The second weekend in June was a three-day weekend. We took Friday as a vacation day for a very special reason. Buzzcocks were playing in the city! They are Rob's favorite band of all time but Monica likes them, too! One of the original U.K. punk bands from 1976 (along with Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned), they went on to have six Top 40 singles and three Top 30 albums in the U.K. before disbanding in 1981. Rob saw them live in 1980 and then in 1989 for their reunion tour. They reformed in 1991 (just the lead singer and guitarist) and have been together ever since, even recording some new material along the way. It was time to see them again and so we bought tickets several months ago for their sole appearance in New York City! It would be Rob's third time seeing them but Monica's first. We were both thrilled! More on that later.
Since the show wan't until the evening, we had time during the day and we took advantage of it. There was one sale of interest on Friday and it was run by one of our favorite tag sale companies. There wasn't anything that drew us to it other than that it was run by them. We went.
Dennis and Ron were happy to see us! We had a great time seeing them and left with a couple of cookbooks.
We got home, got ready for the city and it seemed we were on our way! Waiting on the train platform for the 2:06pm train, it suddenly dawned on Rob that he left the concert tickets at home. We went back home to get the tickets and arrived back at the train station to catch the 3:15pm train to Manhattan. Thank goodness Monica wasn't mad!
We arrived in Manhattan and made the three mile walk down to Chinatown for dinner at Wo Hop. It has been around since 1938! It was Monica's first time here and, although Rob had been here many times before, none of those visits had been in the last 33 years!
Wo Hop is downstairs and that is important to know! There is a Wo Hop City next door but that is on the street level and has a different chef. The below ground level is where you want to be!
The booths have not changed since Rob was last here nor has the green and white checkered floor. That is a good thing!
Monica got the salt and pepper shrimp. Rob got the pineapple duck. We finished everything and that is an accomplishment at Wo Hop! Monica's salt and pepper shrimp included twelve jumbo shrimp! Wo Hop never shorted you back in the day. They still don't and the price is great!
Wo Hop in our tummies and we were fully content and, of course, in love!
We journeyed up to Otto's Shrunken Head on East 14th Street (near Ave B), the city's only true tiki bar. On our way up Ave A, we stopped to see the Joe Strummer memorial just south of Tompkins Square Park. Know Your Rights!
We finally arrived at Otto's Shrunken Head for a pre-concert tiki drink
It's truly a fun place and the music will be exotica, rockabilly or punk depending upon the time of the evening. They also have live bands later.
Tracy served us tiki drinks and, of course, we got to take these mugs home with us!
We weren't going to the concert alone. Christine, a friend of ours from the 1980's club days, told us that she was driving down from Connecticut to see Buzzcocks for the first time (her husband has no interest in this music) and wanted to meet up with us and we were thrilled since we hadn't seen her since the 1980's! It was great fun and we spent some time together here and hung out together at the show!
When the time was appropriate, we made the ten minute walk to Webster Hall (known as The Ritz back in the 1980's) for Buzzcocks!
Rob's favorite band of all time. This was them back in 1980. The two members in the back still remain in the band.
It was an incredible show and they did not disappoint. They took us through their catalogue and came out for a four song encore! We will see them again when next they tour!
Thankfully, when we walked Christine back to the garage where she parked her car, she offered to drive us to Penn Station. After walking well over eight miles in the city, we were so grateful for the offer. It was a great night spent with an old friend watching a great band!
We didn't get home until a little almost 2am and we were asleep within fifteen minutes of walking in the door. We were in no hurry to get up Saturday morning but, when we did, we knew saling was on our minds! There a number of sales of interest but we knew that we would cut our list down so we could relax later on in the day. In the end, we made it to the two most important sales and that was just fine!
Our first sale was run by one of our favorite tag sale companies who we wish would run more sales. The company is run by two brothers who are always happy to see us. This sale was described as "65 years of accumulation" and "vintage" and "antique". We were hopeful!
The kitchen here was great. Knotty wood cabinets and, of course, the corner shelf piece was great!
Thankfully, when we walked Christine back to the garage where she parked her car, she offered to drive us to Penn Station. After walking well over eight miles in the city, we were so grateful for the offer. It was a great night spent with an old friend watching a great band!
We didn't get home until a little almost 2am and we were asleep within fifteen minutes of walking in the door. We were in no hurry to get up Saturday morning but, when we did, we knew saling was on our minds! There a number of sales of interest but we knew that we would cut our list down so we could relax later on in the day. In the end, we made it to the two most important sales and that was just fine!
Another view of the kitchen
Look at the cool dining room floor!
The basement was huge and it bhad this table with these great legs!
Even the bathroom was great and had its original pink sink and toilet!
Since we got a late start, we weren't sure who had been here earlier but we suspect that Michael Jackson's ghost was amongst the visitors!
Monica searching through one of the rooms. That headpiece came home with us and is now worn my Sharon, our mannequin!
A great stereo upstairs. We wish we had room for it but we don't. Insted, we brought home two Christmas candleholders, a vintage apron, a great Mets scrapbook, some records, some vintage Christmas cards and more!
Our second sale of the day was run by one of our favorite tag sale companies and their "final day sale" was on the lawn. They ran this sale the week before but we did not make it. We were hoping that there would be some things left for us.
The basement was where all the action was and that basement had a great bar!
Records were the big draw here an, although we missed round one, there were plenty of records left behind
Ron was doing the twist to convince us to look through the records but he din't need to go to all that trouble. We were going to look through every one.
In the end, we found several records to bring home and it was a good stop!
Here is what we found this weekend in addition to the Otto's Shrunken Head tiki mugs and a new headpiece for Sharon:
Two Pat Cooper albums
An Elvis Presley album and a Bunny Berigan album. The Bunny Berigan album was significant because Bunny Berigan was a favorite of Rob's dad and it brought back great memories of him
Some Hawaiian albums
Les Paul and Mary Ford ten-inch records
Beatles ten-inch records on Capitol Records
Some cookbooks
More cookbooks
Sports Books
A Twilight Zone book and vintage travel guides
A vintage Modell's bag. Not the sporting good store. The long gone department store
Cocktail stirrers (two from the long gone Jack Dempsey's Restaurant and some tiki picks
A vintage apron for Monica
A Mets scrapbook from 1969, lovingly kept by its original owner
It has every one of the 20 original limited edition Stark drawings from the Daily News. They are easily removable without causing damage but we decided to leave them as is
Along with the pasted articles, it is clear that this was lovingly put together and we see no reason to change what was so lovingly put together,
Two sets of vintage owl lights and one original box
A vintage purse for Monica, a ceramic bunny salt shaker (missing its mate), a Gurley Thanksgiving candle and a "cat and fish" glass display in its box. The bunny and "cat and fish" are marked Japan
Vintage Christmas cards
A Christmas record and a pair of ceramic Christmas candle holders (marked Japan)
Some Batman photos. Two are of Frank Gorshin (The Riddler) and one of Batman. ironically, we bought these just as we heard the news that Adam West had passed away.
We had such a great time together this weekend and the only sad moment we had was when we heard of Adam West's death. He was an icon to our generation and we always promise to keep his spirit alive in our adventures. Always!
LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.
ReplyDeleteFrom the NYC journey w/ flashbacks to my 80's teen years to the Hawaiian record Albums!!!
Thank you, svelteSTUFF! Fun times! (Rob)
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