Happy Earthquake Day

10 years ago Mark and I were sitting in Dr. Duchin's Primates class at TCC when the Nisqually earthquake hit in 2001. We looked at each other and knew it was an earthquake. Dr. Duchin told us to "get out, It's an EARTHQuAKE!"
So we ran outside and stood in the grass away from the building.
Dr. Duchin is a tough, exacting, demanding teacher. She is one of the most wonderful teachers we've ever had. Yes, we are definitely monkeys and apes and some of us are Bonobos and some of us are Chimps. Bonobos are lovers, and Chimps are fighters.
There's only 2 kinds of humans...and from these 2 diversions, we come. We didn't learn this from Dr. Duchin, but this is the theory Mark and I know.....you're either nice or you're an asshole. Make good choices!

baby bonobo pic from PBS.org

Earthquakes kill people....they are not happy occasions. Please get together a safety kit of medicines, first aid needs, water, food, kitchen items, clothes, cell phone chargers.....Contact the Red Cross to get the details...or just google it. Earthquake preparedness.

We learned a lot. Thanks, Dr. Duchin. Every time we see a Monkey Puzzle tree, we think of you...every time I see a monkey or an ape in any context ...we think of you ! That's a lot of thinking of you.

(this is just a pic of my backyard...and not a Monkey Puzzle tree. See one next to the old Elks Lodge downtown Tacoma)


When we got home I thought for sure the fish tank would be crashed all over the floor and be an awful mess. But home was as we left it.....I did notice some things had been shaken and scooted around but nothing was amiss. That old house on N. 21st  seemed to sway around and settle back.
It's a few blocks from Lowell School, where there's a statue by Larry Anderson commemorating the 1949 earthquake and the little boy who died while he saved lives at the elementary school.

"April 13 is Marvin Alan Klegman Day the anniversary of the 1949 earthquake. Marvin was an 11-year-old patrol boy who was killed at Lowell Elementary School during the earthquake when he protected 6-year-old student, Kelcy Allen, from falling bricks.You can see the Larry Anderson sculpture at Lowell school."
(little Marvin was a bonobo, clearly)

 My youngest  attended Lowell. I transferred her there after many problems we had at Grant Elementary in her later years there. Dee told me "Wow, what a view" !
If the Tacoma School District is ever short of cash....What would a whole city block sell for with That View? Bunches of cash you know. That will never happen because the North End mommies and daddies will never allow their precious spawn to go to another school....Imagine the raucous screaming!

In honor of the Primates class with Dr. Duchin, here's a fun song by Louie Prima, Hep Cat, in the Disney movie, Jungle Book. Disney, another corporation that is 100% asshole chimp. yep, throw me some Dots, and I can connect them.

boots and jeans...never enough

perhaps because I am a Cali girl...a west coast kid...a hick from the country...I never have enough boots, cowboy boots, never enough denim, never enough Levis......never enough Leather and Lace...

and Levis being a California invention and California being the West of the mythic dream of freedom, wide open space and granola....I don't quite feel exactly right until I'm wearing boots...and jeans.


here's my favorites now....
I save them for very special occasions.....like going to see Neil Young. They're 40s Frye Rancher Boots with cloth pull loops, and inlay designs in vanilla, on cordovan uppers with maroon trim on the top edge, the feet are orange. That's a great set of colors!!
....Tho very old and in bad shape.... I want to be buried in these boots.
That's so cowgirl of me!

I used to ride horses as a little cowgirl every chance I got ( I never got my own pony till I was all growed up) but when I sold the farm, and lost the horse, I kept my saddle and I kept all my boots...
I got rid of a few pair of boots since then because they didn't fit anymore....including the pair I won in a raffle !

The thing is....if you can imagine a design, it can be made into a Cowboy Boot...just do a web Images search on vintage cowboy boots......and click my Cowboy boot link ----> for hours of entertainment.

For years I had a pair of cowboy boots like these......I called them my Emmylou boots...these are from etsy seller RockyMountainRetro

another fave I have stashed away are these Zodiac boots with feather detail...mine need some work...they're afflicted with the dreaded Sticky Lining.......these are from etsy seller billiegoat.

Oh gee, why can' t I order these right now at these prices.....

and Levi's...always made in the usa.....and in my shop.......

Boots Bootsie Bootsy

Bootsy...Nothing Will Stop The Funk

Bootsy Collins, not to be confused with Phil Collins, altho we are all Phil Collins People........
is a Legendary bass player who has just started an online bass guitar school, Funk University.

Bootsy and his bass goes back to the 70s with James Brown. That's right. That's him on "Sex Machine".


Here's my boots...nothing will stop the funkomavintage....

 This weeks Newest offerings including awesomey real Motorcycle boots for the Ladies, real Roper Red Wing boots for the fellas, and Lehigh fringe lace-up Roper boots, all made in America.
Real hiking boots, Kastinger with the red laces for being completely authentic.
and of course the other offerings at the funk of vintage......

vintage Double H leather lace up, zippered, buckled and snapped....motorcycle boots.

