Georgia Railroad Bank Building, Clock & Inkwell. Property of Martin Gutierrez. 7” hight, base 5”x7”, Lead, possibly Art Metal Works.
Unidentified Souvenir Building with Clock
Unidentified Souvenir Building with Clock
MSIG Headquarters, Tokyo
There are lots of reasons to renew (or start) your Souvenir Building Collectors Society membership.
Sharing your passion for small edifices with others of like mind.
Receiving the Souvenir Building Collector, The Journal of the Souvenir Building Collectors Society, 3 times per year.
Access to the Members Only Section of the SBCSociety website with its collection of reference materials that include Volumes 1 to 23 of the SBCS Journal and Lance Oldham’s Banthrico Buildings Then & Now.
Access to the Members Only Section of the SBCSociety website pages with buildings for exchange or sale and a wanted list.
THE ANNUAL CONVENTION! Three days of exceptional tours, friendships, and trading!
Hollyhock House. SBCS 2016 Convention Commemorative by InFocus Tech.
Hollyhock House, Barnsdall Park. View through Courtyard to Living Room. Note the Hollyhocks in the garden.
The 2016 Souvenir Building Collectors Society Convention in Los Angeles is history. Yet no one who attended will forget the camaraderie, the tours, the member exhibits, the swaps, sales, raffle and auction action. The 2016 Convention Commemorative, made by InFocus Tech, of Hollyhock House will keep the memories bright.
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Besides the Commemorative Souvenir Building of the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Hollyhock House in Barnsdall Park, Los Angeles, a handout listing souvenir buildings and monuments in the LA area was distributed. Click here to download a pdf of the listings.
The 2017 Convention will be held in Chicago in October. Planning is underway and updates will be posted on this website on the 2017 Convention page. Keep watching.
The annual SBCS convention gives everyone a chance to share some of their favorite Souvenir Buildings with others who collect. Here are some buildings and monuments you are likely to see at the 2016 Los Angeles gathering, June 10 -12.
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This year at the Friday “Meet and Greet” everyone is asked to wear a Hawaiian Shirt and a Hat, in honor of Bob Kneisel, who always appeared dressed and ready for a vacation in the 50th State. In 20 years, Bob never missed a Convention. We will miss him.
Relaxing at the SBCS “Meet and Greet”
A reminder of the SBCS Convention Schedule:
June 10, Friday:
Hollyhock House Tour (afternoon)
Meet and Greet (evening)
June 11, Saturday:
Business Meeting and Swap Meet (morning)
Tour to L.A. Downtown Art Deco District (afternoon)
Dinner / Raffle / Auction (evening)
June 12, Sunday
Rose Bowl Flea Market followed by a visit to a local collector.
Locals are readying their collections for your inspection.
From the 2003 SBCS Convention
Swap Meet Masters are checking their inventories for those pieces they hope to make a deal with.
SBCS 2014 SWAP MEET
The FREE-4-ALL at the FREEBEES table where a selection of buildings from upgrading (or downsizing) or just generally generous members are giving everyone else a chance at those duplicates, or triplicates, etc. etc. etc.
Buzzing about the FREEBEES Table
The original Freebees table started by Bob Kneisel at the SBCS 2009 convention
Clever Collectors are planning their assault on the “Paper Bag Raffle” – Strings of Raffle Tickets decorate the landscape at the Saturday Evening Festivities.
All those Choices!
Want to Win one of those treasures!
Who knows what will be up for Auction at the end of the evening? Some past goodies have included the Travelers Insurance Co. Hartford, CT; The Peoples United States Bank, St. Louis; and a Mike Merwine re-cast of The Gotham Bank Building.
What souvenir or monument find are you bringing to share with the group?
What will be the 2016 SBCS Convention Commemorative?
SBCS Convention Commemoratives are limited. They are distributed at the annual convention and are a coveted addition to everyone’s collection. There is still time to register for the 2016 Convention in Los Angeles, June 10-11-12. Here are some photos of earlier commemoratives:
Los Angeles Conservancy’s Art Deco Tour conducted by Souvenir Building Collectors Society’s own Chris Spry! Saturday, June 11. One of the many highlights of this year’s SBCS Convention.
Conventional wisdom is that there is no “there” in Downtown Los Angeles. Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica have often eclipsed the original city core in imagery of Southern California. Downtown Los Angeles, now often referred to as DTLA, has always been an important center in Southern California and grew exponentially during certain periods. One era when DTLA experienced growth was post World War I through the 1920’s and into the 1930’s. Many examples of urban buildings during that era currently exist in DTLA, though many were threatened by commercial and governmental growth in the late Twentieth Century.
Eastern Columbia Building
Join us for a walking tour of several of the prime examples of the Art Deco genre of commercial and government buildings that have endured, clustered around the Pershing Square hub in the downtown area. The Los Angeles Conservancy has arranged this two-hour tour and was directly involved in facilitating preservation of many of the buildings through innovative reuse and rehabilitation strategies.
Title Guarantee Building
We will take a chartered coach from our Convention Hotel, the Embassy Suites LAX North to Pershing Square and return after the tour. The cost is $30 per person. Chris Spry will be leading the tour. He has recently become a certified Los Angeles Conservancy docent for this tour. Extra! Extra!
