Someone told me about this PLACE....Filled with things in jars and bones and taxidermy....and it sounded cool .....BUT.... the way they said it...the way their eyes lit up...and they way they looked at ME..i just knew I had to go.....and for a moment I lost my breath...
I used to just go in there and stare...just quietly look at everything and imagine where i would put it in my apartment....where it came from...who it belonged to...who loved it before i did/would.....Before I even talked to anyone in there...before I even remembered the NAME of the place....I would just go in there and stare...like at a museum...or like a temple of some sort...a temple to all things Obscure....
It just made me feel so good to think that other people found beauty in these things...that others saw something amazing in the things that people usually turn their noses up at or even run away screaming from...It was like realizing you were part of some secret club you didn't even know existed....and it felt amazing....and it made me feel like i was ok...in a world that had been telling me since i could remember that i WASN'T ok...i found somewhere...a small sanctuary where I was ok....
So i would save and save and treat myself...on birthdays especially...a birdcage here...a prosthetic leg there...an amazing beaver top hat....a small piece of hair art.....anything to add to my collection...and I became more and more vocal and became more and more familiar with everyone who worked there.....and it started to feel like visiting friends...and not just the amazing things behind glass...but the amazing people who worked there with a death of knowledge to spare...Evan And Mike....and Mary...and occasionally a few others.....They gave these beautiful things a history...and they passed that on to me and to whomever else asked.....So it became more than just a store...it became a destination....
And now they are moving...again...the first time i thought they were gone...and i never came back for almost a year until a friend told me that they in fact had just moved up the block!!! { So NY to not just keep walking up the block to see if they moved!!! } But how ELATED I was to know they were not gone completely!!!! now they are moving around the block and up a ways.....And at such an amazing time for them...with the show "Oddities" going so well...{and yours truly making an appearance on the show}...they are more popular than ever...and now not just with those of us looking for a little treat to add to our collections...but even as things change...and popularity grows...i still feel it...that thing...every time i walk in....and i still just like to go in there...and stare.....
XOXO
