Two generations ago, nobody would dream of going outside without a hat.  My grandfather had a collection by the front door, and Grandma had a whole bunch of hat boxes in the attic.  Big, round things, which often dwarfed the hats themselves.   We have our own collection of hats and caps here at Awesome Avenue.   We have a bunch of baseball caps featuring classic brands such as Orange Crush, (don't forget the matching lunchbox!!) Miller High Life Beer and Ford Mustang, as well as a line of Fedora style hats from Penguin.  Fedoras have changed quite a bit over the past 100 years and started out as a women's fashion item.  The broad-brimmed style of the 1920s and 30s gave way to the more compact style of the 1950s and 60s, as men's jacket lapels, matching the narrower men's jacket lapels which became more popular during those years.   Our collection is a bit more Rat Pack than Capone.   As ol' blue eyes might have said "grab your coat, don't forget your hat, leave your worries on the doorstep, life can be so sweet on the sunny side of the street".   Stay cool, and enjoy the summer.  Check out our full collection of headgear by clicking here.

  While the discussion in the media is about Palm's new phone, the new I-phone, the Sony vs. WII battle, here at Awesome Avenue we have experienced a rise in demand for Rubik's Cube. 

For those of you who don't remember or weren't around in the heady days of the 80s when  legions of people with polo shirt collars turned up could be seen trying to solve the puzzle almost everywhere, Rubik's cube is named for its Hungarian inventor, Erno Rubik, who worked at the Academy of Applied Arts and Design in Budapest.  It was the sudoko of the time.

We know there is a TV ad out there for Sony PS3 featuring the Rubik's cube which may have caused this surge in demand.  Maybe it's going to be the party favor of choice at 4th of July BBQs this year.  A neighbor of mine is a developer for a video game firm, and I often see him wandering out of his apartment to the mailbox or something fixated on his own Rubik's cube.   Perhaps that says it all.  In this era of CGI and SPX, maybe simpler is better.

Check out our selection of Rubik's Cubes.  We have the classic cube, a pretty cool keychain, and the piece de resistance, Rubik's Revenge  and as always, free domestic standard US shipping on Awesome Avenue.

Classic Toys, Classic Brands and now Classic Motorcycles on Awesome Avenue.

 

Most people don’t think of Indian Motorcycle along the same lines as they think of Harley-Davidson, BMW, Honda, Yamaha or even Triumph, but Indian Motorcycle in many ways invented the modern motorcycle.   It was the first motorcycle to have electric headlights and taillights, and we’ve been told that Sochiro Honda (yes, that Honda), based his first designs on an Indian Motorcycle bike.   Indian Motorcycle was the first motorcycle used in police work; the New York City Police Department set up its first motorcycle unit in 1907.   Indians were the first bikes to incorporate the then brand new science of aerodynamics in their designs.  Check out the history of the firm:  http://www.indianmotorcycle.com/History/HistoryHome/tabid/78/Default.aspx

 

We have a few new tees incorporating the classic Indian Motorcycle Logo, as well as a gorgeous khaki cotton shirt….and the piece de resistance, an Indian Motorcycle Leather Jacket.    Brando and the boys would have been proud.

 

My Dad had memories of seeing US soldiers on Indian Motorcycles during World War II.   He always wanted one, but Mom would never let him buy a bike.   But now I have the t-shirt….

I was watching tv last night and saw a Pepsi ad.  They were promoting a product they’re going to call “Pepsi Throwback”.  It will be sold in bottles, using the logo from the 1960s, and will be made using sugar as a sweetener, not corn syrup.  Apparently it will be available for a limited time only.  At Awesome Avenue, we’ve had a long-standing debate over the merits of corn syrup or sugar as a sweetener for soda, and we applaud Pepsi’s efforts at taking its premier soft drink retro.

 

Retro is what we do here at Awesome Avenue.   We have a hat and t-shirt set available, using the Pepsi Cola logo which was used in the 1970s and 80s.   In women’s sizes s-xl.  The T-shirt is blue with the Pepsi logo and a cap sleeve, the baseball cap is black.  Pretty smart looking for your summer picnic, trips to the ballpark, or as a beach combo.

 

Take a trip back in time with us.  Join the Pepsi Generation, no matter which generation you are.   

 

Last week, we were going through all the new products which have been arriving here at Awesome Avenue, and we started talking about growing up in the Era of Dr. Seuss.  We have determined this begins roughly in 1962 and ends sometime around the year the Xbox first came out.

As you may have noticed if you have visited Awesome Avenue recently, we have a few new Cat in the Hat t-shirts available for purchase on the site. These include a women’s book cover T-shirt, the instructional Cat In The Hat The More You Read The More You Know, also for women, and for men, a black vintage inspired tee informing everybody that you just happen to know some good tricks.  This is in addition to our classic Horton Hears A Who and The Grinch - I Hate Christmas, which is an all year long great seller!  While the staff here at Awesome Avenue was able to quote many of Dr. Seuss’ works, it was curious that none of us could quote The Cat in The Hat, even though the original Dr. Seuss drawing is probably the most iconic of all the different characters. 

