Refinished & Reupholstered Antique Sofa

As you know, I love to visit antique shops to find that one antique that noone else sees or appreciates. I like to save some antiques from a certain death (junking) and watch, over a period of months, as I bring them back to life.

I found this antique sofa in a second hand furniture shop. It was a mess and under a bunch of other furniture but I knew when I saw it it was a real treasure. The sofa is about 150 years old (circa 1860) and is made of oak and mahogany wood. I believe it came from Cape May, New Jersey and was being junked. I paid $50 for it. When I was tearing it down I found a reupholstering tag from Nov 15, 1915. I did the woodworking myself and had a local upholsterer do the fabric. It really turned out nice.

Finished Antique Bookcase and Lamp

This antique bookcase is Quarter Sawn Oak. It was probably constructed around 1880 to 1890. I inherited it from my grandmother so it probably came from her mother or from my grandfather's side of the family. Once I got started it took about 4 weeks to complete. No real history that I know of other than it came from South Jersey.




As for the antique lamp, I found the lamp buried in sand in the basement of an abandoned house with the entire base nearly rotted away. I think the wood for the lamp is Mahogany and I think it too dates to the 1890's. I rebuilt the base and wired it, but kept all the original hardware, and had the shade redone. I really enjoy this antique lamp and often sit beneath it reading very old books and just imagine someone before me doing the same thing.

Antique Furniture I'm Working On

People watching in Turkey

People watching is something I really enjoyed doing while living in Turkey.

Sipping Efes Pilsen Beer in Istanbul and Ankara
Oftentimes on a summer weekend I would go into the busiest district of Istanbul or Ankara and sit at an outdoor café nursing an Efes Pilsen beer and watch the people walk by. It’s amazing what you can learn about a culture by doing this. I found the Turkish people to be very family oriented and committed to their children. They appear to be strict disciplinarians but very loving when it comes to family members. Older people are very well respected and treated like royalty. I saw very little graffiti on public buildings and shop owners did not appear to worry about staying open late. Although Turkey has taken on many of the “western ways” such as “Burger King” and “McDonalds” and loud music, it is still an ancient way of life that respects tradition and love of the flag.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
They very much adore Mustafa Kemal with a passion and embrace the parliamentary form of democracy. Mustafa Kemal, also known as Ataturk, founded the Republic of Turkey in 1923, was an army officer, revolutionary statesman and served as Turkey’s first President. Ataturk’s political, economic and cultural reforms, referred to as Kemalism, still influence the way the Turkish democratic state is run today.

I love the country and will return at every opportunity.

Weekends in Istanbul

After a week at Cakmakli (pronounced Chok - mok - la or more affectionately known as The Cak), we were all ready for a relaxing weekend in Istanbul. My weekend started early since I wanted to escape as quickly as possible. After mounting the old school bus, we rode the bumpy trails out of the country into the city of Istanbul. The bus dropped us off at various locations but I preferred to exit at Yesil Koy, a small village on the outskirts of Istanbul and either walk through the town or take the train into the city. The train ride was quite interesting and on any day you could find a variety of people or animals riding alongside. I don’t think I will ever forget the distinctive smell of a freshly lit Turkish cigarette. To me at least it smelled like a combination of chicken manure and oregano. I’m sure there is tobacco somewhere in the mixture but I couldn’t tell by the odor.

Anyway, after arriving in Istanbul (which could take 2 hours or so) it was time for a quick bite. I remember stopping by the “doner kebab” stand. For a few Turkish lira I would buy a1/2 loaf of fresh Italian style bread. Inside would be some olive oil with herbs and several layers of thinly sliced lamb. It was delicious and I can’t remember when I have ever enjoyed a sandwich so much. The rest of the day would be spent walking. I would visit the Grand Bazaar and look at Turkish carpets or leather coats or gold or spices. Visiting a merchants shop also required you to drink the tea and even eat lunch with them. I was often so full of tea and pizza that all I wanted to do was sleep. This really made the rest of the day drag on.

When I had enough of the Bazaar, I might walk to the Galata Bridge and look towards the Bosphorus and the Rumeli fortress and imagine the many battles that occurred over the years. When I had my fill of the Black Sea, I might visit Aya Sofia. This was the mosque that use to be a Christian church. Many times I would bring a history book with passages about the mosque and read them in the exact places where the book referred to. It was truly amazing. The Blue Mosque was also a fascinating place to visit as was the Dolmabahce Palace. My favorite place to spend an afternoon however was down in the cistern below the city. The cistern was built many hundreds of years ago to collect water for the city. The most amazing thing was that it was built from the materials captured by the Turks when they conquered other regions. The cistern was so large that to tour it properly required a small boat.

After a full day in Istanbul, I would get back on the bus and return the The Cak. A quick shower to wash off the exhaust smoke and the dirt from the city and I was ready to sleep and who knows maybe do the same thing again Sunday morning.

Antique Victor Portable Record Player - 1910

Here is another treasure I inherited from my late grandmother. I don't remember the model but its an early antique Victor portable record player circa 1910.

