It’s Memorial Day Weekend. A time to celebrate America. And what brand epitomizes the spirit of this country better than Birdwells. Made in Orange County, California since 1961, they are perfection. They started with Carrie Birdwell Mann, who transformed her house into a sewing room and store, launching Birdwell BeachMORE HERE
One of the great American innovators in homebuilding is and was Levitt & Sons, now bankrupt. The bankruptcy left many homeowners in the lurch. Like all residential builders, the company has had trouble in the recent real estate bubble. The question. Is there value still in the brand? Yes, ofMORE HERE
The May edition of Vogue magazine profiles Osmothéque perfume conservatory in Versailles, where over 1,800 scents are stored, including 400 parfums disparus, or disappeared perfumes. The story is written by Erika Kawalek, who goes on a “journey to replace her favorite scents.” The Osmotheque website lists of dozens of perfumesMORE HERE
Editor’s Note from 2021: The brand was revived in the summer of 2021. More HERE. Apparently, the “bold vivid color” of El Marko (or el Marko) markers, made by Flair, were not long lasting enough. The pens have disappeared, though Flair pens survive, made by Newell Rubbermaid’s Paper Mate division.MORE HERE
How about a hopeful story of a brand that came back? Reader Brian Stevens of Indiana writes to us that the L. S. Ayres & Company was a fixture in Indianapolis (along with department stores like Block’s, Wasson’s, and L. Strauss) from 1872 until it was swallowed up by whatMORE HERE
Happy 60th Anniversary, Israel. In AD 70, the Romans laid siege to Jerusalem. For 1,938 years, the world thought Israel was a thing of the past. In 1948, the miracle happened. A new nation was created. People came home, and brought the deserts back to life. Is there a betterMORE HERE
Use it or lose it. It’s a saying that applies to any skill, and it appears that federal trademark courts also believe in it, or so says attorney John Welch of Cambridge, Mass.-based Lowrie, Lando & Anastasi LLP in his TTABlog. Please read the post. It talks about the caseMORE HERE
Man, if you are anywhere near Florida, pick up some Gilda Crackers. Gilda’s are dry, non-salty crackers about the circumference of a mini-bagel. They are actually Cuban crackers. We were alerted to these wonderful baked crackers by Leorah Solomon, a South African-born, British educated soap maker and entrepreneuse in Sarasota,MORE HERE
Invention has come to RadioShack. It’s a hopeful sign that the retailer can return to its roots and encourage Americans to build and invent things again. RadioShack, one of the great American retail brands, has struggled after a series of changes that essentially un-geeked the brand. We wrote about itMORE HERE
MINNEAPOLIS – “Hazel Frederick was walking along Nicollet, coming from Dayton’s Department Store, when she saw something she’d never seen before: a pretty dark-haired young girl running out into the traffic in the middle of the street, taking off her hat, and tossing it up in the air.” This isMORE HERE