Berkley Vintage Finds Story

June Sewing & Photo Junket

Sometime in June, my vintage camera popup needed some 35mm film restocking, I decided to pick up some film from Looking Glass Photo . I have a friend who works there, and recently they’d been hit by another one of those serial smash & grab crimes.  So I wanted to check in with those guys and I needed some durable fabric for a bag project. I had heard about the storied Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics; both shops were located in Berkley. So as is my tradition, I threw together another Sewing & Photo Junket to travel to the East Bay. As always, these ‘vintage finds’ trips provide fun neighborhood adventures with such interesting people meet on the creative & entrepreneurial path. 

Selling my vintage wares has been a journey, bringing me to create a brick and mortar space within in the  Sunset Mercantile Emporium. Like the shop Stuff, they are a Collective housing other antique, vintage & DIY makers products. I love creating a boutique-like atmosphere, and am constantly looking for stylish pieces to accentuate the space.  During my East Bay vintage supplies trip,  I serendipitously run into Stuff Vintage Modern, near Solano avenue, and found the kind of classic display cabinets I think would go wonderfully in my vintage nook. When I find these new cabinets, it’s really going to help consolidate my main products of vintage cameras, film, bags & magazines, and open the door for a new popup section focusing on Denim jackets, hats & vintage garments. 

Donut Shop on San Pablo

Part of the the Vintage Finds adventure is to discover quirky unexpected placed; It was a long afternoon, and I was waiting to attend a friend’s bbcue in Oakland,  I popped into this Donut shop on San Pablo Ave. The guy working there, said ‘good look man!’ - - It does help to look the part! 🎩 - - His boss and probably his mother, was obsessing over the lottery numbers that day, and was ticking them while she gathered my bundle of donuts. She was sharp and snappy with her customers, the atmosphere felt like a Quentin Tarantino movie. When I shared the shots in real time with a friend of mine in Denver, he said I looked some kind of William S. Burroughs figure in this milieu. Maybe I’ll start carrying fedoras & homburg hats, as part of my Mansfield Collection, as I develop the new vintage space..

Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics

I’d heard of Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics in Berkeley, that it was this large warehouse full of fabrics, the people who worked there love what they’re doing and are crafts people themselves, and that you might find the shop experience unique, amongst sewing outlets in the Bay Area. I found all of that and I also found a sewing community, easy to tap into. And a bonus was this presence of this little pleasant ‘Asta’ sewing dog, who was like a fabric guide dog - he helped me find the fabrics I needed for my bag projects back home.

And one of my favorite things to do on my Vintage Finds Adventures, is to eat the local fair: picked up some tasty pizza slices from the North Beach Pizza, located on the same block as Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics.