Ooooh, you lucky girl, Cattychick, you live in Chicago, where there's some paen to mid-Century modernism tucked around every corner.

Here in New York, Lever House comes to the front of my mind.
Also the Four Seasons Restaurant, Lincoln Center, BBar (Bowery Bar),

Some parts of the Fountainbleu Hotel in Miami, definitely the South Beach branch of the Miami-Dade Public Library

The Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills

Cattychick, thanks for the suggestions. I live in Northwest Indiana but commute to Chicago to work every day, so I'll check those out. I have lived here most of my life, including the early '60s, so I have memories of a few places from back then that are still around. First, the Prudential Building, now called "Prudential Plaza," I think (East Randolph Street, near Michigan Ave). At that time it was, believe it or not, the tallest building in Chicago, and back then the big thrill was to visit the observation deck on the top floor, called "The Top of the Rock." The last time I was there, the lobby looked the same as it did then, and the boys from SC would fit right in. Those two ugly twin corncobs, Marina Towers, were built in the early '60s, when my mother and I took a tour of the "new" apartments. And I can see Don Draper with, perhaps, Bobbi at the bar in the Pump Room of the Ambassador East Hotel in the Gold Coast area.

Detroit: The (now closed) London Chop House, and the (newly re-opened) Book-Cadillac Hotel. Both hot, hot, hot in the 30s - 70s.

Two of the high schools in my town were built in the early 60's.One has a bomb shelter under the auditorium.The school was built for three thousand kids but the bomb shelter would hold only about two hundred. I don't like to think what that means! As the nuclear flash goes off, would some teacher be ticking off names of those with the best grades or attendance to get into the shelter?

Cottages like Anna's are still around Southern CA, but now cost a gazillion bucks, no improvements made since then. Close to the beach like hers, a million five, easily, in a recession housing market. Don made a good investment there.

Catty chick, not sure if you saw the thread but there will be a very strong vibe of Mad Men at FitzGerald's at 6125 West Roosevelt this Friday, There will be a big Mad Men costume party in there on Halloween NIght, Friday October 31st. Here is the website address for the party. www.imfxn.com/madmen

Please pass it on to your fellow Mad Men fans in or around the Chicago area. This party will be a blast, there is no admission other than it will be strictly limited to 21 and over dressed in the appropriate Mad Men era clothing. The name of the party is Ghosts of Election Past and will be staged as the party on Election NIght, 1960 that Cooper and Sterling went off to and left the kids to play at the office.

more info on the original thread" Mad Men Costume party in Chicago"

. thx. - Frederick Rumson

There are still some places in NJ that have a late 50s/early 60s feel -- there are hotels/motels built in that time period that are still open on the Jersey shore.

They usually had names like The Swan, The Flamingo, The Shore Cove, etc.

Fast food places with an outdoor seating area like a Stewart's still has a 1960s feel to it.

And we still have restaurants open that have that Polynesian/Chinese feel to it - you know the kind I mean -- the ones with the rock interiors and those masks hanging on the walls.

And let's not forget South Of The Border -- anybody who's driven on Route 95 and is passing through North Carolina and South Carolina has seen South of the Border. They used to have pretty non-PC signs every so many miles before you finally got to South of The Border.

Laurie B. is so right about Detroit!
In New York "21" was long established by the 1960s so Don might have had a drink at the bar..it was well known as a gathering place for ad men and media people and it's still there. The Rainbow Room is now a private club in NYC but, it too, was well established at the time. A very elderly friend showed me a picture of him and a rich socialite he was dating in the early 60s at the Stork Club, long gone.. The bar at the St. Regis has been redone but it was very chic at the time. Don could well have dined on the terrace at Barbetta. It's still there but has lost much of its charm. There were also many upscale jazz spots, all extremely popular, up and down the low 50s off 6th Avenue.

Laurie B. is so right about Detroit!
In New York "21" was long established by the 1960s so Don might have had a drink at the bar or lunch..it was well known as a gathering place for ad men and media people and it's still there. The 1930s Rainbow Room is now a private club in NYC but, it too, was well established at the time. A very elderly friend showed me a picture of him and a rich socialite he was dating in the early 60s at the Stork Club, long gone.. The bar at the St. Regis has been redone but it was very chic at the time. Don could well have dined on the terrace at Barbetta. It's still there but has lost much of its charm. There were also many upscale jazz spots, all extremely popular, up and down the low 50s off 6th Avenue. It was awfully showy for Don but he might have taken out-of-town clients to the Forum of the 12 Caesars, long gone,, to impress them with its "opulence".

How about the Boston area? We just moved here, so I don't know any of the places really. Anybody know? Thanks.

How about the Boston area? We just moved here, so I don't know any of the places really. Anybody know? Thanks.

In Seattle, it would've been (think the Cloud Room is gone):

Cloud Room, Camlin Hotel
The Hunt Club, Sorrento Hotel
Canlis Restaurant (for that 1960's feel)

SEATTLE: How could I forget:

The Space Needle (1964)
The Olympic Hotel (now Four Seasons)
Oliver's, Mayflower Hotel

SEATTLE:

The Meany Towers in the University District (now Safeco Tower I believe). One of the darkest bars ever - great place to be with someone you're not supposed to be with. Had to grope your way to the table. Lots of atmosphere. Very forties looking back in the 1960's-1980's, small round table with white tablecloths, single small table light, very nightclub like. Lots of professors and secretaries in there. LOL

Randall651: How do you know about Detroit? Are you a (former) Detroiter? Have you done business here?

@Cattychick: This probably won't get answered since the last entry was 10/29. It's been a while since I lived in Illinois. I used to visit friends in Chicago. One time they took me to the Drake Hotel. If I remember correctly there was a life size black and white picture of JFK down a long hallway. I thought it was very cool. He was pictured in a trenchcoat and coming into the building. Is that correct or did I have too many cosmos and forget where I was?

If you travelled downstate to Peoria there is a restaurant in a Mall on the outskirts of town close to cornfields. Called Johnny's Italian Steakhouse. Very 40's supper club. Dark inside, long bar. The tables have white tablecloths with rounded high black banquets. You will hear Sinatra, Holliday, Fitzgerald, etc in the background. The bathroom was retro too. Subway tiles, the door was dark wood with frosted glass window. I loved it there.

Chelsea, thanks for your memory of the Drake. I don't think the photo of JFK is there any more, but I would have loved to have seen it. Perhaps he stayed at the Drake for the 1956 Democratic Presidential Convention, which was held in Chicago. Or maybe he was visiting a girlfrend;-) Johnny's Italian Steakhouse sounds very cool. I'd love to go there someday.

Laurie B, so glad you mentioned the Book-Cadillac. How wonderful it was saved from the wrecking ball. I remember being there as a kid while visiting relatives in the Detroit area. Have you been there since it reopened?

Ardilla, the Prudential Building absolutely has a Mad Men feel to it. Incidentally, it housed Leo Burnett, one of the largest ad agencies in the world, until the early 1990s.

Randall and GuySmiley, thank you for your New York contributions. What would be your thoughts on the Oyster Bar at Grand Central Station? There used to be this amazing little blue bar tucked into a corner of the lobby of the Algonquin Hotel. If you get a chance, pick up or borrow the book New York 1960 by architect Robert A.M. Stern. It is huge, and contains photos and histories of many skyscrapers, hotels, restaurants, homes, etc, from that time frame.