I came across another great hand-made American bag company called Bexar Goods Co. They use leather, waxed canvas, and wool to fabricate bags, belts, and carry goods. They are running an Earth Day sale on their waxed canvas line so I encourage you to get over to their sale page on their website and pick up a bag or two while the sale lasts.
Okay, I have posted about finding the perfect leather messenger bag in a previous post, “An Old Friend, A New Friend”, but I came across another line of bags I will be checking out on my next visit to NYC. They are hand crafted using nothing more than the hand and a portable workshop box. In short, they are simply beautiful.
Check out their minimal collection at ETWAS. They also make hand-crafted belts, which aren’t on their website but are available through Brooklyn Denim Co. Make sure you read about the EtWas story here.
In my obsession with vintage photography I came across some interesting photos of Auto Polo. It seems in 1913 -1914 this was a pretty big sport around the midwest. Kinda makes demolition derby look like a bunch of sissies:
A customer at Casarama brought in a box of the most interesting woven wool ties. The story behind them is that the brother of the road salesman for the company was the owner of the estate and when they were cleaning it out they discovered the box of ties, left over from the 1940’s when his brother was on the road selling. The ties were manufactured by B.J.Ernst in San Francisco. Needless to say I bought the whole lot. I had them in Casarama for a while and sold a few, but the longer I looked at them and read about new woven wool ties I pulled them from the display case and decided to wear a few. I am still not sure if I want to give them up.
The following is the collection:
I let a few get away for $20 each. Should I keep them or sell them?…
I came across this nice little gem over at A Lazy Man‘s blog. Unfortunately he doesn’t identify his posts so I am left to obsess over what might just be the perfect travel toiletry kit.
Anyone have any ideas who makes it?!
Update:
Damn! Found it. Of course it is sold out…
It was being sold by Need Supply back in October 2011.
It is made by a company called Billykirk and it looks like they don’t make it anymore. Could be the $150 price tag?!
Back to obsessing…
I found this beauty of a canvas lumber store apron from the 50’s. Dig it!
Some days are diamonds…
Today, while in my vintage shop, Casarama, I had a gem of a little Japanese Handbag walk through the door looking for a home. Sorry, this one is not for sale, it’s going home for the Missus.
I moved to NYC in 1987. Shortly after, I needed a good carry-all for my urban needs. I searched high and low for a few weeks for the perfect backpack, debating over my options; leather, fabric, canvas, plastic. I kept walking by a fantastic old-world leather shop called The Village Tannery on Bleeker Street.
The smell of leather emanating from the door every time I walked by made me stop and look in the window at the hundreds of bags, backpacks, briefcases, and handbags. I ventured in once or twice and found the selection to be overwhelming and a bit pricey for a 21 year old kid, but I couldn’t stop looking every time I walked by.
I told myself I couldn’t afford this fine craftsmanship and in the end I opted for a trendy plastic see-through backpack from Patricia Fields. I tried to convince myself that I was done with my carry needs.
A few weeks later I found myself again in front of the window at the leather shop. I began to reassess my plastic pack decision and began saving for a backpack I had spied in the dozens of options at the Village Tannery. In early 1988 I walked in and plunked down the $125 they were asking for the leather backpack I had been obsessing over. I never knew at the time what a great decision it was to become.
Over the next 23 years that backpack traveled with me around the world and back again. It has functioned as my luggage, my briefcase, and my friend. I oiled it once a year over the years and always treated it with respect. Each time I would pass by The Village Tannery I would stop in and talk about the bag and let them know it was still looking good. The last 3 times I have stopped in to show off my old friend they have tried to buy it back from me. I think they want to show off the quality to new perspective buyers. I never even ask how much they will pay me because this old friend is not for sale.
This is the backpack after 24 years of everyday use and a once-a-year oiling.
A close-up of the leather. No cracks, splits or major abrasions.
Last year I was in need of a true business carry item. I needed a simple briefcase or messenger bag that was elegant. I looked up the website for The Village Tannery and of course, they had what looked like the perfect bag. The problem was there was no price listing and I wasn’t planning on being in NYC for quite some time. I thought and thought about calling them up to inquire, but knew that their bags retailed in the $300 – $500 range now and didn’t want to spend that kind of money without seeing it in person to ensure it would satisfy my OCD. In the mean time I came across a buffalo leather briefcase/messenger bag hybrid that had a concealed compartment on the exterior for your handgun, so of course I dropped the $300 on the spot and took the bag home. I carried the briefcase for 6 months and the whole time kept looking at what I didn’t like about it, comparing it in my mind to the messenger bag I had seen on the Village Tannery website. Somewhere in those 6 months I decided the bag I had looked like something you would buy at Tommy Bahamas, and I couldn’t stand the thought. I saw a trip looming in the future to NYC and planned a walk-by at The Village Tannery when we got there, “Just to look…”
It was exactly as I had hoped it would be.
