That '70s stuff

The Me Decade comes to dinner

by Missy Schwartz

Is there a single aspect of our culture that hasn't been hit with '70s mania? Trendy shops are bursting at the seams with bell-bottoms and things polyester, That '70s Show is in double rotation on Fox, and the Charlie's Angels movie is on its way to theaters.

And now come the housewares.

Housewares? Yep. "Up until about six months ago, the '50s were the rage," says Dale Anderson, owner of Abodeon, the Cambridge retro home store. "But now more and more people are looking for '70s stuff. And it's only the beginning."

We couldn't think of a better way to celebrate than by throwing a far-out '70s dinner party. At Antiques on Cambridge Street, we gathered together the basics: a set of suave Now Designs brown-and-white checkerboard-print place mats ($18 for 6) and complementary brown Anne Klein napkins ($12 for 4), which we tucked into signature '70s Lucite napkin rings ($15 for 4) equipped with a slot for a daisy. We also found a wooden cheese board with psychedelic tile ($38).

Abodeon provided us with dishes, a Mikasa "Indian Feast" table service with rising-sun-over-undulating-tide motif ($95 for 25 pieces). To serve the groovalicious grub, Abodeon sells the quintessential '70s party appliance, a Catherineholm avocado-green fondue set, for $125. The yellow ceramic flower-power casserole is $35.

For a dash of tabletop funk, we found speckled brown and beige mushroom-shaped salt and pepper shakers ($19) at Cambridge Antiques and Books. And for those crucial finishing touches, we picked up Betty Crocker's Dinner Parties, also available at Abodeon ($10).

Dig it? Dig in.