Category Archives: Video Blog

December 17, 2010 · 5:00 am

An “Only-In-America” Kind of Restaurant

The Bubble Room - Captiva Island, Florida

The Bubble Room is Florida’s most outrageously kitschy restaurant. Located on Captiva Island, an “Old Florida” destination, the restaurant’s decor is unique where Christmas decorations, a toy train running through the dining room and memorabilia from the 1930s-1950s are all rolled into one.

One of the Five Dining Rooms

The restaurant gets its name from the bubble lights which cover the interior of the place and add to that wacky, nostalgic Christmas-y feeling.

The wait staff at the Bubble Room are called “Bubble Scouts” and sport crazy hats and scout-style uniforms covered in buttons and patches. They serve up American cuisine, as well as some house specialities including “Bubble Bread” and “sticky buns.” They are also famous for their “Sweet 16” dessert menu.

The Bubble Room's Entrance

Bubble Scout

The Bubble Room draws locals and tourists alike who leave this “only-in-America” restaurant with a full belly and new memories of memorabilia and Christmas nostalgia.

One of the Dining Tables @ The Bubble Room

Bubble Bread & Sticky Buns

Fortune Teller, Wurlitzer & Tunnel of Love

Don't Forget Dessert!

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Filed under Legends of Americana, Video Blog

Tagged as American cuisine, Bubble Bread, Bubble Scouts, Captiva Island Florida, Christmas decorations, Florida restaurants, memorabilia, nostalgia, Old Florida, sticky buns, Sweet 16 desserts, The Bubble Room, Vintage Clothes, vintage clothing, vintage kläder

December 6, 2010 · 5:01 am

My American Hometown Shoe Store

This is the first installment in a series about the people, places & things from my recent trip to America…

In just about every small town in America, there’s a little shoe store that carries quality brands for local customers. Many of these shoe stores are a family business that have been serving generations.

I guess I’m lucky because where I come from, our local family-run shoe store is Sears Shoe Store in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia.

This store has nothing to do with Sears, the big American department store chain. Rather, it’s owned by the Sears family who have been shoeing people of the Tennessee Valley for decades. My grandparents shopped there for work shoes as well as “Sunday shoes,” my parents still shop there, and when I’m in the States, I shop there for myself and my children.

Sears is chock full of all kinds of quality footwear goodness for men, women & children, representing the best brands from the United States as well as fashion brands known around the world.

The thing I love most about Sears is that you can always find dead stock somewhere in their cavernous maze of shoes. If you ask the staff, they can pull just about anything out of their floor-to-ceiling stacks of shoes.

This includes vintage baby shoes, ladies heels from the 1960s or, as I asked for & got on a recent visit, a pair of white Converse All-Star high tops that were Made in U.S.A. It is also exactly the place I knew I could find a very rare pair of Spalding Saddle Oxfords, which are now one of my most prized pair of shoes.

Sears is a local legend. But for me personally it’s a constant treasure trove of dead stock classic vintage finds and the source for all the best Made in America shoes.

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Filed under Classic American Brands, Shoes, Video Blog

Tagged as Converse All-Stars, family-run shoe store, Fort Oglethorpe Georgia, local shoe store, Sears Shoe Store, small town America, Spalding Saddle Oxfords, Tennessee Valley, vintage shoes