Brokelyn

If you’re thinking of catering a Mad Men party this weekend with authentic 1960s cuisine, you may want to reconsider—a look at the terrifying stuff that passed for dinner back then offers a clue as to why Julia Child was regarded as such a revolutionary. The following photos are from Betty Crocker’s Dinner in a Dish cookbook, published in 1965, a mayonnaise-slicked, canned-fruit dotted roadmap to an American culinary era thankfully gone by. First among the supper-time atrocities: a “Summer Salad Pie” (above), whose ingredients include lemon-flavored gelatin, tomato sauce, and tuna fish tossed together in a cheddar-cheese pie shell.  Read the rest of this entry »

Hippie wheels. Photo by Mathias Degen.

It’s 1960s week here at Brokelyn, what with the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, starting on Saturday, and the return of Mad Men on Sunday night. We’re going full bore on both fronts, first, with a search for some Woodstock-worthy wheels.

Nothing says “I embrace free love and flower power” like a ’69 Volkswagen, and so I spent the past week clicking my way through vintage car sites to find one. Turns out ’69 Volkswagens aren’t so easy to come by on the East Coast, and those that actually run aren’t so cheap either. Here, the results of my search: seven VW bugs and buses, almost all within 200 miles of Brooklyn and ranging in price from $400 to $6,000.

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