2010.....A look back

2010, a look back……

Wow, it has been a very crazy year and many many months since my last blog entry. July was my last entry and it feels like a lifetime since Summer. A lifetime of elapsed time, but also personal growth in six months! I didn’t forget about my blog, in fact I kept saying “I have got to do a blog entry!” --- I just never got to it.

I began a blog this year “T Time with Tyler” and I started a new social media consulting venture this year called Social∙ology, currently with four clients with a combined fan base of 2000 people. I registered thriftingwithtyler.com as an outlet to share all of my great “thrifting” and antique finds and I was invited to be a contributor to an online monthly Magazine entitled "Design Is Magazine" where I write my very own column entitled “Thrifting with Tyler”. In conjunction with my column I launched a facebook fan page entitled “Thrifting with Tyler” which I am very proud to say has roughly 500 views per month and if that is not enough I manage seven twitter accounts with over 800 followers. @crimpersatlanta, @johntylerlynch, @radiussalon, @kmhinteriors, @thriftwithtyler @eggsnestatlanta, With that I opened an Etsy.com store after being with Ebay over 12 years. Click here to check out my store.

I entered the blog scene in 2010 and met some great bloggers, including my friend Patti Davis, and Kari Fisher and Niki Popadopoulus.

Halloween 2010

Halloween 2010

Dustin, Daniel and I at CB2 Midtown opening party

Erin and I and Callanwolde Showhouse opening party

Me being me on a "Thrifting with Tyler" adventure

My "Family".

I heart Maria


Slean and I at 2010 Toy Party

Niki, Dustin & I at ADAC's 50 and Fabulous

Renovations at Waterworks

And again......

Inman Park Festival

ADAC 50 & Fabulous Party with Kari and Erin

Kayla and I at 2010 Toy Party

My Sister, Hailey and I


Pride 2010

Awww.... Patti and I

Vanessa and I at one of our many industry parties.

Paul, Jeff and I before they departed to Chicago!

Back at City Hall East!

My Grandmother and I (She was the Grand Marshall of her town's founder's day parade)

Goodbye 2010, time for 2011!!!

A Glimpse at vintage neon signs of Atlanta

In 1923, French engineer Georges Claude and his
company Claude Neon, introduced neon gas signs to the United States. Georges sold two neon signs to a Packard car dealership in Los Angeles. The two signs reading "Packard" were sold for an astonishing $24,000.

Neon lighting quickly became a popular fixture in outdoor advertising. Visible even in daylight, people would stop and stare at the first neon signs dubbed "liquid fire."

I personally have always had an infatuation with vintage neon signs. There is something about the glow of neon in a black and white photo that just evokes a story. Atlanta has its’ fair share of neon signs. My blog today chronicles some of those neon signs I have seen on my travels throughout the city.

As a kid I remember buying a neon sign that said “Perry’s Ice Cream”, the neon was broken, but I was so excited to own my very own neon sign. I cannot recall where I bought it, but it was vintage. I do recall I paid $40.00 for it. Later that week, using my powers of social networking I was able to sell it to one of our customers at the antique store whose last name was Perry! She had the neon repaired and it actually hangs in her loft inspired home to this day. I remember visiting her home years later and looking up and saying “HEY!, I recognize that!”.

Growing up in Powder Springs there were only a few places to eat lunch. One of those places was called Johnny’s Barbecue. Johnny’s was a household name. You went to Johnny’s after a baseball game, after church and most definitly after the football games on Friday night. One year it changed hands and preacher named Donny took over. The restaurant named changed to Donny’s. This didn’t go over so well. Rumor was the rent was $20,000 a month and business wasn’t going so well. Johnny came back and with his arrival he brought the LARGEST neon sign that Powder Springs had ever seen. It was all capital letters and it read JOHNNYS in red neon. I can still picture this sign to this day. It was an audacious move. Our town glowed red. I can remember my Mother saying "Johnny is so rediculous, that sign is god awful". A google search lead no results to this sign :(

Some of the best neon signs have to be on Peachtree Street downtown and on Ponce. Many of the original neon signs are still present today, but in rough condition. My all time favorite is the Kodak sign on Ponce. It would be absolutely breathtaking restored, but it sits above Ponce in a dilapidated condition. It tells such a great story of the hey day advertising in Atlanta.

Another iconic sign in Atlanta is the Coca-Cola sign. It is a staple of my childhood as well. I took this picture at 10:34 AM on a bright sunny Sunday.

1745.7 miles to the West is one of my favorite places: Las Vegas. I bring up Las Vegas because the neon signage in Vegas are so amazing. The history of neon in Las Vegas is a blog within itself. One of my favorite scenes of the movie “Vegas Vacation” is when Audrey and Cousin Vicky are in the sign graveyard.

