I don't know why it took me so long to find this shop, its completely awesome. Based in Brooklyn NY, this shop has a manly mix of preppy vintage clothes, collectibles, technology, and home goods.

Some of my favorites:

Lacoste Harrington Jacket

Motocross Toolbox

Kitchen Scale

You can follow the exploits of Brian, and Wooden Sleepers on his twitter page.

In the last two weeks I’ve added two pretty spectacular fans to my collection, a Kenmore 124.8055 and a Westinghouse 16SD4. The Kenmore is a little floor fan with a industrial art deco get up, that reminds me of something from Batman: The Animated Series.

I was pondering a couple days back how I would depict my home décor taste, and I came up with something I’d like to share. My home decor tastes are as follows: primitive Americana with a shot of Wisconsin basement chic, and a shotgun blast of the film noir- art deco- atomic age styling of Batman: The Animated Series. God I love that show, love like, I bought all the seasons on DVD, and make my kids watch it with me. Anyways back to the fans.

The second fan, the Westinghouse, is the first fan I’ve owned that is truthfully silent. If you have the occasion, go find an antique fan forum, and at least one thread will be a bunch of dudes in disagreement about just how silent is which and what model. It’s actually a little frightening how noiseless it is, you feel the gust throughout the room, the overhead light is swaying, and pictures frames are lifting off the wall, all in complete silence; they don’t make em’ like they use to.

You may have noticed the Westinghouse is taken apart a bit, it still needs some more cleaning, and I’m going to be painting the cage and the blades. I’m going to keep the cage white, and maybe a light blue for the blades? What color would you do? Please tell.

Ha, and when I say collection I mean stock, just about everything in my life is for sale right now, the Kenmore will be hitting my Etsy shop tonight.

BackGarage's Etsy shop has been off the chain of late. I strongly recommend you check it out.

The good stuff moves fast, like this vintage Don Post Studios werewolf mask.

I've already put it to some good use. here. here.

I’ve grown to be pretty mechanical in my buying and selling of vintage merchandise; I’ll make a swift walk in, assess the situation, narrow in on what catches my eye, acquire it, get the pictures completed, list it, and stockpile it in the many places around the apartment or in storage.

Also thanks to this blog and the painful art of listing, my knack for some creative writing is slowly returning. Listing on Etsy has become a cinch, and lately I’ll have an entire post in my head as early as walking up to check the price tag on something. This whole process just happened this past Saturday at a church flea market in Lyons when I spotted this 1950’s-60’s typewriter.

“Mid-Century typewriter- excellent condition. Only $5, would be an easy flip.”

Then I saw the “Made in Bulgaria”, which gave me all I needed for my ridiculous one-liners that have been accompanying my Etsy listings. “1950’s Bulgaria. Commies. The perfect typewriter to hole up in your attic and write some subversive literature- Yeah that’ll work. Easy $40 or more”

Then at home while taking measurements, weight, and checking for any flaws worth mentioning I came across this sheet of paper located in the convenient paper slot inside the typewriter case . (ink is faint, click to super size!)

Then this.

“Oh man Laura Neumann you communist SOB.”

Then. Vintage Euphoria.

Occasionally an item itself will floor you, but often it’s the weird things; the receipts, to do lists, the notes to themselves or their children. While you would never purchase these little things themselves, when found become far more valuable than the purchase or even the resale value of the item. The things they would never want anyone, especially the FBI, to see.

This is why I go through other peoples crap on my free time. Priceless.

Now is the time for for all good men to come to the aid of their party.

Now is the time for for all good men to come to the aid of their party.

Now is the time for for all good men to come to the aid of their party.

UPDATE!!!: Well it turns out the phrase above was a popular typing phrase alongside “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog”. It originated in 1867 in some podunk town in Wisconsin. Still interesting...and...Laura Neumann is still a communist SOB.

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I've been told not to dump on other etsy sellers. After all, its bad form, and karma, and dogma, and whatever. I mean, I wouldn't want anyone mocking the stupid crap I sell. However, there's something so offensive to me about an item like the following that I can't even really use words to describe it. Okay, I'll use words, and English ones, at that. (This item, btw, was found on the first page of the "for him" page of etsy. You know, the page of items that aren't actually masculine but are reminiscent of something that the unpaid intern at etsy remembers boys liking from, like, her, um, youth.)

Let's open with the item as its portrayed on the "for men" page:

This "thing" is called a "sars guard". You know, to guard you from sars! If they were being honest they'd call it a "getting respect from other humans guard!!!"

Let's do the Eiffel tower of VIRGINITY!

Boo! I'm wearing perve glasses!

even more hilarious stuff for dudes from the same seller

I was browsing Etsy the other day when I came across a really cool shop, Junkyardfinds. It was filled with retro swanky clocks from the 70s, car ephemera, and very surprising but completely neat, two sets of Fleer 1988 baseball cards. Not what you'd expect on Etsy, and probably not a big seller, but the definition of nostalgic for me.

Much to my surprise, this sweet shop is curated by a dude. And what a cool dude he is. So I reached out to him and asked him some questions about his shop, collecting vintage items, and Etsy selling in general. He responded. Thus is the power of the internets. I hope to make this sort of thing a regular column here on manlyvintage.

Jayson: How long have you been into vintage? Is this a recent thing, or is it something you've been doing for a while?

