18 Blue Beret / May 2017

Who is Miss Bamboo? First of all, I love vintage glamour and in particular 1940s and 50s American, Hawaiian, Mexican and Asian styles which I display in my online shop www.missbamboo.co.uk. I am also passionate about my 1950s house and Tiki garden and have been on the rockin’ scene for years. I also compete in ballroom and Latin dancing which I guess is a bit unusual for a 40s/50s girl! I love swing dancing and Lindy Hop too!

About four years ago my partner, Nigel (Big Bamboo) and I bought a 1961 Airstream Globetrotter in the US and imported it into the UK. At the start, Big Bamboo had told Miss Bamboo that he had found a bargain but, on taking her to view it, had asked her to “keep an open mind as it just needed a little TLC.” What she saw was a trailer in need of serious body-off repairs and a complete interior refit!

We had to turn negative feelings into positive vibes and our poor neglected Airstream gradually became an inspi-ration. Miss Bamboo soon had great plans! It was a job for professionals but we discovered Airstream restoration is a rare skill, particularly in the UK, and we ended up on a waiting list for a year just to get the project started.

However, while Miss Bamboo was daydreaming of tropical barkcloth soft furnishings, mid-century styling and all-important details like chevron cupboard handles and vintage parch-ment-shade cone lights, there were more pressing matters at hand. Big Bamboo insisted on having the boring mechanical and structural work completed first, but whilst our main man, the skilled Howard Barnett at Leisure Vehicle Maintenance, got on with the chassis and belly pan, a girl could dream!

Now she’s finished and covering thousands of miles around Europe, and it’s good to know we’re safe. She’s in

full service as an integral part of our Miss Bamboo business designing and selling retro clothing whilst travelling to shows and festivals throughout Europe. She was well worth the wait!!

Ok, enough of the boring stuff and on to the interior - Miss Bamboo has always grappled with the dilemma of mid-century modern styling versus Tiki. Our home, Casa Bamboo in Manchester, England, is what she would class as 1950s mid-century with tropical and Tiki influences and this is what we would try to replicate in the Airstream.

At first, Miss Bamboo (by name and by nature) had the idea of an actual bamboo cocktail bar in the corner. As small as this bar was (the second smallest of her four bamboo bars), realistically this was going to mean no bed for Big Bamboo and she reluctantly conceded this was not a feasible option! A “cocktail corner” would have to suffice!

Miss Bamboo decided on a 50s mid-century “youngstown” feel for the kitchen with chrome boomerang cupboard pulls from the USA and high-gloss ivory-cream units. The curved end

Miss Bamboo - aka Emma Edwards, WBCCI #8488

Blue Beret / May 2017 19

shelves would make a good decorative area for the cocktail corner and soon the cabinetry began to take shape.

which we salvaged from the old kitchen appliances. The sink and hob also had to be modern but are inoffensive as they sit neatly under glass covers to create a streamlined work surface. Cocktail accessories were to follow adding that extra bit of Tiki in what is now fondly known as Cocktail Corner!

On to the dinette area - while some Airstreams had dinettes, Globetrotters only had end bench beds. Miss Bamboo far preferred a cute dinette area and so this was created to convert nicely into her bed at night! An original chrome dinette pole was salvaged from another Airstream. Miss Bamboo already had her coral coloured Bird of Paradise tropical barkcloth, bought in Honolulu a couple of years earlier.

Miss Bamboo also has a thing about 50s pink bathrooms. Have you seen some of those bathrooms in the time capsule houses in the States? Wow!! There is even a group in the USA called “Save the Pink Bathroom.” Whilst the Airstream walls are a pale green, and carried through the bathroom for consistency, the original bath had to be remoulded in, yes you’ve guessed it, pink - hurrah! A pink sink was then placed into a cream vanity top, again with boomerang handles. Pin-up girl shower curtains gave a sweet retro feel.

The toilet was another story. The search for the cream “Thetford Excel-

lence”, one of the only round and better quality porta-loos, resulted in Miss Bam-boo discovering that in the UK you could only get it in boring white. After much perseverance, she eventually found a lone cream one that had been delivered to a UK company by mistake. Phew, result!! The central section was a nasty brown, but no worries. She had it sprayed pink!

The atomic starburst toilet roll holder added more mid-century fabulousness!! As is often the problem, the seller would not ship outside the US but Miss Bam-boo’s commitment is second to none. She got it shipped to a friend-of-a-friend in the USA who then posted it on to the UK!

Other details of the interior included sourcing original vintage Airstream in-terior lights from eBay and decorative pieces such as the Hawaii pictures, dou-ble wardrobes for Big Bamboo’s shirts and Miss Bamboo’s dresses, a vintage 50s folding table for guests to enjoy a cocktail, refurbished in that Red Sparkle Gloss laminate, to name but a few...

The trailer is never out of place at our many destinations, like the North West England seaside town of Morecambe for the “Vintage by the Sea Festival”, celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Art Deco Midland Hotel.

For another trip in September 2016, we hightailed it down to Dover to take

continued on page 20

Sadly Formica had discontinued their Coral Boomerang melamine laminate so Ruby Red Sparkle Gloss was substitut-ed. Chamfered cupboard and drawer doors, chrome boomerang cupboard pulls, trim and poles gave an authentic 50s feel. Keeping the original fridge was no longer an option but the modern spacious new one was disguised with the Sparkle Gloss and the vintage badge

20 Blue Beret / May 2017

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Charter Member of Airstream Parks Association

continued from page 19

 

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the short ferry crossing over to France and journey on, all the way down to Calafell in Spain for the 50’s rockin’ holiday “High Rockabilly.”

After issues around Paris with Big Bamboo’s “state of the art” GPS, which kept returning us to the same low bridge, we finally made it to Calafell. If you are a lover of the 1950’s, you must try this lovely Spanish resort with its long clean beaches, plenty of palm trees and a pretty esplanade with some nice little mid-century apartments.

There are two cocktail bars in Calafell that cater for those with vintage desires. The first is Bora Bora, the local Tiki bar. It’s a great rockabilly hangout for getting dressed up in your best vintage or indeed repro Hawaiian.

The second is New Orleans, which captures the glamorous feel of the jazz age in 1920s to 40s New Orleans, Louisi-ana. A family business where the drinks are truly divine - not surprising given that Jesus (pronounced Hehsus), the owner, is a cocktail connoisseur and master mixer who was recently European champion! His trophies and pictures are proud-

ly on display in the bar amongst the cool vintage New Orleans de-cor and collec-tions of vintage cocktail shakers, transporting you back to a more glamorous time.

The Rockabilly festival itself is fantas-tic. The event organiser brings in a great selection of international bands such as Big Sandy and his Fly-Rite Boys from the USA, the UK’s The Rimshots and Japan’s Los Rizlaz. One of the festival highlights, however, had to be the onstage performance by rockabilly legend Larry Collins of The Collins Kids. Larry and sister Laurie were brought to fame in 1950s America as a country music child duo and became regulars on 50s TV shows such as Town Hall Party. (www.rockabillyhall.com)

Alongside great evening entertain-ment are street parties and daytime beach parties where gals and guys strut out in their best vintage beach wear and cabana sets while listening to 50s surf and garage music as well as classic rock’n’roll. The vintage traders’ market, where Miss Bamboo was based every night, offered great shopping with a range of vintage and repro. No, the Hawaiian-style trailer is never out of place. And where better to take a 1961 Airstream Globetrotter.