80s Lehigh fringe vintage Roper boots.

Kastinger 80s vintage padded hiking boots made in Austria where only 30% of the country doesn't have mountains.

Red Wing Roper vintage boots in a size 11.

The Sexiest Man in the Known World......James Brown.




And while we're in the mood for ...Dancing...Prince, Cab Calloway, James Brown..Fred Astaire...and a twit named Michael.

So Abraham, you have a nice jacket but it isn't a Button Down.

So it goes, while enjoying a theater performance, when the President was fatally shot, he was wearing a Brooks Brothers coat. Hand stitched into the coat's lining was a design featuring an eagle and the inscription, "One Country, One Destiny". He was wearing the coat when he was assassinated
Now that's an American heritage company. Brooks Brothers dressed Abraham Lincoln and Brooks Brothers has dressed men since 1818. Andy Warhol wore BB and plenty of rich and famous people wore and wear...Brooks Brothers.

Brooks Brothers is America's oldest men's clothier. Opened in Manhattan, H. & D. H. Brooks & Co. was a family business, but is now owned privately by Retail Brand Alliance, a division of Luxottica. They also own RayBan.

And a lesson in Brooks Brothers history and what the hell is a Button Down!
Brooks Brothers shirt label, All cotton.

Look, both Brooks Brothers and RayBans!

In 1850, the three sons inherited the business and renamed the company Brooks Brothers.
The original Brooks Brothers guiding principle was, "To make and deal only in merchandise of the finest body, to sell it at a fair profit and to deal with people who seek and appreciate such merchandise."

So that's what funkomavintage tries to do also. I especially try to find quality vintage.
My motto is "Just because it's old, doesn't make it good." I've been known to sell polyester knits, but everyone needs a laugh once in a while.

I especially love the classics, the heritage and the well-made because it lasts. We can't live like there is no tomorrow, like there is a magic place to throw stuff away and have it disappear.

Brooks Brothers is still a great company, though the quality isn't what it used to be. Many new items are made in slave shops overseas. The quality of the new shirts is especially bothersome. A fascination with No Iron technology has rendered the cotton shirts plastic-like.
The charm of classic quality is often the wrinkles, the soft feel of a good fabric. Cotton, Linen, silk, leather and wool breathe and wrinkle. Those are always my favorites.

Oh, I'll choose other textiles....nylon, rayon, a quality polyester, a good acrylic. But it better be good!

Please notice that this Brooks Brothers shirt is Zephyr cotton, and must be ironed (or not) and that it Buttons down the front,yes.

See the collar. It buttons down.

This is what makes it a Button Down shirt. The Button Down Collar...fully explained directly below.

Brooks Brothers is a very traditional clothier, yet has introduced many clothing novelties. The grandson of Henry Sands Brooks (the founder), invented the button-down dress shirt collar after seeing the buttoned-down-stay put collars on English polo players.Before that, men usually had collarless shirts, and had to add a separate stiff collar. That is another day's history lesson... ;-)

A Button Down refers to the Button Down collar. I'm seeing this reference to Button Down on any damn thing with buttons. Ebayers who copy the ignorant repeat this again and again...and I now see it on etsy and elsewhere.

Repeat after me "A button down is about the collar that buttons down, brought to America by Brooks Brothers". It was first noticed on polo shirts worn by English polo players, and that is why it is The Original Polo Shirt. "Polo shirt" has devolved into those dreadful knit shirts that idiots like Tiger Woods wears, and men who can't dress themselves properly. And men who haven't bought anything new since the 80s, popped collars and all.

Firsts for Brooks Brothers are ready-made clothing in 1859 and the Button-Down Dress Shirt in 1896. Other Brooks Brothers firsts brought to America include:

** English Foulard Ties in the 1890s.
** The Sack Suit in 1895.
** The Pink Dress Shirt just before 1900.
** The Shetland Sweater introduced in 1904.
** The Polo Coat introduced about 1910.
** Madras from India in 1920.
** Argyles in the 1920s. Brooks Brothers was the first American retailer to make argyle socks for men.
** Light-weight Summer Suits in the early 1930s.
**Wash-and-Wear Shirts in 1953 with a blend of Dacron  polyester, and cotton that was invented by Ruth R. Benerito, which they called "Brooksweave"... and the Non-iron Cotton Dress Shirt introduced in 1999.

So there, that is the problem. Non-Iron. Wrinkles. They're real! Deal.

Here's a label with Est. 1818, The Original Polo Shirt, and all cotton. Still Made in usa, but of imported cotton. sigh.

And...my Ladies Brooks Brothers cotton shirt. Not a button down. OK. But it's a wonderful all cotton BB.It fits like a dream and washes nice and breathes.............

 Brooks Brothers website.

