Retro fever: Vintage memorabilia bring past to life

Richard and Denise Gonzales of Las Vegas paid $8,000 for a brand-new CD player, and couldn't figure out how the thing worked. They'd accidentally played "Unchained Melody" by The Righteous Brothers about 100 times while tinkering with the unfamiliar gadgetry, as this was no ordinary boom box.

The CD player is, in fact, a five-foot-tall, 1950s-style jukebox with remote control and modern-day inner workings, but is made to resemble a classic Wurlitzer. The Gonzaleses wanted it to entertain guests in their billiard room, but found the controls a bit confusing.

Still, the couple values the item for the bygone era it represents. And, after someone came out to provide operating instructions, they could get down to listening to blasts from the past during games of nine-ball.

"It was just something that intrigued us -- it's a piece that we've always wanted," Denise Gonzales, 44, explained. "It's a great conversation piece, because the younger generation doesn't know anything about jukeboxes. They ask questions about it, and it's like reliving our lives. We're passing it to another generation."

Such is often the mindset behind the purchase of retro antiques, according to antiques/ reproductions dealer Toby Stoffa. She said some people add the items to their game room for the color scheme, while many more are just buying a piece of the past.

Stoffa, owner of Antiquities in The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace, sold the Gonzaleses their jukebox a couple of weeks ago. She also sells neon gas station signs, neon clocks, popcorn machines, drive-in speakers and menu boards, fortune-telling machines, and numerous bits of Coca-Cola and Pepsi paraphernalia.

Some of these items are reproductions, but most are restored antiques. Homeowners seeking the perfect addition to their mantel or game room have discovered that reproduction items are considerably less expensive, and they make up about 20 percent of Stoffa's stock. Indeed, the original version of the Gonzales' mock jukebox would cost around $16,000 and play nothing but 78-rpm records.

Either way, the market for nostalgia is thriving, according to Stoffa, and one era seems to be represented more than others.

"Most of my items are from the '50s, and that was an enormous era of change for us -- rock and roll, sex symbols in the movies. It was just a great, innovative time, a creative time. If you think about it, why was the show `Happy Days' so popular?" Stoffa asked. "I call my store the happiest showroom around. When people walk through, they smile and their eyes shine. You can see it brings good times, good memories and joy back into their lives."

Stoffa has seen couples eye the old-fashioned Coca-Cola items in her store, and share a nostalgic tale of how and where they sipped on a Coke during their honeymoon long ago.

Most buyers are between the ages of 35 and 60, according to Stoffa, 55, who is a collector herself. But at the same time, she states, "You'd be surprised as to how many teen-agers buy pictures of Marilyn Monroe, James Dean or Elvis Presley."

Cost is another factor, as these items are no longer priced for the 1950s. Even though an object such as a mock Route 66 drive-in menu may become the chattiest conversation piece around, it costs $995, which is also the price of a neon re-creation of an old Texaco service station sign. The fully restored Coke machine from the '50s runs $6,995, while a smaller reproduction of a Wurlitzer jukebox (CD player) costs $1,695. A functioning mock popcorn machine costs $2,995 to add to one's home theater.

Denise Gonzales believes her jukebox will be in the family for generations and considers it an investment.

Mike Tullis, product manager of Vintagevending.com, said many people agree with Gonzales.

"A lot of people don't (buy these items) for investment purposes, but in the past few years there's been an increase in the value of the items, so people have been buying them for investments," Tullis, said. "Other people just enjoy the pieces, so they collect them. And then there's people who are doing game rooms and home theaters -- they just like the era."

Tullis has shipped old-style Americana to places such as England, India, Switzerland and Saudi Arabia. One buyer in Japan, he said, purchased a jukebox from the on-line company so he could be the first one to complete his "American game room."

Stoffa's son, Brian Eick, 29, has a treasure trove of retro items and antiques in his home.

"I grew up in a house filled with antiques because that's my how my mom got started -- she sold antiques," Eick said. "I've always had a love for antiques and that sort of spawned my collecting them."

Stoffa noted how some items can possess "originality," such as a Route 66 souvenir, or in the case of the Coca-Cola trinkets, color. A room can be brightened by the mere vividness of the item, since "artistry was a paramount factor in utilitarian things" back then.

She also said that through television and movies, the younger generations who watch old shows may also take a fancy to retro items. "Reruns of `I Love Lucy' help keep the past alive," Stoffa said.

Tullis believes that '60s items will soon be popular with the retro crowd, and that reproduction items will increase in sales and variety as well. Stoffa said that retro decor sales will only rise as time passes, through the public's desire to relive the past.

"I think that in the minds of most of us, we look back on our youth as happy, unencumbered times with little responsibility and lots of laughs," she said. "You hear that `back in the day' phrase so often because it evokes some sense of these times being wonderful, and we were happy ... these items are like the icons of these happy times."

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