You can actually tour this sight, learn about restoration projects and plan a visit

http://www.neonmuseum.org/index.html

It is definitely on my things to do list when I hit up Vegas next time.

Back in Atlanta, where preservation seems to be the last thing on anybodys mind we have so many great signs that could be restored. Ultimately the signs become in disrepair, unsafe and eventually scrapped.


The neon is no longer on this sign, but the artwork is GREAT!

Below is my favorite sign. The shoe store still exists. I went back at night and the sign does not function.

Mary Macs, a staple on Ponce de Leon Avenue

This one didn't make the cut, time for spa ped... a steal at $14.99!

My favorite eatiery on Ponce

The neon is hidden amongst the downtown landscape that has been butchered over the years. Sports City is out control with those colors!

Top Quality!

The ride over to Ebenezer at 2:00AM was a bit uneasy I will admit. I was on a spirit ride on the scooter, and just had to have that picture.

Followed by the Clairmont (This picture was taken years ago when the signed functioned and the hotel was open. The hotel is for sale now) It can be purchased for 6.5 million dollars. Best of all I love the school bus in the photo. Hope the kiddies had fun with Blondie!

I guess that really sums it up on neon advertising signs of Atlanta. I really enjoyed this blog, I found myself a tourist of my own city and it took me a couple months to collect all the pictures I wanted to use.... Until next time!.......

A Historic Summer in Atlanta

I have always had fond memories of growing up in a Summer in Georgia. Looking back I visualize a big plantation like Forrest Gump lived on, lined with 100 year old oak trees with moss cascading from the branches, but it was nothing like that....It was filled with Slip n' Slides, blow up pools, my bicycle and playing in the woods. The way I treat my iPhone as an adult is the way I treated my bicycle, and it was my number one possession by far. I grew up in a modest brick ranch, and at the time it seemed so large, but now I realize it was TINY. My Mother kept it pretty spotless, so I recall it was always clean. The kitchen had linoleum floor that looked like a reclaimed Burgundy brick. Classy with a K. It had a car port and I remember thinking, wow........wealthy people have garages. The car port had a hollow metal pole in the center, and every so many years it would rust. My Father would paint the metal pole a cream color pretty much every Summer. I would get yelled at for hours not to get near the "wet paint".

One Summer it was decided I was going to cut grass. I don't recall if I wanted to, or if I was told to..........but the next thing I know the vintage red snapper lawn mower with the torn black vinyl seat was at a 45 degree angle up a retaining wall. I ran into the retaining wall and I didn't know how to stop it, or I probably couldn't reach the brakes. I remember being pretty bummed, after all all the other kids in my neighborhood got to cut the grass on the riding mower. Later in life I realized this was probably the best thing I could have ever done. Because the day I ran the lawn mower up that wall was the day my Mother exclaimed in horror to my Father that I had no business on a lawn mower and I was never to get on one again. Over 20 years later and I have never been on a riding mower again ;)

When my family moved into a 1900's historic home in the Fall of 1994 everything changed. My hobbies and interests seemed to really shift towards most things related to historic preservation. The home was gutted and restored to its original glory and the restoration took many years. Summer vacations included visits to The Biltmore Estate, Grove Park Inn, and Washington DC. One year we went on a tour of a coastal light house in Florida. I remember we bought my mother a souvenir award that exclaimed "I climbed 777? stairs to reach the top". It was cute. I hope I find that award one day. Summer Vacation spots always seemed to be my idea and it was really my responsibility to plan them. I would produce itineraries with maps, time departures and even lunch schedules. If my itinerary was altered in any way, I would have a shit fit. The idea of mapping trips on the computer and printing them out had just embarked. Mapquest did not exist yet, but I had a computer program that did it. I remember I would compare that map to any antique store along the way. I'd research their hours and we would stop along the way. One Summer we went to Pennsylvania. It was just my Sister, my mother and I. It was a GREAT trip. We bought antiques along the way and since I had never seen Amish people I wanted to sight see and take pictures. Note: Amish people aren't really interested in me exploiting them, haha... They were not fond of my picture taking.

My Sister left for college in which made me pretty much the only child. This was a pretty sweet set up. This was about the time family vacations stopped. The cost of renovating a 1919 home swallowed up vacation budgets. My parents owned their own businesses and they would rarely leave them behind. Vacations became STAYcations. At the time it didn't dawn on me, I was pretty clueless as a kid.

My favorite thing on earth was to become a tourist in my own city

And now we reach the point of today's blog :)


I wanted to put together some great city destinations that were not mainstream. Skip the aquarium, blow the World of Coke,.......Six Flags who? These are things that the average sightseer doesn't event know about.