I'm on a vacation...

and on many shopping trips on the Coast of the West....another fantastic Chinese Dinner for Valentines Day.......so I haven't put up much new vintage lately...a few cute women's vintage skirts, sweaters and tops....so..let's review...
******Here's some Kids Vintage ....Candy for the Eye, and then a little Vinegar of the Soul....

below, I ask for 3 minutes of your time...
Please watch this vid from Regretsy...It expresses Some of my True Feelings about etsy, about selling on line, and being a 'Capitalist Crafter' (c)...after selling groovy-ness to you since the '60s...man...and now online for more than a decade....I've seen it all...

The Little Levi's tag has a place for a phone number so the jacket can call home..Awwwwww...

another Awwwww....look at the tag, and the orange little e....

Adorable 60s plaid pleated dress for a sweet little toddler...after her nap, that is..........

And for the hip 70s baby....Sweet little bell bottoms....
yeah, I know!

99.99% of you are AWESOME AND KIND... and we all have to put up with nasty people...le sigh...CLICK the little youtube symbol in the right bottom corner, or else a Nasty Ad pops up over the video...and you can't watch it. Stupid Google.



so yeah, from now on, I'm putting moustaches on EVERYTHING!!

this chart from....

Jewels from the junk drawer

I've been making necklaces with hearts lately....and next I think I shall work on earrings and brooches again.... I have tons of little things I collect, one earring, vintage chains, broken brooches....old hardware....and newly made  American-made  lead-free pewter charms and fixings.......

Aquarius...70s medallion...with a vintage chain, prettied with a aqua glass bead........

 Buddah box and wings......

Sparkle tiger...

sold..locket and key with Lion....
I might revisit this theme....

70s Rainbow love....Bruce 

Cherry Love with 70s rainbow Dennis....Lots of hearts and love here for Dennis...where ever he may be.

Rhinestone Big Sailor Love.........

Cartoon rainbow Kris with girly princess charms...

Queen with pearls and locket........

Modern hippie....

Wise owl and a teardrop locket....

Floral vintage locket heart...with  a crystal drop....

as you know..I'm not much interested in things that are new....Especially anything new that was made ...within about 10 or so years old...It's junk.

Fast Fashion. Garbage.
H&M, Ikea, 21, Old Slavey, barf.
The "quality" is dreadful. Even imports sold at KMart in the 70s are of better quality.
In the early 80s, right after I moved to Gravel Road Junction (Tacoma), I stopped buying crap from China. As much as possible.

That meant, I went without a lot of stuff over the years. Thank God and whomevah' that I have never suffered the embarrassment of wearing old clothes, buying old furniture, re-using everything I could get my hands on!
Even my husband and dog are second-hand. I'm so crafty, I make people.

Wearing old stuff, putting old rusty farm junk in my yard.......people used to tease me, and roll their eyes, and generally treat me like I was nutz....well, now the great middle class has decided that old junky crap is Awesome!
this makes me giggle.

Of course, Now....we know why buying cheap crap from China is bad:
Poison,poison  metals, poison pet food, slave working conditions, downward pressure on 1st world wages..mass unemployment in America as all factories were shipped to some 3rd World HellHole.
Bruce Springsteen tried to tell you....
hell, even Billy Joel saw it!
(Allentown)


The Trad and his comments about Brooks Brothers.
So now that it's too late to buy quality American, Canadian or European made goods...tiny business ...that make quality  handcrafted goods are popping up like 'shrooms after a good rain. They offer the quality that the Made in Hellhole label cannot provide. Small business is King/Queen again!! Shop Local movements are threatening to WallMart !
Good !

I see Gap crap (when new, sold for a pretty penny) at yard sales,  that are falling apart and are pilling and look like shit, knowing these garments are only a year old!
from Mister Mort......As a vintage dealer, I can personally attest that a decades old dress, stored properly and cleaned according to the directions will last for decades and decades.

Old names in the quality business are gaining respect, if they've retained the classic quality. LLBean, Red Wing, Woolrich, Patagonia, Levis, Filson, etc....Workwear, worn and patched and stained, authentically so by Real Work, are becoming treasures. Remnants of an older age, with dents, rust, patina and the signs of use and the passage of time are works of art. The Japanese, who know something about culture and quality and art have this word....WabiSabi.

Proper customer service rather than everything Self-Service is again being demanded.
Now that unions in America have all but been destroyed, workers are finally figuring out...why we need unions.They are a beacon of respect for the working class to get fair wages, liveable wages, injury protection, disability insurance, and meaningful medical coverage.

All business is pressured by union gains to meet the standard. The decline of jobs and wages are because of the decline of unions. How to bust a union? Ship the factory and the services to a 3rd world Hellhole, that's how.
How to stop the total slide? Stop buying cheap crap.
Stop shopping at Target.
Stop shopping at WalMart.
Buy from a local business if you have to buy an import. Hell I drive an import! But I bought Secondhand and local.
It's not hard to make these changes. I've been doing it for decades. Even my laptop is third hand.When it needs repair, I take it to a local, small businesss computer repair guy.
Hey, let's make all industries come back to America. Your paycheck will thank you.