Throwing one back

Five tips for assembling a vintage bar

My husband and I like to remember the first barbecue of summer 2009, when we drank Red Bull and Olde English and grilled hotdogs at a friend’s apartment. Another friend, Jarrel, the great proclaimer, raised his red plastic cup and toasted our cookout and friendship: “Looks right, feels right.”

Several years (and cocktails) later, we memorialized Jarrel’s grand words in a frame over our bar at home. “Looks right, feels right” became my mantra for assembling our barware collection. Most of my pieces reveal a devotion to vintage glamour: the gentle opulence of gold stripes paired with green, frosted or simple, clear glass. It’s glassware so lovely it makes anyone feel Hollywood.

Why vintage barware and not the lovely, newly manufactured pieces at your local department store? Because vintage glasses have been to the party you are late to.  I own some brand-new metal straws from a cute local shop down the street from where I opened my vintage-furniture store, Retro Den. But, if I could have metal straws that fueled the buzz of a post-WWII social hour in a sunken living room while guests swayed to popping vinyl, would I trade them? You bet. Pieces with history hold power and give meaning to our present moments. I’d drink to that every day of the week.

You, too? Here’s how to get your own vintage barware collection started:

Be a hopeful hunter. I started with two gold-stripped tumblers that stole my heart at a flea market in Arkansas. Two glasses does not make a set, but they had to be mine. A year later, while driving home from visiting my future husband in Norman, I stopped in an old-house-turned-antique-outpost and found some similar cups that had both gold stripes and frosted stripes. I felt like I’d won the lottery. And then, two years after that, I stumbled on eight of the original gold-stripe-only glasses.

Moral of the story: just when I decided a mere approximation was the grandest find, I discovered my heart’s exact desire. Let this tale be a candle in the darkness as you search for perfection in your vintage collection. Your glassware dreams can come true, too. So keep your damn eyes open.

You can’t own them all. Running the store has taught me to appreciate that there are always new cool and lovely things in the world, more than I could ever dream to keep in my home. Early on, I had to make rules. The bar cabinet is the only approved place for barware. It’s all the room I get. I don’t tell my gorgeous and too-shallow martini glasses to their faces, but they are the ones I would trade if I find a more practical and just-as-beautiful option.

Keep your cool and only have things you’ll use. Trade things in and out. Don’t hoard. No one goes to cocktail parties at hoarders’ houses.

Go with what looks and feels right first; then, notice a trend. I already knew gold-stripes were my jam in terms of glassware, but when I stumbled on some minty green lowball glasses, I wasn’t sure if they would fit in. Sometimes just having your breath taken away is enough to know you should buy something, but that’s not the best rule to stand on when building a solid collection. It often helps to consider other sets of things in your home or life. Taking into account my china (white with apple-green and gold stripes tracing its rims), as well as my mixing bowls (Jadeite Fire King in enchanting light green.), I was able to see my true colors shine through. It was no coincidence I was drawn to the green lowballs. Obviously, they came home with me.

You should definitely mock sip from potential cups. How on earth will you know if you like drinking from them if you don’t? I love the heft of my minty green lowball glasses. Now gin and tonics not only taste good, but they also feel good in my hands.

Pretty glassware makes your drinks taste better. I’ve read that people get more pleasure out of experiences than they do out of things. Thoughtfully chosen, enjoyably acquired glassware elevates cocktail hour to an experience steeped in history for you and your guests. Quite frankly, you are going to feel fancy and fashionable. I want that for you. I want you to feel fancy and fashionable.

Editor’s note: A version of this article first appeared on TheNoshery.com, a food and lifestyle blog with Tulsa roots.