American homes have seen many stylistic changes since 1600. The American Colonial, known for its sloping roofs and spacious interiors were popular for roughly 200 years before a new style, the Classical, known for the use of  “Democratic” Grecian-style pillars emerged. These home-styles were very popular but only affordable by the upper class. Lower class citizens were often forced to live in dingy urban settings where they were exposed to disease and pestilence. It wasn’t until the early 1900’s that the American middle class began to emerge, carving a social niche between the upper class and the lower class; and it was the Bungalow style home that led their residential charge.

The Gamble House, An Extravagant Bungalow/Craftsman Hybrid

The history of the Bungalow can be tracked back to the 1600’s. Originally created in Bangladesh, the Bungalow style was seen by British colonists as the perfect shape for a cottage, or summer home. The outdoor room, as defined by the porch, was seen as highly practical and symbolic of good health, awareness of nature, and appreciation of a simplified lifestyle. Even today, the classic image of a cottage is that of a bungalow-style home.

The American Bungalow

A Row of Bungalows in Buffalo NY

Despite their appeal to the British as cottages and vacation homes, no one had considered using them as full time residences. That is, until 1905 when Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene began mass-producing bungalow floor plans to accommodate the booming American middle class.

It didn’t take long for Bungalow-style homes to catch on. Soon the Bungalow rose to define the emerging middle class as a whole. Though wildly popular in California, perhaps the region that best describes bungalows is Chicago.

The Chicago bungalow offers a fairly similar interior space as the California bungalow except that Chicago bungalows often have indoor living rooms where California bungalows had verandas (porches). Why was this? Well, because Chicago gets pretty cold sometimes. The Chicago bungalow became so popular that it eventually represented 1/3 of all Chicago homes, a number that holds true today.

A Prime "Chicago Bungalo" Example; Note the Lack of Outdoor Veranda

Here at Atlas Signs and Plaques we love what the bungalow style home represented for the American people and what it still represents today. We offer many signs that look great when placed on a bungalow style house; most notably our craftsman series, which was created with bungalow homes in mind. You can find our craftsman series, in its entirety, here.

Though new bungalows are scarcely built in 2011, they will always be representative of the American dream and the middle class that made that dream a reality.

Sleep With YouTube on the Mind

Imagine for a moment a kid in the 80’s who just watched Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” for the first time. He loves it and wants to watch it again right away, but has to wait for it to come around in MTV’s video rotation. Sounds pretty silly right? In 2011 that same kid would simply get up, walk to his computer, and type in YouTube.com. The popularity of YouTube is as sensational as it is widespread—company executives say the site uploads 48 hours of video every minute. But where did YouTube come from? How did it rise to success? Let’s take a look at the history of YouTube.

Though quickly abandoned, the idea of YouTube allegedly began as a video version of the dating site “Hot or Not”. The thought was to allow members to peruse video personals and rate other member’s videos. Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim would soon start an Internet revolution. On February 15^th, 2005 the domain name YouTube.com was registered. In April of that year the first YouTube video was uploaded, featuring co-creator Jawed Karim in an inane eighteen-second clip called “Meet at the Zoo”. A few weeks later the public beta was offered and the website soon gained millions of dollars in investor support before its eventual December full release.The First YouTube Video

YouTube exploded in popularity, swallowing enormous gobs of bandwidth like a starving troll at a buffet. It’s viewership increased from dozens of daily views in May 05 to 50 million daily views in Dec. 05. By May 06 its videos reached 200 million daily views, and by August 06, 700 million daily views. This means that in less than 1 year of its full release, YouTube had become a defining site of the Internet. Despite overwhelming success, the best for YouTube was yet to come. Continue reading →

A Collection of Benguiat's Typefaces

At Atlas Signs and Plaques we offer an innumerable amount of custom signs. Our sizes, designs, patinas, and fonts are all very unique and original. Today, we’re focusing on fonts, particularly the cherished “Benguiat” font named after legendary designer Ed Benguiat.

Who is Ed Benguiat?

You probably have never heard of Ed Benguiat, but you have seen his work. His designs are ubiquitous—he’s literally all over the place. From designing the header of the New York Times and Esquire, to designing movie posters for high profile movies (like the classic Planet of the Apes), Benguiat’s creations always amaze.

Those who have talked with Benguiat say he is very outspoken, direct, and honest. Outside of designing, he teaches a class at the “School of Visual Arts in New York” called “So you want to design a typeface (and get rich like me)”. You see what I mean about the direct thing? Never one to idle, Benguiat also plays jazz drums and pilots a 350 MPH airplane in his free time. He was also inducted into the art director hall of fame in 2000 joining the ranks of Saul Bass, Herb Lubalin, Seymour Chwast, Walt Disney, and Andy Warhol.

No Solicitors, Sporting the ITC Benguiat Font

We are proud to bring you a font designed by this very interesting person, and we know that it will serve you well, rocker-pilot or no.

The First Automobile Ever

Good inventions are a dime a dozen: the iPod, beer, whiskey, Camaros, cameras, etc. Sadly, most great inventions are taken for granted, which in a way is a testament to the quality of said invention. Things like bookstores, guns, complex music and cell phones would not be as developed as they are today had not someone first invented their primitive versions. This top 10 list is of the greatest inventions of all time. Continue reading →

The Perfect Seasonal Gift!

I hate to say it, but winter is coming. There’s no doubt about that. I can already sense the bleakness as it slowly forms in my mind. I can feel the ubiquitous cold-blanket sucking the life out of everything it touches like a dementor sucking the souls from it’s helpless victims. I can see the vastness of snow covering the entire ground save for a few intrepid blades of grass here and there resembling the look of an old man’s very-nearly-bald head. It’s some depressing business.

What depresses me more during winter is when someone walks through my house without removing their shoes. Delivery boys do this sort of thing all the time. Sound familiar? I hope not, but if it does then we have the answer for you at Atlas Signs and Plaques. This featured sign is in the mold of a snow-capped mountain, with the clear and easy to read “Please Remove Shoes” superimposed on it. The perfect gift for the holiday season, this sign will prevent people from tracking garbage through your house with their wet shoes. Imagine what a please remove shoes sign will do in the summer too. Rain. Mud. Grass. Dirt. You don’t need any of that on your carpet. (Note: the snow on the mountains is permanent, regardless of temperature.)

Sometimes people are rude, it happens. Sometimes people are unintentionally rude, it also happens. In either case, if people enter your house with their shoes on with one of these plaques hanging right in front of their face, then they should go back to grammar school and re-learn English so that they may get a better grasp of how to read.