I know it is not so “old world” of me to be tearing up thrift stores stateside, but as I enjoy the holidays with my family I cannot help but work, play and thrift. So while working with Pieceology Vintage I decided to show off for owner April and take her on my long running hometown loop.
I blatantly blame my upbringing for my natural inclination to wear only once-loved predominately vintage garments. I grew up in a small town called Pacific Grove, California. A town harked for being both “The Last Hometown” and “Butterfly Town USA.” Not thrilling to a high schooler, but I have absolutely come to appreciate it in all its glory. And it just so happens to have a high concentration of thrift shops and sweet old people to run and donate to them.
My all-time fave is St. Vincent De Paul. Laid out with care, great prices and great volunteers (even though I really miss Mr. Higby that on half-off Wednesdays would slip me even sweeter discounts). Although they have grown savvy over the years their daily 50% off specials keep everything even keel.
St. VIncent is a great place to find very local brands like these high-end golf pants from neighboring Carmel that partners Moth Oddities found while picking PG with me.
It has a great location on the charming Forest Ave, the main street that also houses our hometown bakery Pavel’s Backerei and mom and pop grocery store Grove Market with old school meat market inside. Love. PG, as we locals like to call it, is a little old world once you break it down.
Almost parallel to Forest is 17th Street, with an equally as wonderful pit-stop called La Piccola Casa, yes the Italian food is legit, and this is not easy for me to say. But, even if you are not hungry go inside and get their good coffee. It is your chance to see the inside of a the gorgeous little Victorian homes that line the streets of PG.
Right next door to La Piccola Casa are two more trusty spots. One is Tailwaggers. They have always been savvy so prices can be high for a seeded thrifter. But, they always have half off sales at the beginning of the month and some things fall through the cracks.
And then there is one of my most heartfelt spots, The Church Mouse. Apart form always having the sweetest and slowest volunteers, the chance that you will find cheap stuff or something vary name brand for nothing are very high.
Now these are my staples, the core, where to go to pass the day doing my favorite things and you will most likely already be loaded up my now like April, but across the main drag of Lighthouse Ave there is a vintage trove called Vintage to Vogue and on Fountain Ave, a couple blocks down Lighthouse, there is the Treasure Shop. From fountain to Central there are a couple more Church shops with very limited hours, but sometimes they have great things too. Everything is close together and there are sweet little local shops in between, you can’t go wrong just wandering around!
And don’t forget that just a couple blocks downhill is the beach! Go sit, rest, eat at the old-school Lover’s Point Grill and rummage through your Pacific Grove vintage!
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