High and hidden out of sight

During my lunch break yesterday I went to my favorite Antique Store in Long Beach. Its about two blocks from my work and is packed with all sorts of awesome vintage goodies. One of the greatest items they have is a 1940s photo booth, along with tons of old coca cola machines, cigarette machines and all sorts of vintage machinery that I have never seen anywhere else even online. They carry items from multiple sellers like collectibles, jewelry, furniture, lighting and tons of housewares. They also stock a bit of vintage clothing and accessories as well. This antique store specializes in old machines and hard to find items, its a pretty good size store and has all sorts of different areas with a multitude of stuff from an array of different sellers. One section is all old signs, another is all old bar goods, my favorite section is all the area with all of the 1950s furniture. The owners are really friendly I want to ask them if I can do an article about there antique store and take some photos so you can see this amazing store.

The reason for my trip was I wanted to buy an old coca cola bottle for a photo shoot I am going to do this week. I found the perfect bottle it was just what I was looking for its a 1954 glass coca cola bottle from Los Angeles. For the shoot I am going to fill it with some new coke and a straw and take some photos at the beach. While looking around just to see if I saw any great deals I spotted an adorable 1960s bathing suit but the pattern was to orange and just not something I would see my self getting much wear out of. I love collecting vintage luggage (its all I will use) so I visited a section where I had scored a gorgeous green suitcase about a year ago. Above is a photo of myself from a shoot I did using my green suitcase and a peach train case. As I look up where the seller displays his luggage high on top of a cabinet I spotted 3 pieces of luggage, one which matches a vintage Samsonite carry on case I have but I couldn't afford it at the time, if its there next pay day I will be snatching it up for sure! Back to my point next to the 3 suitcases there was a dress make torso with a vintage 1950s swimsuit on it that looked a lil bit big for the make. I knew the suit would fit me and I loved the pattern it has a real Hawaiian feel with these 1940s surfers all over. I asked one of the owners to bring the suit down for me as she was I told her I was curious about the price, she said "I have brought this suit down a couple times already and I think its around $85." If I could have snapped a picture of my face, I was so dissapointed and I felt like my heart had been torn out and I really dug this suit but as she got the suit all the way down "$45" dollars she said! Still a bit much then I needed to spend but a great price and the suit fits like a glove. I will have pictures of it this week along with the photos of the coca cola bottle and the vintage cigarette holder I scored as well.

The cigarette holder I picked up is extremely gorgeous with all of its rhinestones intack, it reminds me of Rita Hayworth in the 1947 movie Down to Earth pictured here. (those gloves are amazing) Rita Hayworth not only smoked in her movies but also off set. She even appeared in multiple ads for cigarettes companys like Chesterfield.

Photograph of Rita Chesterfield Ad