The shop hasn’t changed a bit over the years, and while the prices have adjusted to inflation, they are reasonable for the quality. The messenger bag I had seen on the website was perfect. Sturdy, simple, functional. It was $350 and the deal was sealed when the old gentleman saw me looking at the lack of closures on the bag and said, “We can put some magnetic closures on the back of the main flap and you wont even see them when it is closed.” I paid the gentleman and headed back to Oregon to wait for the bag to arrive in the mail (I saved the sales tax by mailing it home, which also gave them time to put the closures on). I panicked for a brief time over the fact that I didn’t discuss in detail the closures they were to install and was convinced it would arrive with visible grommets or stitches on the front of the bag, spoiling the simplicity. I just knew I would hate what they would do and was convinced I would have to go back to the Bahama bag. When it arrived at the house I waited for a few hours before opening it to inspect the massacre and was so happy to see that they had thought ahead and installed them in an ingenious way to where you couldn’t detect a thing from the front. I was thrilled! My search is over and I am free to move on to another obsession. I will continue to carry my old friend for my travels but will proudly carry my new friend to business meetings. I will also continue to stop by the Village Tannery whenever I am in NYC and who knows, maybe someday I will sell them back my old friend… Nah…
So, I follow the blog EDC (everyday-carry.com) to keep up on the latest pocket gadgetry. I became obsessed with flashlights and knives and wallets and…
I had to take a photo of my carry and submit and now must wait to see if the administrator finds the contents worthy of publication. Since I have limited patience I thought I would throw mine up here while I wait.
Vintage Italian Bone-Handled Switchblade – You gotta love the switchblade. It brings back memories of West Side Story knife fights. We are lucky that we can actually carry these in Oregon.
Vintage Sterling Silver ID Bracelet – .925 and HEAVY.
Walther PPK – My favorite handgun. I know why Bond carried one. Fast and smooth.
Tag Huer Aquamarine Chronograph Watch
120G iPod – 21,000 songs. I don’t like to put music on my phone. I also do not leave home without it. I recently subscribed to Apple’s iCloud Music Match service to see if my phone would suffice, but I am having tons of problems with iTunes now that I synced all my computers. It may force me to have to move my principal iTunes library to another computer, which will take me 100’s of hours to reorganize the Goddamned library. Ohhh, don’t get me started… Proper music organization has been a primary obsession-compulsion for years.
iPhone 4 – Can’t wait for a higher resolution camera.
BelArno Wallet – I am obsessing over the Makr Carry Goods Horizon Three wallet so I am sure I will have to get one soon. It took me months to find the BelArno and I was happy to finally find one with enough storage in a small enough footprint, but now I want even smaller.
Surefire G2 LED Flashlight – Not small but it fits all my guns. I have a Maratac AAA on the way to replace this as a carry piece. This will go permanently on my AR15.
Persol Eyeglasses with Transitions Lenses – I’ve been wearing Persol sunglasses since the 1980’s. Sadly I cannot go without prescription glasses anymore so I had to order up the Transitions.
Keys – Cant wait for Retina scanning or fingerprint recognition or microchips or something to get rid of bulky keys.
Make sure you check out EDC and have fun with the carry obsession.
My nephew is in town from Ecuador so I decided to run over the mountains to P-Town to take in a Portland Timbers game and show him how the Yankee Hooligans do it! It was the MLS season opener and it was a cold rain-soaked mess, but what better way to earn your chops than seeing a footy game in P-Town with the obligatory P-Town rain?! The good news: The Timbers won in style. The bad news: My wool Filson Mackinaw Wool Vest and new Timberland work boots were thoroughly soaked through.
The next day before leaving town and driving back over the snow-riddled mountains I made a bee-line for Portland’s premier work-fashion vintage-inspired store, Lizard Lounge, to get me a pair of selvedged denim jeans! I had been reading about Lizard Lounge and had made them my newest OCD target, so I was very excited to check out the store in the Pearl District, and upon arriving was not disappointed. It was the mecca of vintage inspired work wear from the likes of Woolrich Woolen Mills, Levis Vintage, Baldwin, Red Wing and more, in a great industrial setting with my favorite – vintage medical cabinets and industrial furniture everywhere. I tried on a couple of pairs of Baldwin Denim and was happy I was able to do so, as the sizing is always tricky when trying to figure it out from remote sites. I will post about the breaking-in process of the Baldwin Denim Reed jeans as I begin, so that other novices to raw selvedge denim, like myself, might gain some insight.
With bag in hand we headed out, vowing to return again as quickly as possible to shop again when the Missus is with me, otherwise future purchases in the selvedge denim high-dollar amount will frowned upon.
After getting in the truck (the BIG diesel, which is scorned at on a regular basis in P-Town) I looked over in time to discover the Filson store just up the block. A quick park, a fast run-through to explain to my nephew from a 3rd-world country why the jackets cost so much, and we were back in the truck to beat the snow storm.
Next visit will see us with more time, and hopefully more money, to further satisfy our need for great things. By then I am sure I will have gained a new obsession…
Vintage OCD 