Summer = SoWa Sundays

There’s really no better way to spend a hot day in the city than at the SoWa Market.  I put on my best Toms and sweat walked over, iced tea in hand and joined my bff Jenna for some browsing, eating, and jewelry making, oh and more eating.  Jenna’s mom is the owner of the excellent Bead + Fiber, where I made a necklace with an antique skeleton key.  It is craft heaven with an overwhelming amount of beads and yarn.   Plus, there are classes in everything from learning to knit to silk scarf painting.

Outside at the market were an array of food trucks including some familiar ones, like Clover and Bon Me.  The Roxy grilled cheese truck had a pretty substantial line all afternoon, but I went for the Trolley Dog truck, choosing a New Yorker covered in delicious sauerkraut and deli mustard.  Jenna picked up a char-grilled pastrami sandwich and tempura-style fried pickles from Super Dog.

After wandering through the very hot Vintage Market and making a lap around the stalls of soap and jewelry, it was time for another snack, from Frozen Hoagie.  Pick an ice cream flavor and a cookie – chocolate chip, pizelle, fudge brownie etc. – and either full sandwich size or slider.  We chose slider and it was plenty big.  The only downfall was that in the hot sun, frozen hoagie didn’t stay that way.  It was a race against the heat. 

I drank my weight in iced tea trying to stay cool on Sunday, but all in all it was a great day in SoWa.

Update: I was reading through my SoWa posts from last summer and suddenly realized – what happened to Lefty’s Silver Cart?  Seller of Stumptown coffee and organic vegetarian sandwiches, Lefty’s was always out at the corner of Congress and Atlantic across from my building all of last year.  Even through the awful plague which was Occupy Boston (I’m all for protest, but not when it smells.)  The website says they are open for the summer in the same location…Lefty’s, where did you go?

Halloween + Other Concerns

Trade, the new Jody Adams restaurant is opening next week at Atlantic Wharf.  Blue Inc. Jason Santos’s new restaurant has also just opened on Broad St.  Try the Transparent Manhattan: Death’s Door white whiskey, bittered orange oil, + LN2 cherries.

The Black Keys El Camino comes out Dec 6th and is available for pre- order now.  Tom Waits new album ‘Bad as Me’ can be streamed here (thanks NPR!)  T Magazine has feature on Patti Smith, Requiem Lass, discussing the success of ‘Just Kids’ and ‘Camera Solo’ her show at Wadsworth Atheneum opening Oct 6th.

Dance/Draw at ICA Boston – Oct 7th thru Jan 16th.  Work from 40 artists exploring the relationship between contemporary dance and drawing over the last 40 years.

Halloween!                                                                                                     In Boston SoWa Market wraps up its season on Oct 30th with a Halloween themed celebration including live music and a costume contest.  Probably thanks to the Sox not making the post-season, SpookyWorld is taking over Fenway Park for The Fear at Fenway this weekend.  Looks like Thunderdome isn’t happening this year but some other fun events include This is Boston Soul-Halloween at Beehive Oct 29th, Halloween Spooktacular with Nick Cave, PJ Harvey + The Kinks at Church Oct 30th, and Throwed Haunted Mansion at Middle East Downstairs Oct 29th.

And in NYC Danzig is playing at Hammerstein Ballroom Oct 29th.  Since half of my Halloween mix consists of Misfits songs this seems ideal for Halloween.  As is Hallowmas, the annual World/Inferno Friendship Society concert to celebrate the coming of the Great Pumpkin.  Oct 28th at Irving Plaza.  Also playing shows at The Met in Pawtucket Oct 29th and Union Transfer in Philly Oct 31st.

 

Mindy Kaling’s Why Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (and Other Concerns) comes out right after Halloween, on Nov 1st.  Really looking forward to this (in fact I already have it on pre-order.)  Looking through my recent posts you might as well call this a blog about how funny I think Mindy Kaling is.

SoWa Sunday Recap

Well, the weather was great, but SoWa was kind of a bust this weekend (from the prospective of finding anything worthwhile at the Vintage Market.)  It was, however, a pretty happening scene, especially by Boston standards. 

First, the disappointments.  The vintage market did not have much that was appealing to me.  Located inside the brick warehouse, it has less space than last season due to developement of the property into full-time retail space.  As a result, there seemed to be fewer furniture sellers than last year and more space given to second-hand clothing.  Similarly, I was not impressed with the vinyl selections, I was on the hunt for 60s soul or 80s novelties (the weirder the better) but no luck.  There was a good selection if you were in the market for traditional popular rock records – Rolling Stones, Dylan et al.

I did spot this typewriter which is almost identical to the one I lost on ebay and at $115, way more than I am willing to spend. 

On the plus side, the food trucks were the destination of most people at SoWa.  Clover, Bon Me, Lefty’s Silver Cart, and Cupcakery are all out during the workday lunch hour downtown (so look for reviews on those soon.)  There also was a lot of farmer’s market produce and honey, humus sellers etc.  I stuck to a mint patty brownie from Yummy Mummy and a Del’s frozen lemonade.

Market to Market

With the promise of one nice day of weather on Sunday, I am heading out on my first trip this flea-season to the SoWa Open Market and SoWa Vintage Market.  (Boston’s closest equivalent to the great flea markets and green markets in New York City)  This coincides with a great piece on NPR’s On Point this week about flea markets, antiques, collecting and the potential value of all of these old and used things.  Also, the rise of 20-somethings collecting not typical antiques, but pop-culture relics carrying often more nostalgic value than monetary. 

But isn’t it more fun if the things you own have a story behind them, even if that story is “check out this musty, broken typewriter I found on ebay, it was a steal at 19.99”?  The same principle holds true for my love of bargain-bin vinyl records.  I wouldn’t typically buy a collection of Donna Summer’s greatest hits at $10, but it is pure treasure when I find it at the Brooklyn Flea for $1 and I can boast to you “Only a dollar!”

Plus there’s the food.  My roommate is joining me on my trip just to have another giant, overpriced, but delicious brownie from the “brownie lady”.  The food is great at SoWa and really starting to catch up with fleas in New York, like Brooklyn and Hester Street.  I, personally, am looking forward to Grillo’s Pickle truck. (And FYI I’ve spotted the Grillo’s cart sporadically located above ground at the Park Street T stop.)

I’m also hoping for some good, well-priced finds on vinyl, some mid-century nic-nacs, and with any hope (though there is little), the tile inlaid coffee table I was eyeing last year at the vintage market. 

You can listen to the NPR story here – NPR’s On Point: KIller Stuff Tons of Money

Also – I have just been outbid on the typewriter of yore that I am coveting.  It is now up $26. Nerds!