Little Boxes

May 15, 2012 5:38 AM

Mid-century garage doors.
posted by box (16 comments total)

So cool! I love when people notice and contextualize everyday things that we walk by all the time. Thanks.
posted by Miko at 5:44 AM on May 15, 2012 [2 favorites]

Thanks for making me notice garage doors! There's so much I don't see because I've seen it all my life.

Or, on preview, what Miko said.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 5:47 AM on May 15, 2012

I have never seen anything like this in my life. Maybe I wasn't looking. Next time I return to the garage door–filled land of my youth, I'll keep an eye out.

In the meanwhile, I'll be scheming about painting a Wile E. Coyote-style tunnel on the front of my mom's garage door.
posted by Jon_Evil at 6:10 AM on May 15, 2012 [3 favorites]

@Jon Evil...living in SW Chicago, this is pretty much mainstay.

But you need to add this if you're going to capture the reality of Chicago garage doors.
posted by stormpooper at 6:14 AM on May 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

great stuff, sending to a planning director in SoCal.
posted by wallstreet1929 at 6:16 AM on May 15, 2012

That's really cool. I guess I had seen doors like that before but didn't realize that it was a thing. It's a nice reminder that while some designs may be ubiquitous, they aren't required.
posted by ghharr at 6:17 AM on May 15, 2012

Very, very nice, thanks.
posted by Forktine at 6:24 AM on May 15, 2012

Oh, that mid-century design aesthetic.
posted by rmd1023 at 6:37 AM on May 15, 2012 [2 favorites]

Cool, and I'd love to see some of the cars behind those doors. Wood-paneled wagons, Corvairs and (Chevrolet) Celebrities galore I'm guessing.
posted by obscurator at 6:55 AM on May 15, 2012

Once I was walking around some back alleys in suburban Japan, and I came face to face with a garage door covered in a gigantic photographic mural of The Muppet Show. It was one of the most awesomely surreal moments of my life.
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:55 AM on May 15, 2012 [3 favorites]

Ah, that time of youth and innocence. If you ordered one of these doors for $3 extra you could get your dinner made for you by a June Cleaver look-alike in a torpedo bra, a pack of menthol extra-tar cigarettes, and a strap so you could beat your son for playing with the negro kids down the street.
posted by jimmythefish at 7:08 AM on May 15, 2012 [2 favorites]

There are tons of these on the streets of Pittsburgh, all still in use.

Great post. Thanks for making me notice yet another cool little piece of the past.
posted by kinnakeet at 7:50 AM on May 15, 2012

Robert Powers photos work as photos, pretty efficiently.
posted by PinkMoose at 8:06 AM on May 15, 2012

Ah, that time of youth and innocence. If you ordered one of these doors for $3 extra you could get your dinner made for you by a June Cleaver look-alike in a torpedo bra, a pack of menthol extra-tar cigarettes, and a strap so you could beat your son for playing with the negro kids down the street.

*sings*

There's plastic on the furniture
To keep it neat and clean
In the Pine-Sol scented air
Somewhere that's green
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 9:18 AM on May 15, 2012

Don't forget the horionztal sliding Eichler garage door!
posted by jewzilla at 4:49 PM on May 15, 2012

Things like this and the painted manhole covers in Japan are awesome-- thanks for sharing!
posted by ichomp at 7:50 PM on May 16, 2012