Miramar California Melmac Kids Set

This melmac set is available on Etsy, at katehartxoxo

How unique and odd at the same time is this mint in boxed melmac set made by Miramar of California (available for sale KateHartXOXO ).  Odd that this child's set survived untouched all these years.  A rarity indeed. Strange though, I would have thought the cup itself would have been made of melamine or melmac -- but it clearly states on the box that the mug is made of Polyethylene. (bottom front.)

The box indicates the maker was Miramar of California, Inc.

This just proves that  the Miramar Factory whatever factory was molding melmac or melamine for Miramar, was also molding other plastics as well.  The handle of the mug is very much like Deka, an East Coast plastic manufacturer who did a lot of children's items.

Cool Suggested Links about California and Miramar: 


Decorate Your Space with California Art & Photography Wall Prints! Visit Photo.Artful Today.


See all posts on Miramar melmac here.

See the Miramar factory and cool Melmac Sign that as of a few years back, still stood on top.

See some of the Miramar Pottery TV lamps that they made  

Coronado Melmac by Miramar of California

Coronado Melamine Dinnerware in Montego Pattern Courtesy of WildRosePrimitives on Etsy.

It's very interesting what old items may surface like this later model set of melmac manufactured by Miramar of California (now closed.)  The set is called Coronado and is in those tacky 60's-70's colors we used to have in our 1973 kitchen.  The key here is that old boxes like this can certainly give us clues to what was happening in those days. Perhaps if you look closely at the box above you will see, the cups are called "thermoplastic."  Is this new term supposed to scare us, or put us in awe? Whatever the case this set has been preserved as if it was on the original store shelves just waiting to be had.

Courtesy: WildRosePrimitives on Etsy, $46.00

 Clues also tell us if you notice there's a two year guarantee against breakage, wherein some of the older melamine companies would give "lifetime" replacements or even a five or ten year guuarantee. Does this mean during this time melamine dinnerware production was unstable, or the company just didn't know if it would be around more than two years?  Quite honestly I believe the mixture of melamine they were using in their dishes were just a crappier blend, Cheaper powders mean skimpier amounts of melamine and more crappy fillers. The melamine of the late 60's and 70's was not anything like the original quality-checked melmac from Cyanamid or the melamine sold during those days. Back then, dishes of the 1950's which were thick and made to withstand everything stating "unbreakable" features.  Quite honestly by the time of this product most melamine was made thinner, less quality, and selling for a lot less in the five and dime stores than when originally rolled out.


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Further Reading Related to this Melamine Set: 


If you are interested you can read more posts about Miramar Melamineor see the Miramar Factory Tour page. 
You may also like the Care and Cleaning of your Melmac Dinnerware article on Squidoo!

Melmac Capac California and Durawear Linked 1959

Capac backstamp courtesy of ShopMichL on Etsy.

I recently read from a Modern Plastics that in 1959 California Molded Products Inc (CMP) had recently acquired Capac Inc., (who was then a manufacturer of melamine dinnerware,) and at that time they were constructing a 16000-sq.-ft. plant in Santa Paula, California.  The building was supposed to be completed in December 1959--which I find odd because during the early 1960's came the decline of Melmac.  This however proves Durawear and Capac were indeed molded by the same company (as of late 1959).  Prior to 1959, this line of melmac from Capac, Inc. remains a mystery to me.  I found the company itself as of the mid 1970's making computer parts.  Does anyone have any information prior to 1959?

Lovely Capac set find it at ShopMichL on Etsy.

It's funny how the cities on the backstamps of Santa Paula for Durawear and Pomona for Capac are in actuality 92 miles apart.  I wonder did they continue to mark them that way after CMP acquired Capac--if not, and they changed the stamp, it may help in dating melmac made prior to 1959 or after.  I think that by the end of 1959 it is reasonably safe to say that CMP was the MOLDING giant of California. This indeed was THE equivalent of Texasware in California and as such, probably molded Capac, and Durawear and much more. I wonder if somehow they were also molding Miramar and Laguna once it closed? That remains to be seen........See the Miramar factory tour here.

Was Laguna then molded here too?  These plates at StitchyImpressions on Etsy!.

SOURCE (vol 37),

Pacific Plastics Elusive Miramar Melmac and Pottery Factory Tour , Laguna and Miramar in Los Angeles

These buttons offered by HarvestQueenVintage, are possibly made by
Pacific Molded Products Co., 905 E. 59th St.
, Los Angeles 1, one of the early molders.

