I don’t remember how I got there, but the website "Billboards of the Past" has a lot of huge vintage billboards (of the vinyl cover variety) for sale. Sadly, I have neither a spare $1,000 or so lying around to be spent, much less an eight-foot by twenty-foot frame to hang them on, but there’s a tone of retro goodness to be seen there, particularly with the beer, automotive, and Coca-Cola ads. There are a few funny ads as well; it’s always fun to laugh at once-earnest messages that have since been subverted by changing culture, slang, and mores in the intervening years:

Oh, those wacky negroes and their pidgin English! What trip down the hallowed paths of yesteryear would be complete without a glimpse of a jolly member of the racial underclass merrily serving delicious treats to the disembodied telekinetic heads of her white masters?

There are plenty of old cigarette ads talking about how mild, or even harmless, their cancer sticks are, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen one recommended as a cough remedy. Truly amazing.

I was trying to find veins between my toes when I found this beauty instead. Bet you didn’t know heroin was sold by the quart in the 1960′s.

Now for my personal favorite for reasons that I do not care to explain, here’s an ad that appealed to the lucrative and ubiquitous "inveterate masturbator" demographic.

There’s so much fun you can have with this old-timey stuff. I myself have a framed copy of this ad hanging above the toilet in the guest bathroom. Do yourself a favor and find some hilariously outdated advertisements. Even if you can’t possibly afford or display them, like the billboards above, they’re awesome Photoshop fodder.