This beautiful Victor antique record player was in my grandmother's attic and I believe when she realized she was not long for this world she gave it to me. It was originally my grandfathers and he and my grandmother used to take it with them on picnics.

It's in excellent condition and all I did was wipe it down with some 0000 steel wool and mineral spirits. Some days I'll place a record on it and let it play.

When I close my eyes I can almost imagine my grandfather and grandmother at the picnic area in Willow Grove New Jersey eating their sandwiches and lemonade in the shade by the lake.

A true treasure.

Impressions of Turkey, October, 1980, Part II

When I finally arrived at Cakmakli, I was dropped off at the front door of the BOQ (bachelor officers quarters) which more appropriately could have been called simply the officers quarters since we were all “bachelors” while assigned to Cakmakli as spouses were not allowed on this tour.

As I walked in the front door, I remember how dark it was. As I passed through the foyer of the building I noticed the radio room to my left and remember the distinctive “buzzing” of the radios and other security equipment. I announced myself to a soldier and he simply pointed me in the direction down this long dark hallway. As I walked (which seemed like miles) I noticed rooms on both sides of the hall. Some had windows painted dark and others were solid wood doors. I assumed one of these would be my room where I would call home for the next 12 months. As I arrived at the end of the hall I could see a glow in a larger room and could see the outline of people sitting around. When I finally arrived I saw that several people were watching a movie from a 16mm projector which was being shown against the far wall. They all looked at me as if to say can we help you? When I identified myself as Lt Michael Lopergolo, they responded with “ Oh….we were expecting you tomorrow”. Things were not off to a good start…

Impressions of Turkey, October, 1980 ... my first Army assignment

I remember when I received my first notification to go to Turkey. I was standing in my dorm room at the University of Georgia. It must have been December, 1979. The phone rang and it was the ROTC office. "Is this Michael Lopergolo?", the ROTC officer asked. "Yes, it is", I answered as nervousness crept up my spine. "Mr. Lopergolo", the man went on, "you're going to Turkey". When he told me of the pending assignment my intestines almost turned to water and I almost lost it. The country recently had undergone a coup. Race ahead 9 months………..

My Pan American World Airways flight landed at Ataturk airport in October of 1980 and I became a little uneasy when several armored personnel carriers met the plane out on the flight line. When I exited the aircraft, it was like I was in another world. Everything was brown and dusty, all the vehicles were dirty and of course no one spoke English. I spoke no Turkish whatsoever having taken Italian for 2 years in college. This was not how the Army had described it to me. My luggage was lost, the phones didn’t work, and there was no one to meet me to take me to my new assignment. Needless to say, my first impressions were not positive.

After muddling my way through customs, I tried the telephone but soon realized I had no coins and the operator spoke no English. I wasn’t even sure who I was going to call although I felt like calling my Mom to get me out of there. After an hour or so I heard the distinct sounds of an American from off in a distance. I moved over to them and as luck would have it found out they were from another military unit but were picking up another new arrival, not me. They did, however, take me to my new assignment 40 miles out of their way.

The drive out of the city was very “eye opening”. Turkey was more remote and rural than I could have ever imagined. The homes were shacks (at least in my opinion) made of what appeared to be mud bricks. To this day (nearly 30 years later) I distinctively remember the ride down the long road out of Istanbul to Cakmakli. It was very, very bumpy and of all the mud huts we passed, only one of them had a light on. It was a bare bulb hanging in the center of a one room hut. I remember the hut seemed so cold. I began to wonder what the next year would hold for me in such a remote place. I would soon come to realize, however, that no matter how remote or dusty, old, rural or dirty the country of Turkey appeared on first impression, it and its people would very shortly be endeared to me for the rest of my life.

Philco model 37-1 Antique Radio

This antique radio is a Philco model 37-1.

It, too, is a family heirloom. It belonged to my grandmother and was used by my Dad and his siblings while growing up in Philadelphia. They use to tell me stories about when they were kids listening to "Dick Tracy" or the "Green Hornet" or Superman" on it.

My grandfather would listen to it during WWII days and get the information via short wave radio about his home in Italy. My grandmother was throwing it out back in the 60's and I rescued it from oblivion. I cleaned it up and sent the electronics off to be repaired. It too holds a prominent place in my living room today.

Stromberg-Carlsen Majestic Antique Cathedral-back Telephone

I first became intrigued with wooden box type phones when I was a small child. Lassie (the TV show) was one of my favorites as a child and a wooden phone was used in their TV kitchen. One afternoon when I was 7 or 8 yrs old, my dad and mom took my sister and me for a walk in the woods.

We came across an old building that was boarded up. Peeking in the window I remember seeing a desk with papers on it, some writing materials and an old lamp. Then I saw it. It was the Stromberg-Carlsen Majestic Antique Cathedral-back Telephone.

Ever since that day back in the early 1960's I often thought about that phone. One day while assigned out in California, I was attending an antique show in nearby Reno, Nevada. When I walked in, there it was. I paid $125 for it. I cleaned it up, sent it off to the restorer for the electrical components and it is now in my home in NJ waiting for me to find a sturdy enough wall to hang it on. It weighs aroung 40 pounds.