I could never understand if the lack of information readily available about the Pacific Plastics manufacturers of the West Coast was because I was on the East Coast. There were even publications put out on the Pacific Plastics makers but little is known about the melamine part of the molding.  Here on the East Coast, I'm overwhelmed with a ton of Russel Wright (made in Boston) and Boontonware (made in New Jersey), so I don't happen across much Laguna, Capac, Durwear, Flintwood, or Miramar among others. I decided to do a little sleuthing on Miramar of Los Angeles.

 

MIRAMAR

Miramar Melmac Backstamp of hard to find mixing bowl by designs4justice

I've only been able to find snippets of Miramar pottery, of Los Angeles, California, mostly making pottery items circa early 1950's (most sources report 1952 ) and closing in the 1970s, (1978) having been located by the 710-10 exchange. Evidence of melmac from this company also exists.  At first I thought perhaps the melmac was made by another molder and shipped in, but after PaleBear took the below photo, which peaked my curiosity, I did some more research. I can say that I believe that melmac was made here at least until 1960's, although the pottery and sales offices may have lasted longer. 

Courtesy of PaleBear, who says this is located off the 710 Freeway note the large equipment , towers, and fans on the building make me thing molder was happening there.

A more recent photo by Cupcakes and RollerSkates explains that this was taken south of the Ramona exit, much closer to the 710-10 interchange.  I was determined to find this sign and I did.

A rare ceramic "Miramar Melmac" Store display here proves this company sold both!

Miramar marked some of their boxes with a generic Los Angeles address. After slething in a Department Store Economist from the 1960's it listed Miramar of California, Inc. at 603 North Ford Blvd., Los Angeles 22.  The problem is, Google maps has you sitting in the middle of an intersection. So, I did more slething. I was determined to find the sign. Then I found, a block down, what was a very interesting factory looking building.

After sleuthing, the factory at 500 N. Ford Boulevard now belongs to LaFortaleza wholesaler of Mexican food.  If you see here there is a large lot, a huge barn like silver structure, and what can be seen of the original sign and towers in the factory part of the building, towards the top left.  The place, if it was originally like this in the 70's would have been large enough to mold plastics and pottery out of.  The building is large enough to house offices, factory, and products.

Standing in front of the huge barn like structure, one can only wonder if this was where the pottery or plastics were stored way back when. It is difficult to know if this was one of the original buildings of Miramar of California, but based on it's age I would assume so.  The sign can be seen peeking out from above middle arrow, and the furthest right arrow is the original factory. 

Well, guess what? Thanks to Google Maps I went to the other end of that same block, only this intersection had an arrow for 603 N. Fort. A sign seems to glare at me in the distance, that appears to say Miramar Melmac. Could I be going crazy? I flew onto the arial view from the highway behind to see if I could get more clues. 

 

Sure enough, thanks to Google maps, from the sky you can look down on this long row of buildings, from 500 N Fort to 603 N Fort and see that this may very well indeed have been the elusive Miramar Melmac Factory, and that wonderful thing on top? Let's get a closer look...

Miramar Melmac Sign!

You can zoom around yourself (go to street view) and see it here:  THANK YOU GOOGLE MAPS


LAGUNA

Backstamp of Laguna Plates offered by Old Suprises.

In cross referencing an old "Gale trade names directory" it clearly states that Laguna Melmac was a trade name of and division of Miramar. I did figure as much as the the same block text is used on this backstamp as it was on the speckled bowl marked Miramar. It appears that Laguna seems to be a popular line found in many Californian's cupboards and at the local thrifts and estate sales. You can easily detect this line by the "funky" cup handles. 

These lovelies by Tag Sale Finds.

Thanks to some old Laguna packaging, I found the actual address and warranty information for Laguna melamine luncheon set also indicating it's place of manufacturer which is none other than Miramar of California. This is the smoking gun that proves that the Miramar Factory on North Ford Boulevard sold both melamine and pottery.   Oddly, the set it came from looks very 1970's.

Laguna melmac was warranteed 3 years from breakage or defects.  As of the late 60's it was still using the North Ford Addy!

Look for the Doritos sign, and you will see the melmac sign peeking from above!

