Lithographed vintage travel posters like those shown here are now sometimes sold at auction for tens of thousands of dollars, but they began as ads for a burgeoning industry.
Vintage advertisements
If you have ever thought that 1920s shoes for women were pretty much all the same, think again! There was practically a shoe style revolution between WWI and the Great Depression. Take a look here.
Here’s a different way to serve a salad – made in a gelatin mold, with a combination of lime Jell-O on top of a layer of a sour cream/jello blend that’s studded with nuts and chopped celery.
Here are 5 recipes from the 60s & 70s for Campbelled eggs – a breakfast dish created by the Campbell’s Soup company – including the how-to for Western-style Campbelled eggs.
Classic Ford Torinos were produced between 1968 and 1976. Marketed as a mid-size car that was both sporty and family-friendly, it came in several body styles, including a 2-door hardtop, a 4-door sedan, and a 5-door station wagon.
Back when smoking was considered not only cool, but somehow healthy, television and movie stars had no compunction about promoting the practice, as evidenced by the 18 celebs featured in these vintage cigarette ads.
Vintage Tonka trucks and construction vehicles: From bulldozers, diggers, dump trucks, trenchers and shovels — these toys have been produced since 1947.
Before it billed itself as the ‘World’s Most Experienced Airline,’ Pan Am started off a little more humbly – but already making the bold moves that would make the airline so legendary it became synonymous with international travel in the 20th century.
Living rooms changed entirely when these vintage console stereos came on the market – they were technology and furniture all in one!
Grandma’s one-bowl applesauce cake recipe. It’s especially versatile. It’s the perfect snack almost any time. Bake it as squares, a ring, a loaf or cupcakes. Glaze it or not. Offer it for special flavor at brunch, lunch, or nightcap breaks.
Back when recipes were usually handwritten, vintage recipe boxes were a happy homemaker’s most valued possession. Take a peek at some retro recipe holders here!
Baseball legend Mickey Mantle spent 18 years in New York. He played in 12 World Series, 16 All-Star games, hit 536 home runs, and left the game with a .298 career batting average.
This easy vintage no-bake dessert recipe makes a light and delicious whipped angel food pie that has a crumb crust and a fluffy lemon-flavored filling.
See several 1950s Packard cars that came out as the company introduced new models and features that helped to solidify its reputation as a top producer of luxury cars – like automatic transmissions and power steering.
What was 1950s train travel like, back when riding the railroad was more affordable – and sometimes more luxurious – than airplane travel? Here’s a look back at the fine dining, sleeper cars, a pub and more.
This delicious recipe for sweet, savory and spicy pineapple baked pork ribs gets lots of flavor from the unique but wonderful combination of chili sauce and tropical pineapple.
In the ’80s, The Incredible Hulk & Courtship of Eddie’s Father actor Bill Bixby was the spokesperson for Dietac diet pills… at least until the over-the-counter medication was taken off the market.
The boxy little Dodge Omni was a subcompact 5-door hatchback Chrysler made from 1978 to 1990. See what they looked like here, plus find out all their big selling points.
Introduced in the late 1970s, Underoos were a popular brand of colorful children’s underwear featuring characters from popular franchises like Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Star Wars.
In the 1970s, you could get the budget Ford Torino Wagon, the popular Gran Torino station wagon, and the top-of-the-line classic Ford Gran Torino Squire with woodlike trim.
Here’s a peachy keen vintage peach Jello salad recipe from 1979, which features apricot brandy, sliced peaches and gelatin. Get two bonus variations, too!
This easy 1990s recipe for Baker’s one-bowl brownies uses just 7 ingredients: chocolate, butter, sugar, flour, vanilla, eggs, and walnuts. They combine to make a fudgy homemade dessert that’s absolutely delicious.
Get the original Golden Grahams Gold’n Nut Crunch snack mix recipe so you can re-create classic combo of Golden Grahams cereal, nuts, Parmesan cheese, butter and spices for a savory treat.
