Vintage 211 (and photo fun with Bob)

One of the perhaps lesser-known antique/vintage stores in Gloucester is Vintage 211 (211 East Main St., open Fri-Sun 11am-6pm), aka “Bob and Dave’s place”.

It’s right across the street from Scout Vintage Finds, so it’s easy to visit both at once! They also have similar hours, which is convenient for planning.

I heard about this store by word of mouth, and I’m glad I did!  Bob stocks a wide variety of things, but is unique in having a focus on men’s vintage (and not) clothes, and wool sweaters.  Other stores I’ve visited for this series of posts have some mens’ clothes, but no one else really has it as a special focus; most often, there are as many or much more women’s clothes than men’s. Here are a few photos of the many things in stock:

And Bob is a really nice guy, too. He actually looks a lot like an uncle on my father’s side of the family, at least in this photo:

The prices are good, in some cases excellent! I ended up buying some things while there… Including a great green corduroy coat, with a tie that Bob gave me as a gift:

and a leather coat which he sold me for $30, at least a 90% discount compared to buying new (and it is in like-new condition).  Since he is also a photographer, we had some fun… I pulled a “Game of Thrones” pose on a wicker chair in the store and Bob snapped some photos. He’s really good at it! I had some fun with them afterwards in Photoshop:

I like this one because it looks like I’m thinking something devious, when really Bob just said, “Look over that way!” and snapped a shot…

Matthew Green

StudioVo

StudioVo (121r East Main St., open “by chance or by appointment”) is today’s addition to my series on second-hand stores. It started off with just the “business commercial and graphic art needs” and fine art, but since late last year has also been selling antiques and collectibles!

Deej and Bob Viau pack a lot into a small shack!  While I was there, Bob was working on another “lobster” Adirondack chair (as featured by Joey in a previous post). I had a nice chat with them and was considering buying a beautiful carved wooden table that is very reasonably priced… but where would I put it??  I ended up leaving with a pair of beautiful pottery mugs that Deej gave me after I went gaga over them…

I think this is one of the charms of several of our antiques/collectibles/consignment stores here in Gloucester: they combine the second-hand items with work by locally artists, sometimes including “re-purposed” items in the art itself.

Matthew Green

Scout Vintage Finds

Continuing my series on second-hand stores in Gloucester after a brief hiatus, today we look at Scout Vintage Finds (186 East Main St., open Thurs-Sun 11am-6pm)!

_Scout façadeThis is a store I’d driven past many times, but never stopped to see. I’m glad I did now!  Karen King, the proprietor, sells a little bit of everything in the area of “vintage items”, but also specializes somewhat in vintage textiles, and millinery (making hats)!

_Scout owner Karen King

Here are photos of some of the things she sells, from vintage items and linens (and things made out of vintage linens) to hats that Karen has made:

Karen and her intern are also very nice folks, who gave me a glass of cold water (it was a hot and humid day when I visited) and chatted for a while, and told me of ANOTHER antique store I didn’t know about! (coming soon in this series).

So, just to review, here are the previous posts in this series on second-hand stores (thrift, consignment, antique, etc.) in alphabetical order:

  1. Bananas
  2. Bub’s Tool Consignment
  3. Cape Ann Thrift Shop
  4. Dogtown Book Shop
  5. The Dress Code
  6. The Eco Boutique
  7. Gabriel’s Antiques
  8. Junque & Disorderly
  9. Main Street Arts and Antiques
  10. Mystery Train Records
  11. The Past Present Shoppe
  12. Pearl’s
  13. St. John’s Thrift Shop
  14. Second Glance
  15. The Sequined Fan

We still have more to go (in no particular order):

  1. Annisquam Exchange
  2. St. Vincent de Paul Society
  3. Thrift Shop at the UU Society of Rockport
  4. Sea Again
  5. Mary Rose Vintage Design
  6. Kalypso’s Gifts and Antiques
  7. Vintage
  8. StudioVo

Look at that! Did you realize that we have 23 second-hand stores in Gloucester and Rockport? If I had known there were that many, I probably wouldn’t have committed to this long-running series, which is taking a lot of time to put together… but I think it’s worth it! I am hoping to put out a table with the names, addresses, hours, and web pages of all of the stores, and maybe a brief comment on what each one generally stocks.

Let me know if I’m missing anyone…

Matthew Green

GMG was all over the block party

The first block party of the season got a pretty good crowd:

 

 

I got a few photos of GMG contributors at work (Craig Kimberly, Fred Bodin, and David Cox):

 

 

 

Matthew Green

 

Lecture series at Temple Ahavat Achim

Last weekend, Temple Ahavat Achim offered a weekend of talks by Rabbi Arthur Green about his book, “Radical Judaism”, which addresses questions like, “Is there only one God or is there only God? How do we articulate a religious vision that embraces evolution as sacred and that approaches Scripture with historical honesty?”

The event was open to the public, so I signed up, and found it very interesting. Here are a few photos:

Temple Ahavat Achim’s Rabbi Steven Lewis (right) introduces Rabbi Arthur Green (left)
Rabbi Green during the lecture to a nearly full house

Questions and answers after the last lecture

From the Temple’s newsletter: “Professor and Rabbi Arthur Green is the Rector of the Hebrew College Rabbinical School. He is one of the preeminent scholars of Kabbalah and Hasidism, and one of the most important Jewish theologians of our day. He is both a spiritual seeker and a critical scholar.

In his book Radical Judaism he argues that a neo-mystical perspective can help us to rethink such concepts as God, the origins and meaning of existence, human nature and revelation to construct a new Judaism for the 21st century.”

The Temple is planning to continue inviting high-calibre speakers to foment education and dialog on current topics of cultural and religious significance to the Jewish community and to the Gloucester community as a whole.