As this post was being prepared, TIMEOUT Los Angeles posted an excellent capsule of influential buildings shaping the Los Angeles architectural landscape. The post includes references to buildings we will see on our two tours, the Eastern Columbia Building and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House. They also mention father and son architects, John and Robert Parkinson, who also have buildings represented on the Art Deco Tour! Take a look by clicking here: TIMEOUT Los Angeles
The 2016 Souvenir Building Collectors Society Convention weekend coincides with the monthly BIG-ONE, The Pasadena Rose Bowl Flea Market! Join fellow Souvenir Building enthusiasts as they scour the stalls for the smallest, oldest, rarest, biggest, most interesting souvenir building, monument, statue, landmark. Who knows, maybe you’ll find one of these replicas of the Rose Bowl.
Special SBCS Convention Hotel Rates at the EMBASSY SUITES LAX North are available until May 19. The special hotel rates are extendable for 2 nights before and after the Convention. Such a deal! Click here for the full information on the available rates.
CONVENTION SCHEDULE:
June 10, Friday:
Early Bird Optional: Hollyhock House Tour (afternoon)
Meet & Greet / Show & Tell (evening)
June 11, Saturday:
Business Meeting and Swap Meet (morning)
Optional Tour to L.A. Downtown Art Deco District (afternoon)
Dinner / Raffle / Auction (evening)
June 12, Sunday:
Rose Bowl Flea Market followed by a visit to a local collector.
Southern California portion of Home Federal Savings and Loan Assoc. Map poster. Copyright 1973
The SBCS Convention 2016 will be held in Los Angeles. Here is your chance to share your passion for miniature buildings, monuments, statues and landmarks with others who are just as nutty as you are about these little gems. The event organizers are looking for local Southern California members, past members, or future members who are anxious to share their collections with Souvenir Building Collectors Society convention attendees.
As one convention organizer put it, “ Though I had been a member of SBCS for many years, I had never been involved until the last local Convention which was held in Pasadena in 2009. I was hooked, and have attended every annual Convention since.”
This year’s event will be held on June 9 -10 -11, 2016. Our base of operation will be the Embassy Suites hotel near LAX. One of the main draws for many attendees is the opportunity to see other SBCS Members’ collections. We are looking for Members who would be interested in showcasing their collection by being part of a Progressive Collection Tour around the Los Angeles area.
If you are not centrally located in the Los Angeles area, but would be interested in showcasing highlights from your collection, other arrangements such as displays at the Convention hotel or at other Members homes might be arranged. We have done this successfully in the past.
If you have interest in showcasing your collection please send the organizer an email letting us know of your interest.
Volumes 1 to 5 of the JOURNAL OF THE SOUVENIR BUILDING COLLECTOR SOCIETY are now available for download in the Membership section of the website. Members Only / SBCS Newsletters / Listing of Back Issues. Go to the bottom of the page.
Jay M, Michael E, and Joe K have contributed photos from the 2015 Convention that can be viewed at Members Only / Convention Photos / 2015. Roll over caption to get full captions. If you have pictures to share, please forward them. Also, check out the public tab, 2015 Convention Redux. We’ll keep it up for a while and could use some photos.
We could use some more pictures of buildings and monuments acquired during the convention to post and increase the number of buildings that will come up in a internet search.
Lance Oldham’s definitive work Banthrico Buildings, Then and Now. Check it out and download it for your research files.
Front Cover of Banthrico Buildings, Then and Now by Lance G. Oldham
WANTED:
Photos and descriptions of your souvenir buildings / monuments / statues with a Los Angeles City, Los Angeles County, or Orange County location. We will start posting some of these photos as a run-up to the June 10 – 12, 2016 SBCS Convention in Los Angeles. A further intent is to create a locale (LA and Orange Counties) specific checklist for members. Email your photos to bookendcollector@bookendcollector.com.
Elizabeth L. and Joe K. took advantage of the “First to Fly” promotion for the Orlando EYE and got the birds-eye view of the Orlando countryside. Joe took 2 flights and received 2 commemorative “First to Fly” pins. Joe said, “While there is not that much to see while up in the sky (after all, it is in central Florida – not on the edge of the Thames), there are several worthwhile sites to discover and see from a different perspective”.
ORLANDO EYE
View of Central Florida from high up on the rotation of the Orlando Eye.
Katherine and Jerry tickled Frank Lloyd Wrights’ fancy.
Frank Lloyd Wright Statue, Florida Southern College, Lakeland, FL
Donna S. picked up 2 keys to the 1933 Century of Progress, Chicago’s World Fair, at an antique mall in the city of Winter Park. Of course, the keys had buildings depicted on them.
Keys to the 1933 Century of Progress, Chicago World’s Fair. Gray Metal, 8 1/2″ and 10″ in length.
On his way out-of-town, Joe K. found a $1 treasure at the Belville Corner Old Time Market in Bushnell, FL.
Firemen’s Memorial Monument, Department 56, American Pride Collection, Ht – 4 1/2″, W – 6″, Depth – 2 3/4″. Composite (plastic)
Base of Monument
Reverse of Monument
The Swap and Shop tables, the after dinner raffle, and the auction yielded more treasures for the 2015 convention attendees.
Checking out the Auction and Raffle Items
Unidentified Mexican Temple, 2 3/4″, Plastic
Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico, 1 3/4″, Plaster
The Fish House, Rockport, Mass. Sebastian Miniatures, 1950, Ceramic. 2 3/4″
Even a bashed up General Motors, Detroit, MI miniature building is all good if you don’t have one in your collection. Grey metal, 3 1/2″ in height.
SBCS 