Pinwheel cookies — also known as swirl cookies or spiral cookies — are made by layering two different colored doughs together and then rolling them
Hot on the heels of the flower child era, back in 1974, Mattel introduced a set of toys that were sort of the anti-Barbie: The Sunshine Family dolls.
A Rice Krispies gingerbread house – or Christmas cottage – made from crispy rice cereal is easier and faster to put together than most conventional gingerbread houses! Here’s how to do it.
From the 70s, here’s a retro recipe for a frosted chocolate Bacardi rum cake – a chocolatey partner to the famous Bacardi rum cake. Get the recipe step-by-step here!
Butterscotch haystacks are a simple vintage dessert made with butterscotch chips, peanut butter and chow mein noodles — a delicious treat that’s been popular since the 1960s.
Remember when these popular brands of old granola bars were called natural and wholesome… and seemed they were too delicious to be healthy? Yeah, we were right. But still, so yummy!
This shaped butterscotch yule log is like a roll of butterscotch fudge that you cut into slices – and is super easy to create. Here’s how to make one for Christmas!
Here’s a close-up look at several vintage WW2 tanks, along with insight on how to ‘jockey’ these huge machines, plus some more about the Sherman and Grant tanks’ impressive military history.
Back in the mid-1960s, the newly-invented marvel of Shake’n Bake coating mixes was kind of a big deal – or at least the shake and bake concept was marketed that way!
This retro recipe for homemade shake and bake sesame-herb chicken from the 70s is an easy way to make a dinner the whole family will love!
Trade cards, the granddaddy of today’s trading cards, were common in the 1800s, and often showed offbeat images that existed solely to build brand buzz. Here’s a strange set showing people as vegetables.
These big chocolate crinkle cookies are covered in powdered sugar before they’re baked, and come out of the oven with little cracks in the snowy sugar. This classic recipe comes from the 1980s, and uses unsweetened cocoa.
Oh, the lovely, nutty things you can do with walnuts! Straight from 1978, here is a wonderful recipe to try for delicious walnut chocolate chip cookies.
Here’s a retro 1970s recipe from Dole for a delicious Jamaican Pound Cake. It’s made extra delicious with bananas, almonds and rum – and made easy with boxed pound cake mix.
Skip buying expensive candy and make your own! These homemade chocolate truffles can be whipped at home in no time at all with this simple recipe from the 80s.
These white chocolate-orange dream cookies taste almost like orange creamsicles! It’s s a nice variation on the popular white-chocolate macadamia nut cookie – and part of what makes these white chocolate dreams so unique.
Before gummy vitamins existed, there were several other chewable supplements for kids – but none was more iconic than Flintstones vitamins.
This old-fashioned fruit cocktail eggnog pie was a holiday favorite in the 1950s! It’s easy to make, too – only the pie shell needs baking.
While you may think celebrity endorsements are a more recent trend in advertising, that’s clearly not the case, as you can see in these Bing Crosby ads from the 40s, 50s & 60s!
You could spot that Laura Ashley Home vibe at a glance – those patterns (often florals) with a warm and cozy English country feel. And in the 80s and 90s, Americans loved them. See dozens of vintage LAH styles here.
Here, remember a few of the vintage colored paper towels that almost every home in America had hanging in their kitchen, in a wide range of now-rare colors & patterns!
By using baking mix and sweetened condensed milk, you don’t need sugar, egg, butter or flour… in fact, everything you need to make easy peanut blossoms cookies might be in your cupboard right now.
This delicious classic jumbles cookie recipe comes from m&ms, who published it in the 1990s. Candy jumbles are chock-full of chocolate, raisins and nuts – with just enough dough to hold them all together!
Some hardware stores in the 70s used to stock tons of great toys and Christmas gifts for kids – like dolls and trucks, bikes and ride-on horses, car sets and craft kits. Take a look!
What is the secret of this rich, moist, delicious cake? Here’s a hint: It’s known as chocolate mayonnaise cake. Get this surprisingly tasty recipe from 1985!
