Stories from the Attic

Greg and Martin welcome their very first guest Victoria Keating. Victoria and Greg were given permission to revisit a Port Chester home built in 1865. Victoria, and her Mum with metal detector searched outside, Greg, with his flashlight searched inside. What we found was kindred spirits for historic preservation. In this episode you see the home and receive some very useful information as to how y...

Join Greg and Martin in a listening party as we try to decipher another fascinating piece of of hidden history from an attic dig. Can you really win at Russian Roulette? Listen in and see... um , or hear! Vintage audio is a viable hobby. Enthusiasts shop for gear like turntables, amplifiers and audio decks for one reason: The recorded media is still out there, still sounding great and also rare -...

Is technology passing you by? Join Greg and Martin in this light-hearted talk about the woes of chasing advances, innovating, and building vintage tech in the moment to recover home movies a family had never seen until Greg found....(Cue title)

In 1954, A psychologist meets a friend in the city. This friend introduces him to a reporter covering a story on intimacy and smoking. The good doctor unwittingly speaks freely with the reporter. What happens next sets in motion a panic in which the doctor must recover his reputation from unintentional exposure. Can he? Does he? The answer comes from this important question: How does Marilyn Monro...

It's a true opportunity to sit down with someone who has owned an historic home, but who also has a rich and vibrant memory of their own history. This is John Reed. As superintendent of Newtown CT schools, he and I collaborated on a series called "Schools and Schooling." John with his vast knowledge of education, and me with my community studio anxious to have as many people use as p...

"10 buildings on one street in Greenwich, CT to be demolished" was all Martin Blanco and I needed to hear, and we were on our way to hunt for history, or get stuck in an attic while the wrecking ball moved closer. It was hot and exhausting and mostly empty, but we made the most ofit and found some treasure along the way.

In this quick episode Martin and I grab the gear and head to Hastings on Hudson to look for the elusive Wire Recorder used in the film "Death of a Salesman" which featured Dustin Hoffman. The home of a long-time film industry sound editor is also the place where numerous film props he collected can be purchased. Take a look at them while Matin and I power tossing a brick (prop) at either...

"Stories From The Attic" Podcast: A colonial estate in Wilton, CT is the setting for this episode. Greg and Martin stay in the Backyard and use a very old doll house to show where the treasure is sometimes hidden. Examples of things found in an old house are: A bag of 75 year old bird seed; An 1863 almanac from Rhode Island; An 19th century unopened jar of smoke flavor for meat, which en...

The dig so big...it needed two episodes. Note: we are taping shorter episodes now, and in the future they may get shorter. You're busy; we get that. Back in the studio, Martin Blanco and I review the journey to Wilton and share before and after footage of the non-hoarder hoard. There was a lot in this house but the owners were just doing what everyone else tries to do - Live a full life and sa...

A "hoard" can mean a lot of things.   (I'll let that sink in.) The word is most often associated with someone who is a hoarder. That term is most often associated with someone usually living in putrefying conditions often as partly caused by a mental disorder. Let me clear up a few things. Not all hoards come from hoarders; not all hoards are in putrefying conditions.   Those who hav...

In this episode Greg and Martin must lay low as they reveal Confidential documents, essentially case files from the Counter Intelligence Corps as they operated in Italy after its liberation from the Fascist regime of Mussolini. Learn how Greg discovered these papers and how these samples of primary history reflect the arduous task of protecting citizens and keeping Italy safe from espionage and in...

In this episode, Martin Blanco and I share our reaction to several newly discovered vintage commercials from the 1960s and 70s. Among the hidden history are often the products of a long career in advertising. These are just a few of the commercials, which prompted the creation of a new YouTube Channel! Retro-Media https://youtube.com/@retro-media411?si=qVIbQjF_hMLFGG_- This will be the place for n...

We love our wives. Don't be mistaken. However, in the hidden history left behind, Greg has uncovered proof that love, While a many splendid thing, is not easy. From the pages of a 1797 preceptor on marriage to a 1950's era contract to promise to "not cheat." Love is anything but easy. It is also fun. Please join us on this continuing journey to preserve the past which is slipping...

"Are you taking a tone with me!?" was an alternate title for this premiere episode of season 2. In it Greg and Martin track the correlation of sound used in early tech to trigger vintage computers, relays and switching gear. But not before being accosted by James Can who castigates anyone who's afraid to give blood. You don't to be a techie to watch! Just open a vein, leave a message, have a bowl...

In this final episode of season 1, Greg and Martin spent 30 of your precious minutes examining this big budget special and revealing how great talent can be wasted at the hands of corporate oversight. As a teaser, you'll see: A vegetarian hawk (or, is he?); A mole, happy to hoard the last bit of food in the forest; woodsmen who consider the Xmas tree to be lowest form of a tree's use; parents who...

The papers often ignored in a home about to be sold or demolished are the remnants of journeys and the souvenirs of meals enjoyed. These bits, or bites, of hidden history are a window to the past that reveal, among other things, lost epicurean delights, famous or infamous locales now erased, and the woes of inflation.  Sirloin Steak for .40 cents!?  Gimmie! Greg Van Antwerp and Martin Blanco revel...

The Stories from the Attic podcast is back with a new episode! This time Martin and I go on location to a 100 year-old attic in New Milford, Connecticut to reveal the found letters, postcards and artwork correspodence sent to a resident during World War II. This is recorded at an actual estate sale just before the enthusiastic crowd arrives and what you get is a sweet and surprising 20 minutes of...

How can being a Boy Scout in 1947 and going to the international jamboree end so badly? How did people entertain themselves in a visual medium that predates film? The answer to these and other questions you never thought to ask will be answered in this 24 min commercial free podcast. This time Greg and Martin are the early birds and set up the podcast right out in front of an Estate Sale before th...

In this episode Greg and Martin uncover 2 never before heard cuts on vinyl. Well, if you were watching regional TV in the Albany NY region in 1972, maybe you did hear or even see this. “Pick a show” was a TV trivia program where contestants were called at random to answer questions for money. Look for deeper cuts on upcoming episodes. The second segment features a dryly humorous annual family gree...

In this episode Greg and Martin read letters regarding a WWI soldier who has been wounded on the battlefield and is missing in action. Can his wife handle the bad news? Will Aunt Bertha get someone in touch with the consulate in Berlin? Can we, the audience, trust a military administrator named PP Chute? Listen and watch as Greg and Martin uncover the details and learn about the ruth(full?)ness of...

In this episode Greg and Co-host Martin Blanco take some early 20th Century Herbal Medications (No, we didn't Take'em Take them!) found in an attic and review the interesting packaging and promises made to cure "all." Another estate sale find creates some lost moments as we try to suppose just what the Quack medical industry was trying to accomplish at the time. See the full visual version on YouT...

In this episode of Stories from the Attic Greg and Martin review an amazing dig in a home just prior to it being cleaned out. History was saved, blood was shed but we all escaped much wiser. You will to. See the Youtube video version (caution! not for the faint of heart!): https://youtu.be/J1FSDMmFPg0

In this episode Greg shares a unique slice of suburban American life in the 1970s. Realizing the importance of the moment in history, a family member has the presence of mind to make a cassette recording of friends/family as they listen first to VP Ford calm the nation on the eve of Nixon’s resignation and then Nixon speaking the next day. Greg and co-host Martin Blanco provide insight to the valu...

History hunter, Greg Van Antwerp and co-host Martin Blanco unravel in this premier episode how Greg found some home movies and got to meet the one and only Stephen Sondheim.