Toni's Vintage Trips: Chelsea New York Vintage

Today was a busy one for visiting vintage stores in New York. Kat and I started in the Upper East Side at A Second Chance (1109 Lexington Ave., between 77th St. & 78th St., New York, NY, www.ASecondChanceResale.com). This store has extremely high end clothes and purses. Most items are over $1,000, including a purse for $10,000. Despite these prices, the store was full of shoppers. The owner was very nice and let me photograph her store and I enjoyed seeing her collection of Chanel purses and a variety of beautiful clothes.

We got on the Metro and headed for Chelsea and our first stop was Angel Street Thrift Shop (118 W. 17th St., New York, NY, www.angelstreetthrift.org). This store has some used clothes and a lot of furniture, which unfortunately I can not take back home on the plane. I had to settle for a dark gray Marc Jacobs Hillery tee shirt for $15. I also felt good about buying something here because the proceeds go to charities, including HIV/AIDS at the Lower Eastside Service Center.

Down the street from Angel Street Thrift Shop is Pippin Vintage Jewelry (112 W. 17th St, New York, NY, www.pippinvintage.com). This beautiful little store is in the front of the Pippin House. It is full of gorgeous vintage jewelry and purses. Jewelry is mostly from the 1940's and 1950's and is reasonably priced. I bought a cute gold metal bracelet with flower pattern work and red rhinestones for only $12. Kat bought a small pansy hanky and decorative pin for only $3. There was also a variety of clip on and pierced ear rings and other items for under $20.

A few blocks away, we found Reminiscence (50 W. 23rd St., New York, NY, www.reminiscence.com). This interesting store has greeting cards and party supplies in the front, but midway into the store, there are platform shoes, 1950's circle skirts, cowboy boots and faux fur coats. I was so pleasantly surprised to find out that it was so much more than a tourist shop. There were so many fun things to photograph that I'm only sorry that I couldn't include everything in this blog.

A block away was our next stop - The Family Jewels Vintage Clothing (130 W. 23rd St., New York, NY, www.familyjewelsnyc.com, www.facebook.com/familyjewelrynyc). This vintage store is beautifully arranged and the clothes are in great condition. Prices are high, such as a wide variety of 1950 dresses for $150+. You might be able to find them somewhere else, but not in such pristine condition. The shoes were not as pristine and were mostly in large sizes. Lingerie was also beautiful but (as Kat told me) $100 too much. While we left empty handed we enjoyed admiring and touching the clothes and traveling back in time to clothes our mothers wore in the 1950's.

This 'n' That Collectables (124 W. 25th St., New York, NY, thisnthatny.com) is a tiny store crammed full of jewelry, puppets and figurines. Owner Anita Stern had just returned from a visit to the Bay Area for our Golden Gate Bridge's 75th anniversary, so we had a lot to talk about. There was so much in her store to look at, that it was hard to concentrate on any one thing. But I so enjoyed the ambiance and the fun atmosphere.

I know this is getting very long, but I'm saving the best for last. At the end of the afternoon, I visited the last store on my list, New York Vintage (117 W. 25th St., New York, NY, www.NewYorkVintage.com) and was given special permission from the owner to photograph the store and individual items for this blog. This famous store rents out its beautiful clothes for movies and to celebrities, including Michelle Obama. If they read this blog, I thank them again. It was such fun. They also suggested that Kat and I visit an antique mart near the store and we met Joe Sundlie who has a small store there called Joe Sundlie's Vintedge (40 W. 25th St., New York, NY). The first thing I noticed there was an orange Schiaparelli shirt hanging on the wall. I also found a collection of vintage sun glasses and some beautiful dresses displayed. So without further adieu, I'll present the photos I've selected to represent my trip to the Upper East Side and Chelsea - Enjoy!