Collecting: A Rationale The First Transistor Radios—1950s Collecting Pop Culture Matchcovers and Matchbooks Pushy Furniture More Pushy Furniture Kitchen Collectibles More Kitchen Collectibles Still More Kitchen Collectibles Vintage Televisions Nameplates and Lettering More Nameplates and Lettering Collecting the Wacky Nothing New Under the Sun Disposable Panties and Other Gems Our Disposable Culture Bathroom Collectibles More Bathroom Collectibles Luggage Labels, Airlines Records, Album Covers More Records Personal Music Players The Sony Walkman Trashy Novels Communists and Bomb Shelters Flashlights Wall Decor Music Guides / Lists / Top 40 Radio Crystal Radios Knockoffs and Ripoffs On the Table On the Table, More! Microphones Pocket Calculators Pocket and Portable Tape Recorders Drinks, Anyone? More Drink-related Foolishness The Box It Came In Lost In Translation Early Video Games Cigarette Packs More Cigarettes and Smoking Advertising Illustration More Advertising Illustration Small Computers Walkie Talkies Greeting Cards More Greeting Cards, Valentines A Collection of Clocks The Way Things Were More of the Way Things Were Board Games and such Collecting Variants Toy Guns, Space Guns More Toys Collecting Design Tubes and Transistors Collecting Batteries More Batteries Hearing Aids Garage / Utility Collectibles Collecting the Awful Architectural Illustration Religious Tracts Vintage Clothes “Fine” Art, Big Eyes, and Portraits “Fine” Art in the abstract


Collecting Design

The Village Theater in Coronado, California near San Diego. From 'Collecting Design' at the web's largest private collection of antiques & collectibles: https://www.ericwrobbel.com/collections/collecting-design-1.htm The concept of 'Collecting Design' illustrated with this excellent and exuberant lettering on the Martinique Apartments in Arleta California, north of Van Nuys. More at the web's largest private collection of antiques & collectibles: https://www.ericwrobbel.com/collections/collecting-design-1.htm

“Stop the car!” I’m glad I had my camera with me in July 1986 when I spotted this Village Theater sign in Coronado, California near San Diego. It was designed and built in 1947.

Collecting isn’t always about buying stuff. The leaf or rock collector finds examples “in the wild.” Collecting Design is something like this. The collected object doesn’t have to be “owned.” After all, it’s a little tough to collect an actual theatre marquee when they are still using it. So why not save a photograph? Next best thing. Like my c.1980 photo of the Martinique apartments sign, 8770 Woodman, Arleta, California.

Page from a funny, early Betsey Johnson catalog (around 1982). More at 'Collecting Design' at the web's largest private collection of antiques & collectibles: https://www.ericwrobbel.com/collections/collecting-design-1.htm

The point isn’t ownership, the point is access. Which is why some of us get so angry when an iconic structure is destroyed to make way for new development. And why those developers who destroy those structures, and who are all about ownership, never seem to understand what all the fuss is about.

'No shoeshine today...thank you!' Page from an early Betsey Johnson catalog, around 1982. From 'Collecting Design' at the web's largest private collection of antiques & collectibles: https://www.ericwrobbel.com/collections/collecting-design-1.htm

Enjoy these pages from a catalog that landed in my mailbox circa 1982, after a visit to Betsey Johnson’s new boutique on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. This catalog was unlike anything else I’d seen in fashion— edgy and young, of course, but funny too. The models even smiled! I felt immediately that this was a brand with a future and this catalog joined my design collection while still new. From the cover picture: “Hi! Betsey here. Today’s August 10th. We’re celebrating my birthday & our 5th year in business together. Meet my partner Chantal, her husband Phil, and their new baby Amanda. Lulu’s home with Grandma! Enjoy your holidays!!! XOXOXOX Bye!”

'Excuse me, Miss, the gentleman over there would like to buy you a car.' Funny, early Betsey Johnson catalog from around 1982. From 'Collecting Design' at the web's largest private collection of antiques & collectibles: https://www.ericwrobbel.com/collections/collecting-design-1.htm

The catalog’s theme: “Dora Goes To Boystown, U.S.A. Boystown, where there’s no such thing as a bad boy...or a bad bar!”

Credits: photos by John Kisch, model is Billi Woods, text by Max Blagg.

'Dora Goes To Boystown, U.S.A.' Cover of a funny, early Betsey Johnson catalog from around 1982. With photo of Betsey, Chantal, Phil, and Amanda. A creative, interesting catalog featured on 'Collecting Design' at the web's largest private collection of antiques & collectibles: https://www.ericwrobbel.com/collections/collecting-design-1.htm

Collecting Design is perhaps the overall theme of all of my collecting. If you’ve looked at some of the other pages here you will know what I mean.

Roaming the backroads of semi-rural suburban Michigan with its modest houses and open spaces, suddenly the St. Matthew Catholic Church burst into view. Wow! It’s in the Zilwaukee (Saginaw) area. 2008.

Great mid-century modern architecture at St. Matthew Catholic Church in the Zilwaukee (Saginaw) area of Michigan. From 'Collecting Design' at the web's largest private collection of antiques & collectibles: https://www.ericwrobbel.com/collections/collecting-design-1.htm



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