Fox Theater

My first visit to the Fox Theater was probably in 1993. My family went to see David Copperfield. It was the most magical place I had ever been. To this day The Fox Theater is my favorite place to be in this city. I actually work at the Fox Theater. I volunteer usher. Every time I walk into this theater it is like the day I walked in it for the first time. I can remember my Mother holding my hand very tight, not letting go and braving the crowd.

The Atlanta Preservation Center gives tours of the Fox and not too many people are aware of this. For $10.00 you explore the entire theater in a very small group with a volunteer tour guide from the Atlanta Preservation Center. You do not see backstage, but you see pretty much everything else. Did you know The Fox Theater has one of the only manually operated elevators still in operation in the Southeast? Each show has an assigned elevator operator.

The $10.00 goes to the Atlanta Preservation Center where they use it to fund their non-profit operations.

http://www.foxtheatre.org/tours.aspx

Historic Oakland Cemetery

The Historic Oakland Cemetery is also a very magical place in this city. For some people this is this hard to grasp, people ask "Why would you want to go to a cemetery?"

Oakland Cemetery has such a rich history dating back to 1850. The cemetery was the headquarters for the Battle of Atlanta and has a vivid past with the Civil War. The cities first greenhouse was erected here in 1870. Christian, Jewish and African Americans were separated in the cemetery. It is interesting to see also the social classes in this Cemetery. One person may have a government issued tombstone whereas famous last names such as Grant, Allen, Hurt, and Candler have lavish spreads. Margaret Mitchell has a modest plot. Golf legend Bobby Jones is buried here, his plot is covered with thousands of golf balls that fans have brought.

Historic Oakland Cemetery was devastated when a tornado struck downtown Atlanta on March 14, 2008. I cannot express in words how devastating the damage was. To this day you see damaged tombstones where many of the 100 trees were pulled out of the ground and thrown where it landed.

The Historic Oakland Foundation gives walking tours of the cemetery. It is really an enjoyable tour. You have the option of a walking tour or even a twilight tour. Cost $10.00. No reservation is required.

http://www.oaklandcemetery.com/guidedTours.html

My last stop of today is The Wren's Nest.

The Wren's nest, once nestled in a country side is now planted directly in an urban environment of graffiti, passing Marta buses, and drug dealing corner hustlers. This is a disclaimer you are not going to a nice neighborhood for this little adventure.

The Wren's Nest is the preserved home of Joel Chandler Harris, the 19th century Atlanta journalist who penned the Brer Rabbit and Uncle Remus tales.

98% of my friends would absolutely hate this tour, however the 2% I am speaking to, Enjoy! The home is located in the West End district and tour are given. A massive renovation was recently completed. This renovation can be coined as a conservation because they truly brought the exterior of this home back to its heyday. You can see photos below:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1790594&id=9762659068#!/photo.php?pid=1790594&id=9762659068&fbid=79439754068


To visit the Wren's nest website go to:

http://www.wrensnestonline.com/

The Fox Theater, Historic Oakland Cemetery, and The Wren's nest are all great destinations for Summer. At a combined cost of $28.00 and an invaluable contribution I'd highly recommend it. Best of all the monies that are raised by these tours go directly back to the preservation of these historic gems.

I would also encourage you to take a look at joining the National Trust for Historic Preservation. At a cost of $20.00 per year I have been a member for many years. Each month you receive their monthly magazine called "Preservation". It is also a great gift idea.

http://www.preservationnation.org/

It's been a busy month. I have been taking pictures all across town for my upcoming blogs. Can't wait to share!

Duh.....how inspiring!

I have been to Florida more times than I could ever count, yet it seems like years between visits. I don't really know why that is, but each visit is always due and a visit to a "different lifestyle" is always a warming, well appointed adventure. Returning from a beachfront million dollar property back to Midtown takes a true adjustment! Luckily I found inspiration everywhere I went and want to share! The days of staying in motels with orange shag carpet and heart shaped hot tubs are long gone, but O, how I remember those days!

You know I can't pass up a camera!

I haven't seen a rainbow in years!
The view from our beach house

Cute little boats

Sitting on our private dock

We went to an amazing place called Duh. They did everything from interiors to gardens. It was truly an inspiring place. We have similar places here in Atlanta, but nothing with the beach feel this establishment offered. I probably took over 100 pictures there.

Library cabinet with reclaimed wood.

$13,500.00

One of my favorite pieces, primitive cabinet with layers of rustic green paint

$795.00

I wanted these! Vintage London steet signs.

$185.00 each

Amazing idea! This is the bottom of a soda fountain stool turned into a table.

$295.00

Love

This stuffed owl was friendly. Not very chatty though.

The curved front on this chest gives it a formal appeal mixed with the rawness of the wood.

Driftwood mirror.

Hope you enjoyed!

T.