little mouse, big dreams
Don’t ask why I found this movie poster on the junky corner of 12th and 3rd inspiring. Just ‘cuz I did.
What I really went to check out was the two-story thrift shop in the middle of the block, Cure, which Sammy discovered for me. Proceeds benefit diabetes research, so check it out!
popcorn in the underground - cute!
The week before our Boston trip, I was so swamped with work and pulling together the MacDella Cooper Foundation’s annual gala that I had no time to Google and yelp the city. Maybe my lack of direction was for the better — we wandered around with open eyes, observant of Boston’s cute quirks, like its self-compacting street trash cans and popcorn stands in the underground T (subway) stations. Landmarks are lovely, but in the end, isn’t a city all about its details?
If you were going to Boston on a budget, here are 5 lesser-known stores and shops I’d tell you to pop into:
1. Bodega (6 Clearway St.)
Sammy outside Bodega
Someone must do a marketing analysis of how this store is a viable business. I guess it proves what Sammy always refers to as “the Tipping Point” –- Malcolm Gladwell’s term for things that rise in popularity, simply due to word of mouth. The façade is a modest bodega on a side street, its windows filled with faded toilet paper rolls and laundry detergent bottles. Go inside and it still looks like a bodega, except then a secret door opens and leads you into a hip sneaker store! Even the web site is mysterious: www.bdgastore.com.
2. The Other Side Cafe (407 Newbury St.)
This cafe is staffed by struggling musicians, who are well-tattooed, spike the coffee with alcohol, and make a mean bowl of yogurt, fruit, and granola. Just look at the masterpiece one of them created for me! I watched him carefully slice and dice the fruit from our seats on the second floor, which overlooked the kitchen. The menu is known for its healthy, vegan options.
3. Johnny Cupcakes
First heard of Johnny Cupcakes when Katy Perry endorsed it as one of her favorite places to shop in LA, but come to find out, he’s based in Boston! Johnny Cupcakes has a fascinating story — he started his brand of screen-printed t-shirts, marked with cupcakes and bones, as a joke. The store is set up like a mock bakery — the t-shirts are encased like desserts. The clothes are pricey ($30-60 for a shirt) but go to counter and look for the $1 pins in cupcake tins so you can add a little Johnny to your life. I bought the “make cupcakes NOT WAR” pin.
Our Boston native friend Diana recommended this spot for the best burritos ever, and I think she was right. Go for a good cheap eat ($4 per burrito and 75 cents for guac).
5. When Pigs Fly
We talked up the boy behind the counter to get free samples of the old-world style artisan bread here. Stop in after Anna’s (it’s on Beacon St. in Brookline) and try Mango, Pineapple, Raisin, with Toasted Sesame and Ginger bread. Carbs with a kick of citrus — delicious.
In my last post, you read how Sammy and I took on Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood for cheap fall fun. The New York Times may have written about “Frugal New York” this weekend, but that’s how we live every weekend…NYC is an insanely expensive city, but free stuff is all around you. Take for instance Union Square on Saturday morning, where we met up before hopping on the F train to Carrol St.
1) Free Fashion Advice at the Union Square Green Market.
were they for real?
Two women who claimed to be stylists were giving free fashion advice to anyone who lined up at their booth. Sammy and I eavesdropped and tried to ask them the business rationale for setting up here — was this for a TV show? A book proposal? a web site? A magazine prank? (Yours truly used to do that for JANE magazine…remember the infamous street spa in Times Square for the March 2006 issue?). They avoided non-style questions and only gave out a paper with this web site, which looks pretty hokey…plus, these bloggers caught some cameramen hanging around the girls, so I’m betting it’s candid camera for a reality show. Another reason to love NY: Where else can you get locally grown produce and good, free fashion advice in one place?
You know it’s your lucky day when a woman stands on the street corner with a pink baker’s hat serving free mini Crumbs cupcakes, of the M&M, Oreo, and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup variety. This plate was cleared in less than a minute!
cupcakes are bliss
Eric Anthamatten, we couldn’t have written it better ourselves:
EMERGING from the bowels of the city in an unfamiliar neighborhood, you climb the subway steps, your pupils dilating as the sunlight strikes them, your ears adjusting to unfamiliar sounds.
Once you reach the street, you survey the intersection, squinting as you peer down each block in turn, trying to make out the name on the street signs. Your eyes scan the skyline for some recognizable tower.
Finally, you decide to walk: “This way?” You go for a few blocks, unsure, your senses on the alert. In this fog of momentary disorientation, you are nonetheless aware of various clues: a whiff of halal spices, both foreign and familiar; a heated conversation in Polish in your left ear; a taxi driver cursing in Caribbean Spanish in your right.
You’ve got to read the rest of this essay by Anthamatten, a New School grad student, in Sunday’s New York Times. He argues how GPS systems in cabs and handheld devices defeat wanderlust, which is what our blog is all about — the culture and hidden gems you discover when you’re on no particular course or make a wrong turn. Read it and be inspired to get lost, because as the deck for the article says: “If you always know where you are, you may never discover who you are.”
Have you ever seen a gazillon police cars speed through the streets of NYC with sirens blaring? (or, as Rachel and I would say to use one of our favorite words, a cavalcade of police cars?). I always wondered what must be going on to cause the ruckus. Some major crime, no doubt. See this YouTube clip for a demo.
Well, when Rachel and I were seated at the counter of Polonia in the East Village, awaiting our pirogies, blintzes, beets, zucchini dumplings, and potato pancakes (photo to come!), two NYPD awaiting their carry-out dinner struck up a conversation. We used this opportunity to ask everything we ever wanted to know about being a cop in NYC. Rachel asked about the rush of police cars…mystery unveiled! The cop said that it’s done as a show of force, showing potential terrorists and criminals that the NYPD is ready to deploy en mass, if need be. This tactic has already proven to reduce terrorism threats in Israel, he said. Who knew? See what you learn when you pass up a table at a restaurant for the counter stools?
…Even mini erasers. These popular collectibles in Japan inhabit a shop all of their own on 10th St., very much hidden in between 1st and 2nd Ave. Who knew? The tiny store, Aica, sells little more than mini erasers in the randomest of shapes: bananas, toothpaste, fast food, ice cream cones, etc.
Erasers have become obsolete in my life since I swore off pencils after completing my final math class in college, but you can’t resist their charm, even if they are useless, for 99 cents a piece at Aica.
