Old-fashioned eyeglass frames

March 18, 2004 11:54 AM

I have been looking for years for a pair of eyeglass frames like the ones Harry Caray used to wear, or the type Larry David's TV father wears. You know, the thick black boxy "television sets" that seem to be worn by older types in the entertainment business. I've come up empty handed, even after asking several eyeframe dealers. I suppose I could just fly down to Boca Raton and ask a wearer in person, but does anyone have a a name or manufacturer or style for these type of classes?
posted by sharksandwich to shopping (9 answers total)

if you're REALLY looking for something distinctive, get some birth control glasses (in fact, these might even been the same thing that you're looking for):



thanks "matt", whoever you are, for letting me use that pic. okay, well, you didn't, but thanks for not getting mad at me.

here's some cool vintage eyewear i found while looking for the BCGs.

anyway, back to your thread...i'm not sure how to get these, if they are what you're looking for. you might be able to ask at an eyeglass places where you can get military issue eyewear.
posted by taumeson at 12:05 PM on March 18, 2004

By thick, I mean like these...
posted by sharksandwich at 12:20 PM on March 18, 2004

your best bet is going to be purchasing the frames at a thrift shop and then having a lensmaker put your prescription in (i've been told by some friends this is "just as expensive" because they mark up the lenses if you don't buy the frames from them, and others that it's "way cheaper" because the frames are usually the more expensive part of a pair of glasses).

i seriously doubt you are going to find frames-maker producing these new, but who knows? fashion cycles.
posted by fishfucker at 12:52 PM on March 18, 2004

oh man. those are even worse. sorry, can't help you. :)
posted by taumeson at 12:52 PM on March 18, 2004

Cazal's?(warning, flash abomination)(This is the style I mean In the mid '80's in NYC anyone who was anyone had a pair of big Cazal's. People would get mugged for them.
Here's a particularly hideous pair on Ebay - imagine them in black.
posted by TimeFactor at 12:55 PM on March 18, 2004

These guys might have them. (they say call to see, maybe?)
Also an auction lot here.

I do wonder if there is a name or a designer that this style was specific to.
posted by milovoo at 2:48 PM on March 18, 2004

I've heard them called Swiftys, after Swifty Lazar.
posted by amberglow at 3:52 PM on March 18, 2004

I've heard 'em called RPGs, for Rape Prevention Glasses.
posted by Vidiot at 4:22 PM on March 18, 2004

I for one would not mind at all having these become fashionable. My eyes love huge lenses.
posted by Goofyy at 10:26 PM on March 18, 2004