Thanks so much, Jason! Remember all those cool gadgets from back then? They are so accurate, aren't they? (Of course, you were just a baby back then!!! 😜) I love that I had stuff that looked almost exactly like that (though not in pink!!) ... especially that PC and that photocopier!
Thanks! So glad that I could introduce this to you 😁... The Arco playsets were something else... even before Mattel bought them and produced their own fashion doll playsets with them.
That backdrop is everything! I loved the history on Arco! That is so cool you your could see the Chrysler building from your penthouse window! Love how you filled the waste basket too 😍
Thanks so much Deany!!! As I mentioned in our DMs, the diorama backdrop is the main reason that I always wanted this set and I was SO thrilled that I found a set with the diorama still included, and in perfect condition! Usually, it's missing from the sets when they're found these days. Yes, that was such a great time in New York... For a few weeks, I actually felt like I was Holly Golightly! LOL (Or even Walking Jamie with her penthouse... or even Tuesday Taylor with hers!!! 😜) Especially when the doorman used to tip his hat to me, and I would nod and smile at him and then I would catch the special elevator directly up to the top floor penthouse! LOL And waking up and seeing the Chrysler building outside my window!!! It was a like a dream. And I thought you would like that detail with the waste paper baskets!
This is really great Eddi, the backdrop is wonderful and its such fun looking at the technology of the time, takes me back. I love the adding machine, I'd forgotten all about those! The photocopier is fab and the suspension file rack. I'll look forward to the unboxing of the new recruit.
Thanks so much for commenting! 😘 Looking at all that 80's office equipment also took me back... My brother was a major computer geek back then (and ended up working in IT of course!) so I had access to a PC just like that one... though as I said, it wasn't that pink! LOL ... and as I worked in fashion and graphic design from the late 80's, I had a photocopier just like that, too! I so love the wonderful and accurate detailing of these sets. Such a great time capsule from that era!!!
That's so cool to know!!!! Thanks so much for that, Ingrid! Isn't this playset such a time capsule of that era? My brother had an Apple Mac that was very similar to that computer back in 1984 ... though not hot pink, of course!!! 😜
I recently got this secondhand (12/40 pieces; all the furniture minus one chair plus some of the smaller pieces) and I was really wondering about it because it strongly looked and felt like an authentic Barbie playset but didn't have the Mattel stamp (but I did recognise Arco!). Thanks for this really informative video that explains the history. I had no idea!
Glad I could help! Interestingly enough, (as I mentioned in the video) Mattel bought out Arco in the mid 80's and continued making similar playsets for several years afterward but under their Barbie logo!
I forgot to say, I didn't know anything at all about these Arco sets so thank you, its really interesting to learn about them. I do have one nice generic fashion doll set, but it is by Casdon. It's a Dolls Hospital and comes with two hospital beds and a really great cardboard backdrop of a hospital ward.