Now, the sign is aging and may now would be passed over as a Mexican Food Wholesaler if you were just driving up North Ford Boulevard, this is what you'd see.  If you were on the freeway you may still notice the old dilapidated melmac sign, which is clearly visible from the freeway still. One may not realize that this little place indeed, produced melmac and not corn chips at one time!


CONFUSION: MIRAMAR BY WEBER PLASTICS
However, the real confusion in tracking this line's history stems from a line called "Miramar" that clearly states it was molded by Weber Plastics, of L.A., California with a different cursive style backstamp.

Oddly, it appears there were two different Miramar's!!! This creamer, $3 at HeleneFever of Seattle.

According to Mr. Robin Thorne, aka Mr. Melmac, who lives on the West Coast and has done a ton of research, working on his A to Z melmac archives. He talked to me some time ago about my store display and explained that sometimes in the 1960's Weber was bought by a man who moved the machinery to a new factory in Santa Paula, about 90 miles north of LA. There the new company, California Molded Plastics or CMP continued to make Miramar and Capac (CaliforniaPacific) lines and added the very popular Durawear line. (Not to be confused with Canadian Duraware). These dates caused me total confusion because the warranty on a late 1960's dinnerware set has the factory still listed at 500 North Ford Boulevard.  I suppose it is quite possible that if Miramar was still in business in the 1960's and still located on North Ford Boulevard they could be distributing, (the pottery) and not manufacturing the plastics.  Therefore, problems would go back to the sales offices, not the factory itself.

18 piece Miramar Set (with huge serving bowl) by ReFindery

Even more confusing, in the once huge world of plastics molders, I found that Consolidated Molded Products (CMP) of Scranton PA, is somehow linked to CMP of California, and by the late 1960s had ties to Northern and the demise of Russel Wright plastics. Perhaps it's easiest just to summerize that by the 1960's only a few melmac molders had survived, clearly giving them free reign on buying up all the machinery and molds that were left merging what was once thousands of tiny smaller molding companies into just a few, left standing.

Do you have information on what was happening there in Cali-forn-i-a ?  If you have information on Miramar melamine or Weber Plastics, please email me! 

Shades of Mottled Melamine - Confetti, Spatterware, End of Day and More

Gorgeous Bowl by JeremySmith1985

 It's no secret that I love the mottled melmac. Confetti, spatter, end of day, or whatever you want to call it it's probably at the tops of my list. Maybe because it's different, not boring, and and technically, there would be no two exactly alike.   Of course, for me, they remind me of a time in my childhood.

Creating something yummy with Mom in the early 1970's in my Texasware bowl. 

Most often we think of the large TexasWare and Brookpark mixing bowls when we think about confetti ware--exactly like the kind I used as a kid with my mom!  These nesting bowls are still very collectible today, and look just lovely in your kitchen holding fruit or snacks!  They are great to mix dough in !

This is most likely Brookpark, but is just as lovely and found at AtHomeinNapa.

Many other things came out in "mottled" plastic, from ashtrays to adorable cups!  I've seen a few mugs too,  lots of military ware out including tumblers, mugs, and mess hall dishes.  I think Halsey may still be making them.

Melmac cups like these were used in bathrooms and as premiums by Kraft Foods.  This by RetroChalet.

I've seen some office ware, nut dishes, and lots of school cafeteria trays!  Normally we see the compartmentalized tray, like this one :

Mottled Tray by CarpeBellus.

But once in a while you get lucky and find them without compartments that make them ideal for putting things on, from lunch....to boudoir items!

Lovely Mottled Tray by Nanas Mercantile!

Lovely tray by RetroChalet, probably not melamine but hard plastic, still lovely.

I suppose I really think the best bet when going for mottled is the bowls. You can use them for so many things.  This salad set below is a huge find, and at a reasonable price.

Lamoyne's original molds are being used, get this at OrangeDoorVintage.

Originally styled by Kaye Lamoyne for Branchell, it was sold in Color-flyte colors. Later after Lenox acquired Branchell, the molds were sold and the items reproduced by gosh-knows-who.  This is Lamoyne's design!  This would look great on your patio for a summertime picnic! With mottled melamine, you can't go wrong--all of it is lovely.

Rare mottled mixing bowl by Miramar of California, a harder to find line at Designs4Justice!

Read more about Confetti Plastics and End of Day Melmac Here!