Matthew Green

August Theatre Camp for Kids at the YMCA

 

If your little ones couldn’t make it to the July theatre camp, there’s another once coming up!  They’ll have fun and discover their own creativity and talent for theater!august ymca kids theatreMatthew Green

 

Block Party Moon

How many Block Party participants noticed the beautiful, nearly full moon?  As wispy clouds passed across the sky, they made the face of the moon seem to be changing constantly.

 

 

 

Matthew Green

 

Gloucester Block Party Sideshow Performer

At the block party, I caught part of a sideshow provided by Alex Becket of Dr. Bones’ Circus of Marvels. He started by tapping a large nail into his nose with a hammer.

Here is is showing us the (nice and long) nail:

 

 

Tapping it in:

Pulling it back out with pliers:

 

Yikes! Then he slammed a full can of tomatoes on his finger, resulting in a bent can and an unbroken finger (here’s a “before” shot):

 

It worked!  Alex is just one of the performers in Dr. Bones’ Circus of Marvels, but I unfortunately missed the rest.

Matthew Green

 

Origami for kids at Art Haven and Theatre Camp for Kids at the YMCA

This Thursday (3:30-5PM) is the last origami class for kids this month at Art Haven!  The content and level of difficulty of the class is entirely flexible according to the needs and interests of those who sign up.

So, for example, if your child (or a child you know) has an origami book and has stopped using it because he/she is stuck on a difficult model or discouraged, register them for the class and bring them with the book in question! I will help them through whatever difficulty they may be facing, and we can fold some model(s) from the book with the other students.

The possibilities are endless! Contact Art Haven for details on pricing and registration, and if you do register and have a specific interest or need, let me know ahead of time so I can prepare if necessary (you can comment on this post).  Here’s a photo from a previous class, showing me with budding origami artist Leon Calvo:

origami class photo

We folded a boat, a dragon, a lotus flower, and a Brontosaurus (aka Apatosaurus). Leon’s father David Calvo is a wood carver who does beautiful work and teaches classes as well.


It’s not too late to sign kids up for Theatre Camp at the YMCA! I’ve heard great things about this program. “Murder on Rocky Neck: The Opera” was the result of a similar program with Henry Allen in the past.1077257_395860890520460_1502729790_oMatthew Green

The Neighborhood Apothecary

A nice surprise for me at the block party for me was the new “Neighborhood Apothecary“.  I arrived on the scene from the west end near Giuseppe’s, and met this fine fellow:

_Brentwho was handing out coupons for a free sample from the Neighborhood Apothecary, a new store on the 4th floor of the Blackburn Building (2 Main St.)!  They sell organic herbs, seasonings and teas, natural body products, stones, cards, books, and soon also some natural herbal remedies.   (Regular hours: 8am – 6pm, Monday – Sunday.)  The biggest draw for me is probably the herbal teas!  Loose herbal tea can be hard to find locally outside of chains like Teavana, so it’s nice to have something local in walking distance of my apartment.

The entrance is not immediately evident. You have to go through the parking lot next to Giuseppe’s:

_2 Finding the door 1towards that door in the back with the Grecian columns (Ionic columns with Scamozzi capitals, to be specific):

_3 Finding the door 2Then take the elevator to the 4th floor and follow the signs! You will probably end up meeting Meghan Owens, the owner (shown here helping some customers):

_4 Meghan Owens with customersAnd here are a few photos of what you can find in the store, from herbs and spices to earth-friendly cards and soy candles:

They have a weekly raffle for a discount coupon, which I entered and – to my surprise – won! I get a 5% discount on my next purchase!

Matthew Green

Joey being a daddy at the block party

_DSC08739 joeyThere were lots of GMG people at the block party, so there will certainly be loads of photos on the blog!  I will post more over the few days, but I wanted to get this one up first of all.  We love ya, Joey!

Matthew Green

Almost the season for wild blackberries!

I can’t wait!

These were photographed in Dogtown.

Matthew Green

P.S. I still have more 2nd hand stores to talk about!  Coming soon!

Dogtown Sumac

 

 

I love sumac at this time of year! Great colors, textures and lines. From a photo walk in Dogtown with the participants in my photography workshop.

Matthew Green

Dragonfly in Dogtown

A dragonfly posed for me in Dogtown

Taken on another photo walk with the students in my photography workshop at The Hive.

Matthew Green

Man at the Wheel

Another shot from my photo walk with the photography workshop.  How do you take an interesting photo of something like this memorial that’s so iconic that it’s hard to be original?   It’s not easy, especially on a day with relatively boring light. I tried to make this more interesting with the processing (mostly adjusting contrast in the foreground and adding texture to the clouds to the sky), although the angle is totally conventional.

Matthew Green

 

Gloucester on a cloudy day

“Dance of the Cranes” with City Hall in the background. I took this photo on a “photo walk” with participants in my photography workshop at The Hive.

Matthew Green

 

The Past Present Shoppe

Leaving Main Street behind – but not too far behind – today we make a virtual visit to the Past Present Shoppe! (30 Railroad Ave., practically right across from the train station)

_past present shoppe façadeThis is another consignment shop with a variety of items, including clothing, jewelry, china, etc.. What probably is most unique about this shop is the selection of Catholic religious items.

_Past present shoppe 1Of course, this is just part of their selection of items, as you can see from these photos:

(Click on any of the photos to enlarge)

They are open Mon.-Sat. 10AM-5PM, Sun. 12:30PM-5:30PM.  Well worth visiting!

I hear that a new antique store has opened on Main Street. I’ll investigate and include them in this series if it’s true! Plus I have heard about a couple of other stores in East Gloucester… I’ll keep you posted!

Matthew Green