Junkyardfinds: I started loving vintage things at a young age but really got into the last 4 years when I moved into my own house. It's how I have filled every inch of our home. Inside and outside. And garage.

Jayson: How would you describe your style?

Junkyardfinds: I like things from a lot of different eras. I guess I haven’t really put a lot of thought into defining my style.

Jayson: You're from Olympia? What are some good spots to find stuff in that area?

Junkyardfinds: Olympia is a fabulous place to find vintage treasures. Estate sales are my favorite places to pick up these items but I often thrift and garage sale. I mostly got to the Goodwills in the Southsound area. I go with my girlfriend often. We like different things so it’s nice to have another person to spot the goods. We go every weekend and sometimes on the week nights as well. St. Vincent De Paul is one of the best places in the world to thrift also.

Jayson: I see you have a lot of cameras and clocks in your shop.

Junkyardfinds: Old clocks and cameras have always caught my attention. I think its vintage electronics in general. It’s amazing to see how technology progresses and its fun to hold onto the obsolete. I feel like vintage things have a lot more style and class than current mass produced items.

Jayson: How did you get into selling on etsy?

Junkyardfinds: I first heard of Etsy from some roommates awhile ago but jumped into selling when my girlfriend's shop got bigger. Her shop is AubieJeanVintage, please check it out. She has cameras all over the house and most have not even been listed yet.

Jayson: So what's the coolest thing you've found?

Junkyardfinds: Man, there have been so many, but one that pops into my head immediately are the really rare Polaroids I have come across. I have also found some gnomes that I have in my yard. My favorite items, however, are old Volkswagen memorabilia.

Jayson: So do you think the demand for vintage polaraoids are going to go up, now that they've announced they're going to put out new film? Personally, I'm going to stock up.

Junkyardfinds: I have been anticipating the rise in interest of the Polaroids once the film comes out and have STOCKED UP! I look forward to being able to offer a large variety of them and am going to also offer international shipping.

Jayson: They're pretty hard to find in Chicago. I found one at an estate sale for 3.50 in the original box and with 10 shot of unopened film. Sold RIGHT away.

Junkyardfinds: That is a great deal. My favorite thing is to find items with their original package, manual, and tags.

Jayson: I have to say that my favorite item in your store is the baseball cards. They remind me of being a kid so much I almost bought them! Tell me about those.

Junkyardfinds: I'm glad you like them. I found these at an estate sale, it was three generations worth of belongings and these were in the attic. My dad and I collected baseball cards when I was a boy so I have always kept my eye out for them. When I found these, I was really excited that they were unopened and still had the sticker seal. I couldn't keep myself from opening one of the boxes! I am not sure that Etsy is the place for baseball cards yet...

Jayson: I agree. There are some things you can put in your shop that look cool but without the thought that they’ll sell. But with a 20 cent listing fee, “Hey, Why not!?”

Junkyardfinds: I agree with that 100% It makes things interesting and I love having variety! I have found that diversifying your shop broadens your customer base.

Jayson: what are your thoughts about pricing on etsy? I have had arguments with my friends about this. Some people say that if you price things too low, people will think they're cheap.

Junkyardfinds: I agree with that. I think that pricing our items is a tricky thing. You have to be able to know what value other people will put on the item. It seems like some Etsy sellers are biased by their own love for the item so the prices are much higher than the average person would be willing to pay. But I guess thats the beauty of having your own business. Sometimes I find a really great deal on an item on Etsy and I am so excited to get a great deal. With most things, I don't see the item as being cheap or less quality just because of the price. I think it also depends on what you are shopping for. Like with clothes or jewelry, customers would probably be more likely to shop with the more expensive place in an effort to go with the higher quality merchandise.

Alright then, let's take a look-see.
Old school trucker cap $5
For 3 bucks who doesn't want to be a top 100 operator.
Every guy needs a small collection of lumberjack flannels. $11
Nothing gets me more riled up about the cold front coming in than knowing I can wear my vintage outdoor vest everyday till spring comes around. Keeps that ol' middle area warm, makes ya look tough, and provides to huge front pockets for all your goods. $10

One pair of black jeans. Keep it simple stupid. $30
So it says Larry on it?? Just stay south of Diversey and west of Damen and nobody will get the wrong idea. unless........$5
In high school I wore some Chucks, wool socks, and plastic bags on my feet and I kid you not, a warmer combination you couldn't find in $200 boots. $8
Sorry no Chucks. These boots won't set you back a bit, coming in a $20. Hand stitched to perfection.

If you're not keeping track we are at $92. Shockingly I could not find any used, vintage underwear. I mean who wouldn't want some nicely worn in........anyways. Well I found a pattern for boxers that will bring us in for a quiet landing on $100. Get the wife to whip up some of these badboys and you're good to go. peace.

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This company has some seriously sweet vintage designs.

Every vintage loving house needs at least one of these baddass westclox clocks. They're ubiquitous and awesome all at the same time.

If you want to know more about how to search for some really cool vintage but albeit spage age clocks check this article on backgarage.

There are tons to find on ebay, but I found all of these suckers on Etsy:

Westclox vintage clocks on etsy

1. Vintage 50s Red Electric Wall Clock by Westclox

2. Retro Electric Alarm Clock by Westclox

3. Westclox Time and Date Flip Clock

4. Westclox Electric Clock

5. Double face Westclox Electric Clock

6. Vintage Westclox Electric Bedside Alarm Clock