Actually, my city (Seattle) is only 150 years old and it burned to the ground ~120 years ago.
100 years old is old here.
Going to the east coast and seeing “this building was here 400 years ago” was strange. Going to Europe and thinking “this was here 2000 years ago” was mindblowing.
I’m looking for a place, and I do like some of the older buildings - the ones that have survived are gorgeous. But I don’t think I’ve seen anything built before 1905. I don’t know that it exists.
Old/vintage clothing? No. I like some of the styles, but I don’t like wearing actual old clothes. Other old stuff? It depends on the actual object in question.
I’ll admit a love of old houses. I grew up in a house that was built in 1926, and my wife and I made our first home in a house that was built in 1870. Each contained many materials and touches of craftsmanship that aren’t commonly seen any more: carved newel posts, oak and maple floors, big and deep bathtubs. Construction exceeded (by a wide margin) today’s standards–our 1870 house had a two-foot foundation–but joists, studs, and brickwork were all fine and as solid as the day the houses were built. My simple little vinyl-sided frame house today is nice, but it’s just not the same!
Yeah, I was giving zelie zelerton the benefit of the doubt when she (?) said “Seems freakishly modern to me” in referring to my friend’s 100-year-old house.
BTW, I am fascinated by many old things: historic buildings, cathedrals, ancient artifacts. But (other than mementos, some bottles of port, and a few collectibles) I have no desire to own anything that is older than a couple of years.
Anyway, I continue to be surprised that nobody has expressed something like this: I definitely prefer modern, state-of-the-art homes, cars, tools, and appliances. In furniture and clothing, I prefer a simple elegance, rather than an ornate one, and I have no desire for items that “look old”. I think that many modern items are of excellent quality, and I’m willing to pay to get that quality.
Oh, I just expressed it …
And I’ll say something that perhaps some of you will find surprising: If you gave me $5,000,000 and forced me to spend all of it on a home, furnishings, cars, and clothing, I doubt that I would keep much if any of what I currently own, and not one cent would go towards anything that was made before 2007. Okay, maybe the house could be from 2004 …
I like old things aesthetically, but I don’t generally care to use/wear/live in them. I enjoy the sense of history associated with very old artifacts, and with old, distinctive buildings, but I like modern tools and conveniences. Sort of a blend of archaeologist and technogeek, I suppose.
Years ago, we had a neighbor who was a hoarder, and her house was chest deep with decades of “saved” items; except for trenchlike paths from room to room. We helped the daughter clean out the house, and in the living room, buried under twice its high of junk, was a 1960s-era console stereo, of the sort they used to give away on TV game shows of the era.
The demonstration record was still sitting on the turntable.
My fascination of older things is directly tied to history. When I knew I was going to be in New England for a while, I decided I wanted a historic house. As mentioned, we bought the mother of all fixer uppers built before 1760 but the bones were good and the main part of the house is still remarkably original along with endless stone walls, a hand-dug well etc.
However, I was very picky. I wanted a true colonial house. Circa 1760 worked nicely but 1778 would not in my mind. It had to be built before the nation was founded. Likewise, I always wanted a Louisiana plantation home but it would have to be built before the Civil War. Slave quarters would be a huge plus (not that I am planning on buying slaves anytime soon. Modern machinery and appliances are indeed superior for most of those purposes). Louisiana plantation homes are some of the most beautiful homes in the world in my opinion. The strong Spanish and French influence causes some beauty.
However, it isn’t all about wars. If I liked Victorians enough, I would probably want a real one that was built around the turn of the 20th century. If I lived in the Rocky Mountains, I might want some type of period lodge or converted mining structure. I am not sure what the reasoning is exactly but it is the same as people wanting authenticity in old cars, jewelry etc.
Not in terms of cars…but homes, jewellry etc. yes. I also have a particular fascination with outdated technology-old radios, televisions, victrolas etc…
For clothes-I like the aesthetics of past decades but I’m not into thrift store shopping. The idea of wearing clothes that a stranger wore grosses me out these days.
I’m a classics major. Being fascinated with the archaic is a requirement!
I would like to have an older house as well, but historic homes in LA = ridiculously expensive, and I’ve done work in enough older homes to know I don’t want that headache until I’ve got a lot of time and money to spend. But as far as everyday things, I really like old objects, especially if they are well made and still useful.
My prize possessions right now are some Griswold cast iron skillets *ca *1900 that my aunt gave me, and a cast iron cornstick pan that Cheez_Whia gave me; both were wedding presents and I use them all the time.
I like old books, too, on any topic, but I have mostly science books from the 1920s and a few Victorian “medicine” texts. There are some classics quartos I’d really like, but I just don’t have the cake for them. Usually I can borrow them from my school library though - I am reading Elizabeth Hamilton’s Memoirs of the Life of Agrippina now.
Rockabilly style is a great example of old clothing done right.
The retro jersey fad of a couple years ago, not so much. I must admit, though, that I wore a retro Padres shirt and thought I was the shit.
Yeah, the perspective from a city like London or even New York is different–there are entire, bustling neighborhoods within the city of San Diego that had more cows than people just 40 years ago. It’s a safe bet that most residences in Mission Valley are younger than Qualcomm Stadium (1967).