Along with some great vintage hairstyle photos below, you will also get real-life beauty advice from newspapers published in the 40s and 50s, which offered readers tips on how to get perfect pin curls every time.
This easy and delicious recipe for a cool, rich and creamy double chocolate cream pie comes to you direct from 1982, and has that amazing old-fashioned flavor you might remember.
Made with peanut m&ms chocolate candies, these adorable peanut sitting-pretties thumbprint cookies look like little birds’ nests!
These wonderfully rich and indulgent caramel apple oat squares don’t take long to make, and these dessert bars are doubly delicious when served with ice cream on top.
Toast the season’s riches with this snappy pinecone-shaped cheeseball! Formed in a nutshell of crisp, crunchy almonds, its flavor is so scrumptious, your guests will go simply nutty.
Here’s a tasty retro chocolate fudge recipe from 1984 for Fudge Krispies — essentially chocolate-covered Rice Krispies Treats! Get the easy how-to here.
This retro cranberry pumpkin bread recipe makes for a breakfast or dessert filled with warm flavor from just the right blend of fall spices, plus a little bit of a tart kick from the popular autumn fruit, cranberries.
Back in the 1920s, footwear manufacturers and merchants decided that X-ray shoe fittings could bring in lots of customers – people who would be thrilled to let a recent scientific advance help them find the perfect shoe. There was just a little problem…
As great an actor and director as Orson Welles was, it would be remiss of us if we did not touch on some of his later, slightly less epic works… like his classic ads for Paul Masson wines.
Check out what 10 of Ford’s luxurious classic Lincoln Continental cars looked like back in the sixties!
‘Just add water and you’ve got instant life!’ they said. ‘Over 150 amazing Sea-Monkeys born ALIVE before YOUR eyes!’ But, oh, the disappointment when the critters didn’t look anything like the pictures on the package.
Here’s the easy way to make deliciously moist ‘n crispy Rice Krispies crunchy chicken, with a crust so crisp, it crunches.
Toll House Marble Squares have the same old-fashioned flavor of Toll House Cookies, but the whole batch is baked at one time in a baking pan instead of on cookie sheets.
Anyone who lived through the great videotape format war of the late 1970s to early 1980s will never forget the big question: VHS or Beta? Here’s the Betamax side – the player that ultimately lost.
Take a look back at dozens of the most popular cereals from the 1980s, along with some really random varieties that didn’t last long.
Here’s a retro recipe for little chocolate crackle cookies – delicious treats with a cracked powdered sugar texture on the outside.
Here’s a classic recipe from the late 1940s for Grandma’s peanut butter molasses cookies, which are sweetened with sugar and dark molasses, and topped with peanut halves.
While chocolate milk will always be the rock star of milky mixed drinks, strawberry drink mix has a charm all its own. Here’s a look back at the debut of Nestle’s Strawberry Quik back in the sixties!
Chicken Marengo, one of the great French classics, was invented on the battlefield at Marengo for Napoleon by his master chef, Dunand. Here’s an easy version made with soup!
Here is a Hungarian-inspired chicken paprika recipe, simplified by using tomato soup for the base. Serve it with noodles and alongside a green salad.
Take a look back at some of the classic 60s Ford pickup trucks that were on – and off! – the roads during that decade, and see what features they offered drivers back then.
This retro holiday spinach rice recipe makes 12 servings of a delicious and festive-looking side dish, which includes spinach, cheese and green onions – plus sliced almonds for crunch.
No longer just a throwback costume accessory, old-school go-go boots and other mod-style boots are back in style – no doubt facilitated by the resurgence
Look back at dozens of flavors of vintage Shasta sodas – including root beer, sparking lemonade, strawberry, cream soda, pineapple cola and more from the 60s, 70s and 80s!
Here, get two classic recipes that combine two sweet flavors in one treat: chocolate cherry brownies. Try them both ways and figure out which is your favorite!
If you wanted to see typical retro family cars, check out some huge classic ’50s station wagons that had fins & had rear-facing seats – including cars from Ford, Pontiac, Studebaker and Plymouth.
