

What’s Next?

We’re focusing on getting our new house in order. Getting unpacked and our collection up has actually been more difficult than the move itself. As we get rooms in order, we’ll be sure to share our journey with you. Here’s a sneak peek…

We wish a happy New Year to everyone!

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Posted in Carlo of Hollywood, Hepcat Restorations Store, Hepcats Haven Designs, Other Stuff, Our Collection, Photo Shoots & Press, Restorations, The Makin's Of Our Pad and tagged 1950's, 1960's, 50's, 60's, Atomic, Carlo Hollywood, classic pin up photoshoot, classic pin up shoot, classic pinup shoot, Elvgren, fifties decor, frederick weinberg, kitsch, mid century, midcentury, pin up girl, pin up photo shoot, pin up photography, pin up photoshoot, pin ups, pinup, pinup girl, pinup pho, pinup photo shoot, Redbubble, retro, Spoonflower, tiki, vintage, Year in Review. Bookmark the permalink.

Sellers Remorse

Posted on August 29, 2017 by Hepcats Haven

Mel and I have been vintage home decor dealers for many years. There are times when we look back and say “why did we sell that”?!?! Now that we are looking at moving into a new house (once we find it), we need to find more items to fill it. We thought we would include some photos of the items we regret selling and would entertain an opportunity at getting them back!

This fantastic yellow chair was so comfortable! It went really well with our other space age items in our collection.

These were an Alameda Antique Fair find and we jumped at the opportunity to own them. These could have been great end tables lighted from the inside.

We used this in Mel’s apartment before we furnished it. It was our temporary couch and was surprisingly comfortable. Another selling mistake. It was made by Chromcraft.

This is our largest regret! This 5 Piece Milo Baughman Thayer Coggin Lighted Hanging Bar was to die for! We wouldn’t be upset if the new owners wanted to sell it back to us.

This bar!!!

It even had drawers for storage.

Space Age Table Set/Chess Table

Have you ever seen an ultra cool coffee table/chest like this!?!?

We miss this Modeline mod circle floor lamp with shelf too!

This little Philco gem was such a cool little set.

This was the largest Letterman ribbon print we had ever seen.

WHY?!?! We sold this Vladimir Kagan Sectional too! What is wrong with us!?!?

Because we don’t have enough of these. This Carlo of Hollywood Buddha piece was large and interesting and still had vibrant colors.

This was our first classic car. It is a 1955 Ford Fairlane sedan. I know it has four doors, but it was clean and it was fun to cruise around in.

And lastly, our 1962 Ford Econoline. This thing was my dream car. I have always been a van man. She went to a good home, but I miss her.

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1970 Electrohome Apollo 862 Record Player With Custom Fiberglass Base

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Hepcats Haven

Mel and I have had this player for some time. This is the table top model, but they also made ones that had a tulip base stand.

We purchased this base that was originally for a terrarium, but was missing the plastic ball terrarium topper. I wasn’t sure what to do with this base until we saw online an exhibit that San Francisco Museum of Modern Art did about the 70’s. In the exhibit, they used the same record player paired with a similar base. With that idea, I was excited to bring these two pieces together.

I could have painted the base a hundred different colors, but I felt that black looked best with the black accents on the record player. After the paint dried, I had to drill holes to route the cord through the center.