Vintage Picking and Road Tripping with Dinerman

[Dinerman]

That's a Ralph Lauren from a decade or so back. It's reversible, canvas with patch pockets on one side, herringbone tweed with slash pockets on the other. They come up on eBay from time to time.
No physical store to visit at the moment, strictly on-line sales. I'm a one man show when it comes to the vintage dealing- picking, shooting, listing, shipping, all on top of being an architecture grad student.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Very enjoyable thread of your exploits Dinerman.

 

[Dinerman]

We spent today in Belgrade, hitting up some of the antique shops. There was a lot of high priced Western Americana. It's just the kind of thing I like, but it's also popular with the millionare set in the area when they furnish their log cabin styled ski mansions, so at least in this part of the state, it's generally out of my price range. I did, however, happen upon a cache of old Warner Bros. western wardrobe pieces. I have no idea what the market is on this kind of thing- some pieces are obviously 100 year old originals pressed into service decades ago, others were made by the costume departments, other pieces are newer repros from more modern films.

 

[RBH]

Nice DMan! I like that vest you are wearing, mind telling a bit about it?

 

[Bamaboots]

That's great, DM. I think I just drooled on my screen looking at those boots.

 

[PABLOCRAVIOTO]

i like the Dude Rancher Lodge address and some more exterior and room pictures/how much to hotel pay

One of the most common questions I get, right after, "how did you get into all this?", is "where do you find all your stuff?". It's one of those questions that can be hard to answer. "Oh, you know, here and there" usually suffices and avoids the long story. But the truth is, I drive a lot.

This weekend was a casual overnight excursion to Billings, Montana. For those of you not familiar with the area, the drive from Bozeman to Billings is just under 150 miles, and usually I make it as a day trip. So that's a 300 mile round trip, hours on the road and a tank of gas, for the hope that maybe, just maybe, there will be some old ties or a couple of vintage hats waiting to be found. There are no guarantees in this business.

But I've had good luck in Billings in the past. There are a number of antique shops, thrift stores, secondhand stores and the like, and I usually get lucky at at least one or two. This past weekend, one of the larger antique malls was having an outdoor antique fair, with its craigslist ad touting 70 vendors. It was enough to hopefully tip the odds in my favor.

My girlfriend, Alex, and I drove out Friday night so that we could get an early start so we could be back in Bozeman before the sun started to set. We stayed at a charming 1950s motor court, the Dude Rancher Lodge. Neon, knotty pine and exposed beam ceilings combined with recent western themed carpets and brand wall hangings courtesy an appearance on "Hotel Impossible" several years ago, made for a charming place to stay. Full of character, it was way more fun than a chain motel, and just the right kind of place for vintage people like us.



We made it to the fair a little later than we had hoped, it turned out that in Billings on a Saturday morning, everyone goes out for breakfast, and lined stretched out the door of everyplace good or interesting. I went against every fiber of my being and went to the practically deserted Denny's for a generic breakfast. I think that might have cancelled out the "shop local" cred the Dude Rancher got me. Oh well. There was a lot of re-purposed, re-painted, hand-made, shabby chic type of antiques at the fair, but also a few gems to be had. Afterward, we hit up the aforementioned antique shops in downtown Billings and a few of the thrifts. Here are a few of the neat things I spotted, but didn't buy. It seemed like I was tripping over vintage hats and vintage neckties at every step, but I have to be selective. The market is really down on the more mundane patterns of 1940s ties, so even at the reasonable $6 a piece that one vendor was asking, there's no way for me to make any money from that, so I let probably 30-some of them sit. Same with hats- below a certain size or a certain brim length, there's such limited demand.


Things survive in Billings. It's a good town for lovers of vintage. Neon signs, ghost signs, architecture.


After a long day of hunting, I managed to find a good sized cache of vintage hats, most of which were originally sold within a few miles of where I found them. But for me, the real treat was that leather jacket. They're all over the internet, but it's getting harder and harder to find "out in the wild". And this one's a real beauty. Great patina and a rare model. I'd love to know who wore it some 60 odd years ago, but I can say that it's pretty likely they rode a Harley in Billings.


Here's the full haul all cleaned up and photographed.

 

[Dinerman]

In the latest post, the layer under my coat is a tweed jacket made by Messagerie. The coat itself is RRL, as is the shirt. The hat's an old Banana Republic and the jeans are LVC. An all repro ensemble- Ha!


The vest from a couple pages back with the horn toggle closure is a blanket stripe made for Banana Republic as part of their defunct "Cabinwear" line.

 

[RBH]

Nice!!!

 

[Dinerman]

After a few near misses, I found a bus that feels right and bought it yesterday. I'll convert this for next summer's extended road tripping.

 

[BobHufford]

Congrats! You are probably going to need a roof rack ... and a cargo trailer.

 

[Dinerman]

With my architecture thesis research submitted and the semester over for both of us, Alex and I made a quick trip to the shops around town. I found a beat-up old canvas duster, a pair of '30s sunglasses and a book for myself. In other news, I've started stripping the seats out of the bus and designing the interior.

Here are some shots from this latest mini-excursion.

 

[RBH]

I am looking forward to seeing your bus conversion.
With some of the things you find on your trips I am sure you will 'deck' it out really cool!

 

[RJR]

Really cool pics,dinerman.

 

[Dinerman]

On the road in California- will be posting more in the next couple of days.

 

[1mach1]

Love those old signs DM. One of my favorite things.

 

[dh66]

Yes, great sign pics! Good luck and stay safe.

Sent from my XT1030 using Tapatalk

 

[Dinerman]

Some more neon, San Francisco.

 

[Samuel]

Very cool, looks and feels already like a "reality TV" show in the making. I shop vicariously through you now.

 

[Dinerman]

Very cool, looks and feels already like a "reality TV" show in the making. I shop vicariously through you now.

That was very close to happening this past summer.

 

[Samuel]

That was very close to happening this past summer.

Make it happen because I think it an interesting concept especially for men's fashion; which we see very little representation out there in the media. Secondly, the vintage angle seems to be in, I believe you'll have plenty of support....