Hello and happy NEW WEEK, vintage lovers!
I had the BEST weekend for so many reasons … and I hope you did too!
Because I know so many of you personally [at least digitally speaking, anyway!] thanks to the Facebook fanpage, I’ve not a notion you DID have a great weekend, especially because ’tis the season for lots of [albeit sweaty!] exploring the thrifty nooks and crannies of your local town or those in close proximity.
OR, if any of you are as adventurous as me, you’re aching for a vintage store ROAD TRIP …
I was definitely adventurous this weekend thanks to being hired by my friend/first Sammy Davis Vintage personal shopping client Sabrina Newman to create her bedroom on a BUDGET!
While thrift shopping furniture and apartment essentials for Sabrina, we encountered a Williamsburg, Brooklyn thrift store called JUNK.
That picture of pictures above? Not the “junk” I expected to find at a place by the same name. I was absolutely mesmerized by this bin-of-vintage-photography, and knew that you vintage lovers would love seeing what photographic gems I dug from among this “junk of JUNK.”
I’ll be blogging more about JUNK the store tomorrow when I share more on how I strategically & stylishly thrifted Sabrina’s bedroom furniture and decorations. The project reminds me of when I was on the Nate Berkus show for its “Bargain Buy Challenge” episode. Definitely watch the clip of me shopping in a Goodwill — it’s hilarious!
Keep reading after the jump to see more of the vintage photography I found at JUNK, and to learn which era I estimated each photo dates from!
JUNK THRIFT STORE
Vintage lovers, welcome to the doorway of JUNK, the warehouse-sized clothing / furniture / knick-knack thrift mecca of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
I’ve walked by this giant-mass-of-an-exterior numerous times to hit up the neighborhood’s local Buffalo Exchange buy-sell-resale store. But for one odd reason or another, I never bothered to venture inside.
Why not? Maybe I was frightened of the store’s sheer size, or perhaps I didn’t think it was open to the public. I’m not sure why it took me nearly THREE years to find the right moment to enter while shopping with Sabrina, but enter I did, and glad I am!
I discovered an abundance of vintage photography in the bin pictured above that was both captivating and creepy. You’re probably thinking the same thing right now that I was in the moment of vintage photo discovery:
Who were these people? Are they dead? Are they alive? Do they know that their photos are here? How DID their photos get here?
These were all questions ringing in my mind as I fingered through the bin of photos, some dating back as early as the 1920s.
Thanks to our general understanding of vintage fashion knowledge, you’ll be able to identify the eras most photos were taken based on the clothing alone. The quality, pose and cut of the photo is also evidence to guesstimate a picture’s birth. I gave each photo my best expert guess based on the options for analysis identified above.
If you have a different guesstimate and can explain why, definitely shoot me an email to set the record straight!
I took a few of these photos home with me to the tune of $.69 each. I plan on buying card stock to use and make vintage photography postcards. I’d love to send some to fellow vintage lovers like you!
The best gift we can give ourselves is sharing the joys of what we’ve discovered with others, like a good book, meal or hidden gem of a thrift store — like JUNK!
Enjoy the “photos of photos” below — and feel free to copy & save to your computers to share with others! It’s all about spreading vintage love ;-)
xx, SD
ESTIMATED ERA: Teens – ’20s
ESTIMATED ERA: ’40s
ESTIMATED ERA: ’70s
ESTIMATED ERA: ’40s -’50s
ESTIMATED ERA: WARTIME ’40s
ESTIMATED ERA: ’70s
ESTIMATED ERA: LATE ’50s – EARLY ’60s
ESTIMATED ERA: ’60s
ESTIMATED ERA: ’60s
ESTIMATED ERA: ’50s
ESTIMATED ERA: ’60s
ESTIMATED ERA: LATE ’70s – EARLY ’80s
ESTIMATED ERA: MID-LATE ’80s
ESTIMATED ERA: EARLY ’80s
ESTIMATED ERA: ’30s – ’40s
ESTIMATED ERA: ’70s
ESTIMATED ERA: ’60s
Have you heard of the Flickr group “Found Photos”? It’s one of my favourites, I waste hours looking through the photos sometimes, they’re just so captivating – much like the ones you found!
Here’s the link
http://www.flickr.com/groups/found-photos/
Hi Sammy! I’d say a few photos you have attributed to the 1960’s may be earlier….aside from the woman with the beehive crouching, which looks very 1960’s, I think it is dated 1970 on the side? (Images are dated when printed, not when taken, so, you can often assume an image predates the date by a month if not several) The others – kids holding hands/woman on boardwalk – look more 1950’s to me. The woman at the table looks like it could be 1940’s? Hard to see. Also, remember that color photography became more accessible to all in the 1960’s so, people were generally enamored with it and wanted to use it immediately during the middle of that decade, while prior to that it was quite costly compared to B & W…. Great Images! -Christine
That was fun! Those were cool too.
The big slide is from late 60’s early 70’s. I remember going to one of those when I was young.
The picture just above the slide with the bald dude is from the 70’s. The rounded corners on the picture is what dates it.
I have wondered about pictures I’ve found in the thrift. I hope someone can answer your “how did they get here?” question. My guess is they were left over from an estate sale?
That is sooo cool! I would be thinking those exact same questions if I ran into a bin of vintage photos. How funny would it be if, let’s say you’re digging through that bin and you find an old picture of, I don’t know, your aunt when she was 5. How coincidental…and weird how it even got there. haha Anyways, can’t wait to see how you transformed Sabrina’s room!
What a great grab bag of photos!