The Original Bobby McGee's Conglomeration

 70's The Original Bobby McGee's Conglomeration t-shirt

 

 

From the back of a 1987 Menu: "A MESSAGE FROM THE PROPRIETOR Bob Sikora

Welcome to Bobby McGee's! We are proud to serve you and hope that your visit will be completely enjoyable.

Since we opened our first restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1971, we have been committed to the idea that our guests will always receive only the best of everything that we offer.

Our promise is to deliver you quality food, outstanding service and unequalled value. We also want to ensure that you are comfortable, have a lot of fun and enjoy the Magic of Bobby McGee's."

 

 

From an early 90s Menu:  "In 1971 I started Bobby McGee's based on two basic ideals: Outstanding Service and Upbeat Environment"

 

 

From the Bobby McGee's USA Alumni and Friends FB Group:  

"It started in 1971 when Sikora was in LA to buy antiques for his new concept that would become America's first fully themed restaurant and nightclub ~ The Original Bobby McGees Conglomeration. By happenstance he saw a Hollywood costume company with a "Going out of business" sign. He bought everything.  What costumes did you wear?"

 

 

 

Check out the vintage Bobby McGee's Conglomeration 70s tee shirt now at  SHV Etsy

"For a Free Six Pack of Beer Wear this Shirt...

 ...to Philadelphia Hash House Harriers 500th Run" reads the printed paper tag sewn onto the bottom of the Stedman Hi Cru label on the tee shirt from the 1987 event:

 

"FOR A FREE SIX PACK OF BEER WEAR THIS SHIRT TO PHILADELPHIA H H H 500TH RUN"

 

 

 

 

I've never seen a t-shirt promotion like this. Free beer for wearing a tee. It probably belongs in a museum! 

 

 

The Hash House Harriers seem like a spirited bunch - billing themselves "A Drinking Club with a Running Problem," "the (HHH or H3) is an international group of non-competitive running social clubs. An event organized by a club is known as a Hash or Run, or a Hash Run. 

Hashing originated in December 1938 in Kuala Lumpur, (now Malaysia). A group of British immigrants began meeting on Friday evenings, to run in a fashion patterned after the traditional British game of hare and hounds, in which one or two "hare" runners scatter a trail of cut paper for the "hounds" to track. Apart from the excitement of chasing the hare and finding the trail, Harriers reaching the end of the trail would partake of beer, ginger beer, and cigarettes." 

The objectives of the Hash House Harriers as recorded on the club registration card dated 1950 are:

• To promote physical fitness among our members
• To get rid of weekend hangovers
• To acquire a good thirst and to satisfy it in beer
• To persuade the older members that they are not as old as they feel   - Wiki

 

Back to this deadstock vintage 1987 Philadelphia Hash House Harriers tee shirt with the free 6-pack promotion tag sewn onto the label. On the back is a colonial flasher on Victorian house under  "Expose Yourself to Philadephia." So extra. Imagine the thrill of someone handing you a six free beers due to the t-shirt you're wearing.  

 

 

The promotion came amidst a giant Hash party weekend as an international "Americas Interhash" was in Philadelphia the same weekend. This other deadstock vintage 1987 tee shirt documents that weekend, apparently held from September 4 - 7, 1987:

 

 

The Hershey Hotel is implicated as is the Liberty Bell 

 

 

 

 

This one is printed on a blank tee shirt from the famed Melrose Los Angeles punk store - The Village Mews - the tag reads "Village Mews - Clothes for Heroes - Los Angeles, California" : 

 

 

I acquired 4 other Philadelphia Hash House Harriers vintage 80s t-shirts in this collection. They are: 

 

1. Another 1987 Philly HHH 500th Run tee, no free six-pack tag, just normal, officially dates the run to Saturday, September 5, 1987:

 

2. A bright yellow vintage March 1 1980 Philly Rumson Joint Hash tee:

 

 

3. A light blue vintage 1983 Philly HHH 300th Run tee:

 

 

And 4. A vintage 80s Chickenman Sunday HHH Run 689 Cum On On tee:

 

 All these tees are available at Skippy Haha Vintage Etsy!