The current major population centers of the East Coast and the South were hardly unpopulated at the turn of the 20th century, but the West Coast, the Southwest and (to a much lesser extent) the Midwest were a different story. In 1907 California, Nevada, Utah, plus parts of Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming, hadn’t been American for 60 years yet. And within Mexico, more southeastern parts such as Guadalajara and Mexico City were more central population centers. It’s easy enough to find homes that haven’t changed much in 100 years in Virginia, but 2007 California is a whole different beast from 1907 California. San Diego, for example, grew exponentially after WWII because sailors from all over the country found out they liked the warm, sunny climate after being stationed here. I’m just barely old enough that most of my friends grew up here, but I’d wager the majority of the 40+ crowd came from somewhere else. Since most of the housing demand came abruptly within the last 55 years, it shouldn’t be surprising that most San Diego homes are newer than that.
I fondly remember an art print from the house I grew up in in Maryland, depicting nine different vintage homes in Williamsburg (I think), Virginia. I wonder if my parents still have that…
I collect and restore vacuum tube radios and audio equipment. My pride and joy is a 1964 Grundig stereo reciver. 70 Tube driven watts per channel. CDs sound incredible through it.
I have a crystal radio set that was hand built by a great uncle in 1921. I have restored it, and it works beautifully.
I have a fossilized oyster shell that I dug up when I was 11 yrs old. It is about 350 million yrs old.
I have a japanese saki set I got at a garage sale. It is about 160 yrs old.
I Have a Netsuki that is about 90 yrs old.
I have a vacuum tube volt meter that was built in 1939, but is unrestored. (electronics are fine but meter coil is burnt out… so far impossible to replace)
I have a little ceramic snowman that my grandmother made in an art class in 1935.
Much prefer classic cars. And I love 40s, and other classic clothing styles. Other than that, I think I’m pretty much into the new. I really REALLY don’t like the “shabby chic” look. To me they look like an old, beat-up, discolored whatever they are. But to each his own I guess.
I am NOT so much into the new, that I have to have the latest and greatest gadget the moment it flies off the factory floor though, my old boyfriend was that way. For years I watched him pay premium rates and then 6 months to 1 or 2 years later the price would be 1/10th what the darned thing was when it first came out.
I like an old fashioned cup and saucer for my coffee. At home, on the weekends, I use an antique Art Deco-ish looking china cup and matching saucer, and at the office I also use a cup and saucer from home that I keep there, although this one is in a plainer, everyday style.
I am not so much a fan of old stuff as I am someone who doesn’t like new stuff–if that makes any sense! I don’t like buying new things, with the exception of electronic items. I’d rather thrift store, find things on Craig’s List, or recycle a hand me down. I think primarily it’s just me being a bit resistant to consumer culture, because every time I find a perfectly good second hand couch I think that there’s someone out there who bought a brand new couch for reasons other than utility and it feels sort of yucky to me. No reason for it, just my odd hangup!
I drive old cars mostly because they’re cheaper than new ones and easier to work on, plus they don’t look like every other car out there. Clothes shopping is annoying to me–it drives me up the wall to see dozens of nearly identical items that suck. At least in a thrift store you’re expecting almost everything to suck, so the great item that pops up is just that much more of a thrill. Even when I do buy new clothes it’s usually somewhere like Ross where I’m picking through the leftovers.
My house is old and weird and crotchety, but I like it that way. Although I’m pretty up to date in computer stuff and personal electronics, we also get old computers and junk to recycle together into usable systems, recycling old computers for people who can’t afford new ones. Shoot, even my pets are all rescues!
I’m just a second hand person, not an antique person…
Mmm. I love old cars; my mom owns a 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 that I drive frequently. (Her father was the original owner.) Awesome car (though it does have a modern stereo). At some point, I would like to purchase a Jeepster; I saw a '48 at a car show and fell in love with it.
I have a '97 Grand Cherokee as my daily driver; most everyone I talk to considers that “old.” :rolleyes:
I love old homes, but I don’t own one…and won’t anytime soon. In fact, we’re getting ready to close on a house; I believe construction ended in late 2006. I do have two antique cedar chests, both inherited from family, as well as an old bookcase Mom had when she was a child. (It’s solid wood; most bookcases you find now have particleboard shelves that can’t handle many books.) I have a small collection of antique engineering books; my favorite is a mechanical engineering textbook from 1901 that starts with basic arithmetic and ends with thermodynamics. I collect antique Fiestaware too.
I not only like “old” things, I like old things, old things, and OLD things.
Often I find that the creakiest and most antiquated objects of all are those that are just past the collective memory of society. Go back much further, when things have no personal associations, and they can seem quite fresh. What was primitive and stifling becomes refreshingly simple.
Yesterday I was in an old one-room schoolhouse that’s about to be torn down. The blackboard was just that – black board. You could still see Clara’s name.
The building had been moved from the country into town and had been used as a storage shed. When they moved it, they removed the floor, so you could see the notches where the support beams were. The walls and ceiling were bead board. High, curved roof. Tall windows, trimmed in oak or some other good wood. You could see where the wall between the mud room and the school room had been removed. The stove pipe was still there too.
It’s a shame to demolish it. A group of folks had restored another one-room schoolhouse and opened it as a little museum, but people lost interest, so no one wants this one.
I love old houses. It makes me sad when I drive around the country and see all these stands of trees that used to surround a house, but the house is gone.
I had a Victorian for awhile, parquet floors, pocket doors, open curved staircase, carved oak fireplace mantel, tall windows set low to the floor, big airy rooms, high ceilings. But damn, it was a mother to heat.
