Tag Archives: 60’s

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.

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.

Mid Century TECHFAB Fiberglass Seating

Posted on July 17, 2018 by Hepcats Haven

As I always do, I was surfing Craigslist in surrounding areas and came across this set down in Fresno. Once I was able to coordinate a showing I hopped in the truck and shot down!These were being sold by a gentleman down in Fresno who had a warehouse full of stuff. He said that he buys a lot of items from estate sales.

My plans are to light sand these and then repaint them. These will be great as additional seating in our backyard.

Each section has five chairs. They’re mounted on really sturdy and heavy metal frames. It would take quite an effort to tip one of these over.

The cool thing is that both pieces still have the original manufactures tag on it. I’m assuming that these were made sometime in the 1960s. The gentleman I purchased them from didn’t really know much about them.

Once these are refinished, I think they will look really good in our side yard where we plan to put a horse shoe pit or bocce ball game area. It seems like anymore you have to go the distance to find the cool things.

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Posted in Restorations, The Makin's Of Our Pad and tagged 1960's, 60's, aqua chair atomic chair, eames, Eichler, fiberglass chair, knoll, MCM, mcm office, mid century, mid century office, midcentury, midcentury office, retro, shell chair, vintage, vintage office. Bookmark the permalink.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (minus Sneezy)

Posted on May 31, 2018 by Hepcats Haven

As I blogged in an earlier post, I have been in the process of restoring these vintage Disney concrete garden statues. We have all the pieces except Sneezy who was too busted up to restore. Fortunately, we found a replacement that is shipping from the east coast.

One thing I noticed when trying to stay faithful to the color scheme of each character is that there seems to be a lot of conflicting info online. I did my best to match any images I found online from the original movie. Also, I wasn’t digging just a white beard. I tried to add more detail by adding gray and white to capture a more realistic look. Here are before and after photos of some of the characters.

Snow White Before

Snow White After

Sleepy Before

Sleepy After

Dopey Before

Dopey After

Doc Before

Doc After

Happy Before

Happy After

Bashful Before

Bashful After

These pieces have started to be reproduced. They come in three different sizes: small, medium & large. Our set is original and would be considered the large set. We will be happy to complete the set once Sneezy arrives. Onto the next project!

Excuse the landscaping, we still need to work on the backyard.

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Posted in Restorations and tagged 1950's, 1960's, 50's, 60's, 7 dwarfs, Atomic, atomic backyard, atomic backyard decor, atomic cement, atomic concrete, atomic Disney, atomic patio, Bashful, Cement Snow White Statue, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, mcm backyard, mcm patio, mid century, mid century cement, mid century patio, mid-century backyard, mid-century concrete, midcentury, midcentury backyard, midcentury concrete, midcentury patio, Outdoor Snow White Statue, retro, retro backyard, retro backyard decor, retro cement, retro concrete, retro Disney, retro patio, Sleepy, Sneezy, Snow White, Snow White and the seven dwarfs, Snow White Cement Statue, Snow White Garden Statue, Snow White Statue, vintage, vintage backyard, Vintage Cement Snow White Statue, vintage disney, vintage patio, vintage seven dwarfs, Vintage Snow White, Vintage Snow White Statue. Bookmark the permalink.

Fiberglass Find!!!

Posted on January 9, 2018 by Hepcats Haven

Last weekend Mel and I decided to take a break from unpacking to attend the Alameda Point Antiques Faire. There have been very few times where we had such a successful haul as this faire. While cruising all the vendors we came across an amazing rhinoceros wall mount.

Don’t worry all you animal rights activists, this thing is made out of fiberglass! We purchased this from Bob & Bonnie of Alchemy Estate liquidations in spot M23.

They were so nice and just wanted to make sure it went to a good home. Our tiki room is quickly becoming a fiberglass game room!

We were so excited to get this. We missed out on a hippo a while back, so this makes up for it. We are on the hunt for more of these fiberglass wall mounts and hope to add more to the collection. We will share our other scores shortly.

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Posted in The Makin's Of Our Pad and tagged 1950's, 1960's, 50's, 60's, Atomic, Carlo Hollywood, Carlo of Hollywood, Carlo water color, chalkware, hawaiian, MCM, mid century, mid century tiki, midcentury, retro, retro decor, retro tiki, tiki, Tiki bar, tiki culture, tiki god, Tiki Room, tropical, vintage, vintage lamp, vintage tiki. 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.

1966 General Electric Mustang Portable Stereo Record Player

Posted on April 25, 2017 by Hepcats Haven

We picked up this little gem while we were out antiquing. I love that it is on an original Gusdorf D2300 stand. It is such a small and compact unit, which makes it great for on the go entertaining. We wish we never sold our 1964 Motorola Cadet Portable Television. These units would have looked great together.

While speaking to the shop owner, he notified us that he rented this out for a photo shoot in Content Magazine. We took a couple of photos of the magazine with it in the background. Just a little more cool to add to this set up. The photographer was Arabela Espinoza.

Looks like a cool shoot! Nice staging.

The photographer did a great job with even with the little things. In the foreground we can see Pall Mall cigarettes, Polaroid camera, pull tab beers!

This player is really clean. The platter mat needs to be glued back down to the platter but that is an easy fix with some rubber cement.

Gotta love the 70’s green and orange accents!

I have to bring this in to my good buddy Justin at Stellar Electronics to give this little guy a tune up.

I haven’t decided if we are gonna keep this unit yet.

Below is the verbage from the advertisement for this Mustang Portable Stereo Record Player.

“Turn that thing down! How many times have you heard that? Now you can do something about it. Besides suffer in silence. Pick up your party & your stereo Mustang & sink slowly into the sunset. Like far away. G.E.’s Mustang is meant to be carried room to room or house to house. The big speakers make great stereo sound sound that way. & that’s what musics for.”

-Boys Life November 1966

Hepcats Evolution

Posted on April 25, 2017 by Hepcats Haven

When we started our blog about 6 years ago, our focus was on sharing our mid century decor collection and restoration techniques. Over the years, we’ve evolved and became more diverse in our collection and what we are involved with. Because of this, Hepcat Restorations no longer represents who we are. We are now rebranding ourselves as Hepcats Haven. Hepcats Haven will showcase a broader time period of collecting and restoration of items from the 1940’s-1980’s. We’ve expanded to photoshoot location booking and prop rentals. However, we are no longer offering restoration services.

Thanks to all of you who have followed us through our many adventures and shared your thoughts. We hope you continue to join us in this new journey.

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Posted in Nostalgia, Other Stuff and tagged 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, 1970's, 1980's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, Art Deco, Atomic, eames era, kitsch, MCM, mid century, midcentury, panton era, retro, space age, tiki, vintage. Bookmark the permalink.

Hepcats Haven

Tag Archives: 60’s

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

Vintage Heathkit/Daystrom Component Audio System

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

Vintage Novelty Tribal Figures (Blackmoore/Black Americana)

Mid Century TECHFAB Fiberglass Seating

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (minus Sneezy)

Fiberglass Find!!!

2017: Year in Review

Hepcats Haven Designs on Redbubble

Hepcats Haven Designs on Spoonflower

1966 General Electric Mustang Portable Stereo Record Player

Hepcats Evolution

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