 

Improvised Sunglasses

"Snowblindness is caused by brilliant reflections or glare from the snow. It can occur even on foggy or cloudy days. The first warning of snowblindness comes when you no longer detect variations in the level of ground, followed by a burning sensation of the eyes. Later your eyes pain when exposed to even a weak light. Prevention is the best cure, but if you are stricken, complete darkness is your best medicine. Wear your sunglasses or other material with narrow eye slits cut in it (fig 185)."

Improvised sunglasses x 3

 Using an iPhone, banana peel, and concert ticket

 

 

Adapted from US Army Field Manual 1970 "Survival."

Safety third! Everyone be careful with the eclipse tomorrow!

How the Columbo Dog Head Greeting Cards Came to Be

 

(This is cross-posted from Columbo Clothes and Laughs) 

 

 

How the Columbo Parody Dog Head Greeting Cards Came to Be: 

 

It was around New Years 2024 when Kevin said I needed a hobby besides the pandemic.

I said, "no I do not." 

 

He said, "yes you do." 

I said "okay, I will paint."

He kindly got an art kit and set up a small easel in a room downstairs. 

 

Mostly as a way to flip off AI art I started painting with acrylics.

 

I painted my "pandemic friends." 

 

I painted some psychedelic stars that have been in my head since 1988.

 

 

 

For a big challenge, I moved onto trying to paint some favorite Columbo scenes. 

The first one turned out okay. 

 

 

I thought I could share these paintings in greeting card form with other Columbo fans. 

I ordered 10 cards as a test from the most eco-friendly card maker I could find in the USA, and as they were being made, I painted 11 more of my favorite scenes. 

 

For example, John Cassavetes playing the Maestro as he's about to be hauled off to jail, shaking Peter Falk playing Columbo's hand:

I looked up whether painting scenes from TV or movies is copyright infringement. 

Sad trombone, yes it is. Fuckers!

I drafted a letter to the heirs of Columbo creators Link and Levinson seeking a license to sell these paintings as cards.

 

I realized NBC Universal Comcast is the evil overlord who owns the copyrights and having dealt with their overzealous IP lawyers for years who deactivate entirely legitimate (due to the First Sale Doctrine) vintage Etsy listings, I felt that a license would be unattainable/overly onerous, so I pivoted to DOG HEADS.

 

Putting dog heads on the bodies takes the paintings to the parody/satire level, which resolves any copyright issues. 

 

So I just photoshopped photos of some dogs I know and love onto the bodies.

 

 

My artist friend Jess Pfohl from Jess! Messin' who is Into This Stuff in a big way told me to paint the dog heads for consistency. 

 

So I painted 22 dog heads to match the characters/vibe of the actors in the paintings.

 

 

And that is how we ended up with 12 scenes from 70s Columbo with parody painted dog heads!

Cards available today from skippyhaha Etsy!

 

Four cards out today, four more next Wednesday March 6th, and the final four cards will be out the following Wednesday March 13th. 

Dogs. 

PS - IF YOU WOULD LIKE A CARD WITH PAINTINGS WITH THE HUMAN HEADS, sent via USPS with a forever letter stamp with NO TRACKING, I had a tiny run of those printed - please message or email me

Introducing: Columbo Clothes and Laughs Blog!

 I have found a new hobby and it is Columbo. 

 

 

 

To support this obsession, I have started a new blog: Columbo Clothes and Laughs. 

 

There we will discuss the vintage fashion and humor of the Columbo television show.

 

 

For episodes where there are more than three excellent outfits, there will be a poll for everyone to pick their favorite. 

 

 

New posts every Wednesday, just as the original episodes aired!

 

 Thank you very much, Lieutenant!

COLUMBO CLOTHES AND LAUGHS BLOG

 

 

 

Chapel Hill Leather Shop - The Only Real Thing Left T-shirt

David Honigmann owned and operated the Chapel Hill Leather Shop from 1964-1984. Located at 133 ½ East Franklin Street, his shop was always packed with customers wanting to buy his custom-made sandals and hand-made leather goods. 