Originally called Choco-Scotch clusters when they came out in the 60s, these easy no-bake chocolate-butterscotch rice krispies treats have delicious chocolate, butterscotch and peanut butter flavors.
What made this tasty classic country apple pie recipe from the 70s so special? Well, there were two big differences to traditional apple pies. Find out what they were here!
On the way to today’s super-simple, pregnancy test sticks that give results in minutes, women had to use these chemistry set-style vintage home pregnancy test kits, then wait hours for a result.
Old pregnancy test sticks like these were a huge step forward, and meant that millions of women finally had a way to find out they were pregnant without going to the doctor, and without having to do a more complicated liquid chemistry test.
A recipe for the moist, fudgy taste of a brownie in a cookie. This chewy, fudgy, chocolaty, rich, gooey and oh-so-delicious brownie in a cookie bakes up high and moist.
This warmly-spiced glazed pork chops retro recipe from the sixties simmers the meat in a slightly sweet sauce, flavored with cinnamon, cloves, apple and orange.
1960s Mercury Cougar cars came equipped with V-8 engines, deep-foam bucket seats, carpet, concealed headlamps, sequential rear turn signals among other luxury features. Check ’em out!
Here’s a hearty 90-minute beer bread that’s ready to enjoy in just an hour and a half. It combines the rich, full flavor of beer with the taste of rye.
You couldn’t tell a 50s housewife that pastel pink washers and dryers weren’t practical, or that they wouldn’t still be fashionable in a decade. The appliances were stylish and pretty right then and there, at least to millions of women at the time.
The Life Savers candy brand has been around for more than a century! Here’s a look back at how the little sweets with a hole became so popular, and the many flavors they have made over the years.
Pecan pumpkin pie adds the rich flavor of pecans in a crunchy top layer. Corn syrup is combined with canned pumpkin and eggs for a fast, smooth custard filling.
These classic spiced crackle cookies from the 80s – rolled in powdered sugar before baking – deliver a sweet dessert with rich flavor and a little warm and spicy tang.
This almond legend cake has one whole almond baked inside, and the lucky person who receives the slice with the hidden almond is said to enjoy good fortune all year! Here’s the classic recipe from the 1970s!
Do you remember these flower-shaped bathtub stickers? It seems like all the parents in the late 60s & early 70s had some of these popular colorful non-slip Rubbermaid appliques on their tub.
The Kodak Disc camera was was lightweight, foolproof (with auto-exposure and built-in flash), affordable, and used a brand new kind of film cartridge… but it was only sold for six years.
When small appliance manufacturers started selling vintage automatic coffeemakers, they were taking the popular (but cumbersome) drip method of coffee making and making t so much easier.
Here’s a version of Grandma’s homemade prune cake. This recipe makes two desserts: a two-layer cake with a lemon filling, and prune cake bars.
Love those old Caddys? Take a look back at some classic 1970s Cadillac cars, including the Sedan deVille, Fleetwood Sixty Special Brougham, Eldorado Coupe, Eldorado Convertible, Seville and more!
If you love the flavor of almonds and sherry, try them together in a fabulous cake! You make this almond sherry cake with cream sherry, sliced almonds and cake mix.
As charmingly retro as they seem, small striped outdoor tents (also called palmetto or lawn tents) were nothing new in the 1960s and 1970s — in fact, they have been used for centuries.
The flavor of this easy (no cooking), fast (5 minutes), classic Hershey’s recipe can be adjusted up or down, based on the chocolate intensity level you prefer. Get the delicious details here!
These old-school Ford Ranchero pickup trucks weren’t styled like all the other pickups, because they were meant to combine passenger-car comfort with driving ease.
These fab retro 60s ice cream flavors may surprise you! You’re about to see a lot of vintage ice cream flavor (and color!) combinations you used to be able to get at the store, but don’t see much today. Take a look!
Look back at these 1950s vintage portable electric hand mixers, with the kind of removable beaters that kids loved to lick to sample delicious cake batter and cookie dough.
