Auckland in Style — Discover the City’s Timeless Side with Vintage Vibes
Some cities are best experienced on foot.
Auckland, however, rewards those who look up — especially from the top deck of a red Routemaster that has already seen sixty years of stories.
Every block holds a fragment of the city’s character: art-deco façades, century-old villas, neon-lit laneways, and people who still build, restore, or serve with craftsmanship in mind.
Vintage Vibes Auckland is where we gather those fragments and piece together the wider story.
🧭 What Vintage Vibes Auckland Is
Launched by the team behind Vintage Views, Vintage Vibes is our new editorial home for the classic side of Auckland — the places, people, and details that never go out of style.
Each month, we publish in-depth features that connect directly to the city’s heritage heartbeat:
Hotels & Venues that preserve elegance.
Shops & Markets where sustainability meets nostalgia.
Artisans & Restorers who keep traditional craft alive.
Our first feature, The Grand Windsor – Auckland’s Art Deco Icon, set the tone — authentic, detailed, and rooted in real history. Coming next are Tatty’s Ponsonby, Caretaker Bar, and a look inside MOTAT, Auckland’s own Museum of Transport & Technology.
A City of Character Neighbourhoods
Auckland isn’t one uniform skyline; it’s a mosaic of five districts that together define its timeless appeal.
CBD & Viaduct Harbour – Art Deco Meets Modern Glass
Walk the waterfront and you’ll see the past reflected in every modern window. The Ferry Building (1912) still stands proud beside the yachts and cruise ships that now dock where ferries once ruled.
Stay at The Grand Windsor and you’ll literally sleep inside an architectural story.
Ponsonby – Where Old Meets Runway
Home to Tatty’s, Crushes, and a dozen restored villas turned boutiques, Ponsonby proves vintage can be fashion-forward.
It’s also a stop on our Double Decker Discovery Tour — and the perfect place for post-tour brunch and people-watching.
K Road – The Creative Ridge
Once gritty, now glorious, Karangahape Road pulses with retro energy. Record stores like Real Groovy, speakeasy bars such as Caretaker, and neon murals all share the same DNA: fearless self-expression.
Parnell – Grace and Greenery
Heritage cottages line leafy streets leading to the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Antique dealers, artists, and galleries make this suburb a natural next feature for our Antique Walk series.
Mission Bay – Seaside Simplicity
Tamaki Drive’s seawall and rotunda date from the 1930s, proof that even leisure can have lineage. Watching sunset from the top deck here feels cinematic.
🛍️ The People and Places Keeping It Alive
We’re proud to celebrate Aucklanders who treat restoration as an artform.
Among them:
Tatty’s Auckland — sustainable style pioneers.
Crushes K Rd — ethical NZ-made boutique.
Junk & Disorderly — retro furniture legends.
Real Groovy Records — soundtrack of a generation.
MOTAT — where engineering heritage lives on.
Each feature includes photography, interviews, and backlinks that connect their audiences with ours — an organic, community-based SEO network rather than paid promotion.
📸 Behind the Lens – Dorothy in the City
Our Routemaster isn’t just a bus; she’s a moving studio.
You’ll spot her outside heritage landmarks on most weekends, forming part of our Auckland Double Decker Bus Gallery.
Each photo tells a micro-story — chrome against brick, passengers smiling against the skyline — and every caption links back to the businesses or neighbourhoods we feature.
That’s how Vintage Vibes turns content into community.
🧭 Join the Journey
If your business, café, boutique, or gallery celebrates craftsmanship or character, we’d love to feature you.
Partnerships are free, collaborative, and mutually beneficial: photography, backlinks, and shared audiences.
📩 Contact: info@vintageviews.co.nz
🚍 Tour Bookings: www.vintageviews.co.nz/tours
🎟️ From Stories to Sightseeing
Every article here connects to something real you can experience: a building you can visit, a drink you can order, a road you can ride.
Join us on Auckland’s only vintage double-decker sightseeing tour and watch the stories of Vintage Vibes Auckland come to life from the best seat in town.