I’ve lived in this city for four years and I had never even heard of if until it was mentioned on Put This On, which is run by guys in LA. Its tucked away into a shopping/gallery strip on Thayer St. in the south end, so it’s easy to miss if you don’t get out that way very often.

The store is laid out like a cabinet of curiosities that specializes in vintage men’s clothes – more items are in display cases, or even in cabinets, than on sale racks. There is a whole case filled with straw boaters, a small chest filled with ascots and cravats, a display of 1900s grooming tools – pomade, shaving brushes, safety razors, even a few racks of celluloid collars. All this would be overwhelming without the rather large staff (during my visit, they outnumbered the customers 2 to 1) to help you navigate the collection.

If I have any concerns, it is that even though most of their product is a very good value, none of it is “cheap.” You could theoretically find many of their items at goodwill for a lower price; I suspect that much of their merchandise comes in from professional thrifters. That said, 99% of everything at goodwill is crap, and 99% of the merchandise here is wonderful – it works out in their favor if you value your time. While I likely won’t be buying my everyday clothes here, this is now my first stop for esoteric accessories and splurges.

Bobby from Boston
19 Thayer St
(between Harrison Ave & Albany St)
Boston, MA 02118
(617) 423-9299

Today, we mailed out our rent checks (leaving me with about $100 in savings) and hit the thrift shop down the street, where I picked up a dress shirt and two pairs of pants for about $8 each. I just started reading An Affordable Wardrobe last week and while I don’t really get his whole “dandy” aesthetic, I’m definitely appreciating goodwill stores in a whole different light.

We went to my mother’s for Thanksgiving this year, and she’s still on this Russian kick from a trip she and my stepfather took last year, so along with the turkey and stuffing she served blini and vodka. While I can’t recommend her blini recipe, she has definitely turned me onto a couple of cheap Russian vodkas that are a lot smoother and taste much better than any of the premium stuff you’ll see at trendy bars. Once I can do a more thorough tasting, I’ll post a review here.

There’s a bit of a clutter problem over there, and while it’s not quite Hoarders level yet, and maybe even better than when I was growing up, it’s still pretty filthy in spots. The first big thing one notices upon entrance is the dozen parrots. This happened innocently enough; one starts with two birds and the rest comes naturally; my mother briefly attempted to sell the birds but found she could not even give most of them away. Being birds, they tend to crap all over the place and while its mostly constrained to the area in front of their cages, most homeowners would consider any pile of birdshit one too many.

The other problem, and probably the more serious one, is that they hoard food like they grew up in the thirties. They have the fridge completely full, to the point of tetris-like precision, and they leave semi-perishable condiments out on the table indefinitely. The last time I was over they had a bottle of ketchup that had turned brown, but that had since been trashed, so there may be hope for them yet.

This has inspired me, in subsequent days, to clean up around the apartment and particularly pare down my wardrobe. I have a tremendous amount of clothing for someone who wears the same outfit three days in a row, but much of it is stained with developer from my photolab days, or was purchased in the three week window when I fit a 32″ waist. Even after I saved two pieces for mending and with the three new items coming in I have a net loss of clothing which gets me a little closer to having an efficient wardrobe.

Better breakfasts – For much of 2008 I started my day with a snack cake and a mountain dew – something like 750 calories but no nutritional value. I realized I could pretty much eat a whole box of fiber cereal and come out ahead, calorie-wise, all while getting vitamins and blowing out my ass. I started strong, with fistfuls of Fiber One and a PB & J in the morning, but as time progresses lots of “just this once” snacks work their way in. Overall, I’m doing pretty well, but I need to keep up with this.

Better lunches – this I have done. While I occasionally eat out and snack between meals, I have generally stuck to sandwiches for my lunch; haven’t had a hot pocket all month!

Dental hygiene – from never brushing to twice a day. No longer do I have miscellaneous crud and a patina of plaque on my teeth every day. Gum bleeding during brushing under control. Need to keep up with the flossing – started strong but lapsed in second week.

Shave & a hairdo daily – halfway there. Still only shaving periodically; I blame the high cost of razor blades. I do the hair frequently enough that when I don’t do anything with it, its a change of style, not a lazy default. Discovering exciting world of hair tonic and pomade.

Wardrobe maintenance – did laundry for the first time in ages, but now it’s mostly dirty again, and none of it made it to the ironing board. Picked up some nice blazers and cowboy shirts at garment district, but haven’t had any opportunities to wear them. Need to take an inventory of my pants, cause I tend to wear the same pair day after day until i stumble upon a different pair in the morning. (Old habits die hard.) The closet is barricaded with dirty laundry, and my shoes are all wretched. At least I’ve finally got a nice pair of glasses.

Find a doctor – still haven’t seen one in five years; same goes for dentist. I’ve managed to do all the simple short-term health stuff that involves buying a few things in a place I spend 48 hours a week in anyways, yet I haven’t called any of the doctors offices on the list Allie gave me a few weeks ago.

Exercise for it’s own sake – nope. I own Wii Fit, which I would count for this, so there’s no excuse.

Bake – haven’t been cooking much of all, lately. A little bartending here and there, but the most complex thing I’ve done this year is a breaded chicken breast. I’ve instead been putting my food budget towards fancy dinners, which is unsustainable with school bills. I’m supposedly getting a stand mixer from my uncle, but that’s not going to make me want to make souffles all of a sudden. I should just start working through an episode of Good Eats every night.

Grow an herb garden – have all the materials but haven’t set it up.

Get meats from a butcher – every time I’m at the supermarket looking at sausages, I think, “I could get a better variety cheaper at sabor brasil.” I get a chuck steak instead.

Take dancing lessons – Plan on signing up after my soul quest, but no commitment yet.

Practice guitar & piano fundamentals – been playing a bit more since lessons started back up, but a lot of it is the procrastinators “cramming” style, which really doesn’t work for musical instruments. I’ve got a million different musical projects to work on, but none of them are at the point where I’m actually playing stuff.

Learn analog electronics / how to solder – sure wish I hadn’t skipped all those physics labs. (Could have done without the F in the class, too.) No progress.

Define personal space physically – this is a big thing from Pattern Language, which I was reading around the time of my two-hour breakup; couples need to have separate spaces aside from their common area. So I’ve got my keyboards all over half the apartment. Now all I need is a door so I can jerk off in peace.

Find a new job – shit economy on one side, promotion freeze on the other. I went around Cambridge a few weeks back and passed out resumes but have done no follow-up & haven’t tried again. Lost my steam pretty quickly, as I tend to do.

Post on Modern Serf – Well, here’s a start.