Sunday, April 3, 2011

Best of Sunset House '64 (Part One)

Here's a sampling of fun, oddball stuff you could order directly from the Sunset House mail order catalog in 1964. "Happy, unusual gifts for everyone!", sent directly to you from the sunniest house in Beverly Hills, California! Become a glamorous smoker! Brush your teeth with booze! Put a diaper on your parakeet! Listen to your favorite songs right out of the top of Frankenstein's freakish flat head-- or grow bean sprouts from the top of yours! I'll have more highlights from the color section of the catalog in our next post... in the meantime, you can order equally splendid items of whimsy from Archie McPhee by clicking HERE!






















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9 comments:

  1. Prof. GrewbeardApril 03, 2011

    i want two of everything here, but "Fore Fun" is just creepy...

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  2. Mr. CavinApril 03, 2011

    "Fore Fun" is creepy? What the heck has that kid got trapped in his "Bug House"? It's got twelve legs. And what book is BSR carrying around in plain brown cover? Some smutty Winnie-the-Pooh book?

    I think it's funny how they got the fake bourbon bottle semantically backwards, too. Most real bottles of Kentucky liquor I've ever seen brag about how old and estimable they are: Old Crow, Old Granddad, Pappy van Winkle, etc. It's all about aged veneration. But this one wants to come over all space-aged veneration: Twenty-First Century Bourbon Whiskey, everybody. Buck rogers in a bottle!

    Thanks Karswell. This is solid gold.

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  3. Jil CaseyApril 03, 2011

    I can remember reading ads like that in the back of comic books and popular magazines. They were very entertaining. The grass sprouting beanie is bizarre!

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  4. Mr. KarswellApril 03, 2011

    >but "Fore Fun" is just creepy...

    Golfer Porn is definitely an aquired taste, Prof.

    >What the heck has that kid got trapped in his "Bug House"? It's got twelve legs.

    It's the mutated result of an alien face hugger that attached itself to Count Crabula-- duh!

    >I can remember reading ads like that in the back of comic books and popular magazines.

    I'll have more grand selections from the color pages of this gift catalog in the next post, Jil... thanks for stopping by!

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  5. UnknownApril 06, 2011

    I want a crumb-eating bug. It can live in my kitchen. Plenty of things for it to eat end up on the floor each day! I'm kind of a clod.

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  6. lloyd e raynorApril 04, 2014

    We had a Sunset House Gift store here in Torrance Ca. at the South Bay Center in the 60's

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  7. benOctober 05, 2014

    We had one in Baldwin Hills near Fedco. Moved to Torrance area in 1970.

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  8. Geoff DunnApril 22, 2016

    Wow! I never thought the Susnet catalog would be on the web but a search brought me here. So does anybody remember the ad for the face massager with a sketch of a woman holding this tapered rod against her face, her eyes closed and a satisfied smile? It wasn't until many years later I realized it was a dildo. I wonder how many moms ordered those, maybe to use when they went "running for the shelter of their 'moma's little helper'" (thanks to Mick Jagger for the song)>

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  9. mielmaniApril 05, 2017

    So...whatever happened to Sunset and Hanover House catalogues? I had a blast looking at them as a kid and teenager. I remember ordering a little plastic carrying case with those paper toilet seat covers (with refill pack) as a gift for my mother because she always made a big deal about using seat covers in public bathrooms.

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