Went to a game at Dodger Stadium the other night and saw someone wearing a Run-DMC concert t-shirt.   He was easy to pick out in the sea of baseball shirts and other sports apparel, because it's the same t-shirt we have on Awesome Avenue.  I didn’t have a chance to ask where he bought it, but it was great to see it.  One of the things I really like about this shirt is the "local feel" the artwork conveys.  It looks like one of those posters one might find on a street corner or posted to a wall in New York or Chicago advertising the hot local group's upcoming performance at a club.  It doesn't feel like a promotion for a big arena production one would find at Madison Square Garden or the Staples Center.

Music is an essential element to Awesome Avenue (it's even in our logo: Where Fashion, Music & Pop Culture Intersect).  We're often playing music loudly in the store, and it's a key component of the merchandise we offer.  In addition to this Run-DMC t-shirt I mentioned above, we have a whole collection of classic tour & Pop music t-shirts which range the gammet from Prince to The Cult to Radiohead.  We even have a few famous recording label logo tees available from Capitol Records and Delicious Vinyl.  Plus, we have a huge slew of music DVDs featuring exclusive interviews and concert footage from many your favorite artists and bands of the last 50 years.

I must say that some of my fondest memories of going to concerts as a kid, aside from the whacky parking garage at the New Haven Coliseum, was the sale of less-than-official t shirts out of the backs of people’s station wagons.  Sometimes those shirts were cooler than the official ones.  

Please check out our entire selection of music tees and videos here and see what you think.

As you may know from reading our earlier posts or simply visting our site, we’ve carried different designer sunglasses here on Awesome Avenue almost as long as we’ve been in business.  In this age of drug store sunglasses, I thought I’d put my two cents in on why good shades are really important.  As I mentioned in my previous post, I drove to Palm Springs a couple of weeks ago.   We carry Serengeti Driver Sunglasses here at the store, and I have had a pair for years.  They’re great shades, but I never quite got the feel for them until this past trip to Palm Springs.   It was 95 in the shade, without a cloud in the sky.  At mid-day there was literally no escape from the sun.   With the Serengetis, the glare of the desert didn’t hit me hard, and the two hour drive home (once we cleared the Coachella traffic) was easy.  

 

I was in Palm Springs last weekend and got stuck in the traffic leading out from the Coachella Festival.   It was near 100 degrees, and as I was watching my temperature gauge and thanking the creator of air conditioning, it occurred to me that Memorial Day will soon be upon us, and the summer concert touring season has begun in earnest.

Awesome Avenue has a large selection of vintage concert & rock music t’s on our site.   These include the Madonna “Who’s that Girl” 1987 world tour concert t-shirt, Duran Duran Seven & The Ragged Tiger 1984 US Tour, Run-DMC, Black Sabbath's 1978 World Tour and even Pearl Jam, among many others.

Get noticed in the crowd by wearing a vintage concert T-shirt when you head out to a show this summer. Check out the selection on www.awesomeave.com.

 

A recent trip to reunite with some relatives brought a bit of a dilemma which may be familiar to you single guys out there: what to bring your baby cousin.    Most single guys we know aren’t very good at bringing toys to kids, other than sports gear or the occasional fire truck.  But what can you bring the toddler, too young for a baseball glove and who already has every stuffed animal known to mankind?   Or the toddler who simply has everything?

In my case it was a barrel of Lincoln Logs. 

Awesome Avenue has a selection of cool, classic toys to bring a smile to any toddler’s face, including Lincoln Logs and Tinkertoys.

Watch this spot for pictures of Awesome Avenue in action….but we promise not to play with the toys.

Hi,

So, as many of you know may know, we are carrying lunchboxes emblazoned with classic advertising slogans and characters.  These lunchboxes are just like the ones you took to school with you when you were a kid - you know, metal square shaped carriers.  Ours don't have the thermos, but they open and close just like the ones you had and are still the perfect size for carrying your lunch to work or school and also make a great home, office, or even dorm room accessory.

We were speaking with a guy we know from the Windy City the other day who was taking a look at the Awesome Avenue website while we chated, and he said “Hey, I had an I’m a Pepper Lunchbox”.    I remember having a Sesame Street one and also a Harlem Globetrotters lunchbox.   Fat Albert pops into my head too, but maybe that was my brother’s or cousin’s lunchbox.

We love hearing these things, because the whole idea of Awesome Avenue is to bring back memories in a fun yet contemporary way.  So, please check out our selection of lunchboxes at Awesome Avenue.    Our latest are Hello Kitty, Tinkerbell from Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland and the ever-favorite Smurfs.

For you big kids, we have a lunchbox, which is my personal favorite, of the classic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada” sign.   Even in this day of the Vegas mega resort, where a 2000 room hotel is considered small, this iconic diamond-shaped neon sign, which still stands on the Las Vegas Strip today is to Sin City what Big Ben is to London.  Well, maybe.

 

 

Dave