 

 

 

 In the autumn of 1964, David and friend Betty Bishop began exploring Franklin Street for a storefront, so they could open up their own leather goods shop. They found a place upstairs at 133 1/2 East Franklin Street, which rented for only $35 a month, and they named it the Chapel Hill Leather Shop. 

 

 

 

 It was just one, big room, owned by Alexander Julian’s father, Maurice Julian. Word spread of David’s excellent craftsmanship, and the shop became very successful, very quickly. They were so popular, in fact, that advertising was never necessary. They just had a sign out front that read the Chapel Hill Leather Shop with a pair of sandals nailed to it, and another sign outside the entrance to the store, and that was enough to keep them in business. 

 

 

 

 By 1984 the added recession was making it even more difficult to keep the shop going and after twenty years in the leather business, they felt it was time to move on. (Via Chapel Hill Recorder)

Relive the memories from the Only Real Thing Left with this 70s t-shirt - vintage 70s tee CHAPEL HILL leather shop t-shirt Small soft thin burnout

 

Behind the T-shirt: Uncle Sam's Nightclub

 Uncle Sam's was a disco nightclub chain in several US cities from the mid 70s to the late 80s. 

 

There were clubs in Houston, Detroit, Providence, Levittown, Minneapolis, Buffalo, Des Moines, and Syracuse. At least. There were probably more. 

 

Uncle Sam's - "Let's Spend the Night Together"

Shiny Happy Customers Night in Buffalo looks like fun.

Shot of the Minneapolis merch table in 1977. T-shirts cost $3.99!

This 70s Uncle Sam's t-shirt seems to be from 1976. It's in great shape and ready to do the hustle. Check it out at Skippy Haha Vintage Etsy now!

Pawn Stars Vintage T-shirt Episode - Rick Gets Rolled

I watched the Pawn Stars episode this week, Season 18, Episode 9 "Raiders of the Lost Pawn", excited because "vintage t-shirts" were involved. 

A man brings in 2 baseball raglan concert tees - one from 1982 The Who tour and 1981 Rolling Stones tour. 

He said he bought them himself and hung them in his closet for the next 40 years, unworn. This is not the best idea. A better idea is to fold your t-shirts in a closet where the sun don't shine. Hanging t-shirts can stretch out the necklines, and if you use metal hangers (it appears this man thankfully used plastic), rust lines can transfer on the shoulders of the tees.

Chum Lee expressed how cool the tees were but he wasn't an expert so they called one in. 

The expert did not appear to be an expert in my opinion. He didn't even look at the tags! The Rolling Stones dragon graphic has been reproduced thousands of times by places like Forever 21. I appreciate his mentioning "single stitch" on the hems, but you don't know what you have unless you LOOK AT THE TAGS.

The tags were not even mentioned. I take this as vintage t-shirt blasphemy. 

What size are they? If they're Small or Medium, 90% of the population will never fit in them so their value is less than if they're Large or XL. 

The expert called the Rolling Stones tee a "holy grail" and valued it at $500.

I have personally sold several vintage Rolling Stones tour tees, one from 1978 that said "Happy Birthday Mick" and had Peter Tosh on back for $420 in 2005, 

 

and one from the Pontiac Silverdome for $50 (!!!) in 2011. 

 

 

 

 I think both of these are cooler and more rare and more valuable than the generic 1981 tour tee that doesn't even have the co-bill on back, it's a list of 20 tour stops.

There were thousands of these tees made for every stop of the tour. They're not a dime a dozen, but they're not a holy grail either, especially since big box retailers are reproducing the graphic. Rick pays $300 for this, he could have bought one, even cooler, for $125 any day of the week. 

 

 

Rick ends up paying $100 for the Who tee. Rick got a decent deal on this - I would ask $200 for that tee. 

I see on their website they're now selling the Rolling Stones tee for $525 UPDATE they jacked the price to $550 yesterday and there are no pics of the tag. Silly. 

All in all, I'm disappointed there was no focus whatsoever on the TAGS of these t-shirts - that is the only way to gauge their authenticity. Very cool t-shirts, in mint condition which certainly adds value - Rick got a bad deal on one, and a good deal on the other. I give the episode B-.

Rick, if you need a t-shirt expert like Rare Books Rebecca, call me!