Worth Every Penny: State Bicycles

Readers may remember that Mrs. G and I had our bikes stolen by a trio of wretched fiends last Fall. Shortly thereafter I managed to piece together an English three speed from the components of a pair of such bikes. Ye Olde Raleigh looked good, had vintage appeal, and was serviceable.Best of all, I could ride it in a jacket and tie. But still....

I missed my old fixed gear bike, like hell actually. At my age (37), it's a tough thing to talk about with people given the obnoxious "hipster" connotations associated with such a bike. Admittedly, at the age of about 22 when I first learned to ride fixed, it had more to with aesthetics and "street cred" (how I hate that term) than anything. I can admit that, because at 22 the opinions of others matter more to most people. But as I get older, I thankfully outgrow the obsessions of my youth, which in most cases leads to better things informed by the spirit of that which came before. Still, fixed gear bikes are hard to "outgrow". It;s a totally different way of riding a bike, and after fifteen years of practice one not only gets used to it, but prefers it. Imagine driving stick all your life and then being compelled to drive automatic. It's like that, but with bikes.

I recently received a new bike I ordered online from State Bicycle of Tempe, Arizona. As someone who built most of his bikes from collected parts, I was leery in general of a store bought complete bike, even more so of buying one online. But the word was good about State Bike, the bikes looked sharp (important) and at $429 with free shipping, the price was right, so I bit. I may not have outgrown my fixed gear obsession, but I have definitely outgrown my aversion to the convenience of buying a new bike in ready to ride condition. Besides, at 22 I never had that much money at once. Age has it's advantages, too.

The bike arrived via UPS in about a week, in 3/4 assembled condition. It only took me about ten minutes to attach the handlebars, pedal, seat, and front wheel. The tires came about half inflated, but in no time I was off and running. State bikes aren't the lightest in the world at about 20 lbs, but that is not a complaint. The steel frame rides easy and handles the bumps and holes the city throws at me. The geometry is set perfectly for street riding, not as tight as a track frame. In fact, it feels as close to my old modified Fuji road bike as any thing could. Painted matte black with no decals save one fairly handsome logo on the head tube. Should dress up nicely with a brown leather saddle, cork grips and a wire basket.

True, it doesn't have a beautiful old style lugged frame like my Fuji did, but the welds are clean and low profile. I think I can live with it. If it can help me lose a few of the pounds I've gained spending way too much time driving around in a car, I'll take it.

It even looks right at home hanging out in my Shop, an important consideration.

For those of you not into fixed gear, they also offer a pretty sharp looking single speed called the "Saturday Bike", with bonus points for having a chain guard and an old style quill stem. At $429 shipped and in my house in a week, State Bicycle is worth every penny.

p.s. I'm keeping the old Raleigh. It has it's moments.

p.p.s. I initially went to my favorite local bike shop to get a new bike, a practice I fully recommend. After perusing their website and deciding on what to buy, I went in with money to spend. Unfortunately, the fellow who "helped" me repeatedly said I was "too old" for fixed gear, insisted on showing me bikes I didn't want, and then flat out refused to sell me the one I did want because, according to him, I'm an "over the hill hipster" and I need to "grow up"  ( quotes because those are his actual words. Imagine it).  Little did he know he was talking to the world's youngest old fart. Somebody needs to teach that guy that sometimes good customer service is giving advice and educating customers, but sometimes it's keeping your mouth shut and just taking the money. Knowing the difference is the trick. I suppose he was trying to be sarcastic or funny or something. Jokes on him, my money went elsewhere.

Worth Every Penny: Dente's Barber Shop

And speaking of manly hipster beard stuff.....

I like a good haircut, simple and old fashioned. I don't have any especially difficult instructions when I get a haircut, but I do like it to be neat and clean. These days, what you might call "barber shop culture" has become quite hip, and that's fine if it gets young guys into it. You know the stuff: straight razor shaves, clean haircuts with sharp side parts, bay rum aftershave. etc. It's all good stuff, but it can come with a pretty big "street cred" premium. Lucky for me, Dente's Barber Shop in Davis Square, Somerville, Mass. offers all these things too. The difference is that it's honest, and I don't have to pay double for a barber with a handle bar mustache and tattoos wearing $400 Japanese selvedge denim jeans. 

Dente's Barber Shop offers these services not because they're cashing in on a hipster trend, but simply because it's what they do. Operating in one form or another for nearly 100 years in practically the same location, Dente's has been a family business the whole time. Currently run by brothers Ernest and Anthony Saccoccio and their mother Elizabeth, Dente's may not be the most hiply decorated place, but it's without a doubt the most honest and real barber shop I've seen. That's why it's been my regular place for the past twenty years.

Red Sox and Bruins photos line the walls, sports on the t.v., and generally classic rock on the FM radio. No frills, no bullsh*t, just barber shop. I've been getting my hair cut there since high school. My grandfather used to get his hair cut there, every two weeks. Back then, English was rarely heard in the place, only the Italian of the old men who gathered there as much for the social interaction as the haircuts. Hell, half those guys were bald anyway. These day's, it's a younger crowd, but the comfortable atmosphere and affordable prices remain.

Cheap and quality, my favorite combination in any number of things. They even offer the "shape up", a quick clean up trim between full haircuts, for half price.

Old style tools, on vintage 1940s chrome cabinets. You can't fake that.

Plenty of hot towels on hand for your straight razor shave. Ernest is definitely the guy to see for shaves, but you might want to book an appointment. He works slow and carefully, taking a half an hour or more. It's relaxing, so be careful not to doze off in the chair. And don't plan on doing anything important afterwards. You won't want to go to work after that.

These guys get busy, but they move the lines pretty quick. If you do have to wait, and you don't feel like staring into your phone playing candy crush, there are plenty of dude magazine to look at, only slightly out of date. 

If you're in the neighborhood, stop in for a haircut. Located right around the corner from my own shop, you could spend a nice afternoon visiting both places.If you do drag you girlfriend/wife with you, both places have comfortable "girlfriend" chairs, but Davis Square has plenty for her to do too.

A shave and a  haircut at Dente's may cost a little more than two bits, but it's worth every penny. 

Dente's Barber Shop

471 Highland Avenue

Somerville, MA, 02144

www.dentesbarbershop.com

Upgrades and Improvements

The trouble over what to do with my new but stinky Eastland camp mocs has been solved, and wonderfully at that.

That's what these shoes should have looked like all along. Firstly, allow me to correct some of my misused terminology from the original post discussing these shoes.(thanks to Derek Guy for his recent informative glossary of shoe terminology at Put This On) I mentioned the importance of leather linings, but what I really meant was leather insoles. These shoes are in fact unlined, which is a major reason why they are so comfortable worn without socks. It was the insoles that were made of an awful, sweat-producing, stink-absorbing synthetic.

Acting on the sound advice of reader Mr. Midwester, I purchased two pair of Pedag insoles. They're made of soft pig skin leather, with a odor fighting carbon layer underneath. I bought mine a bit big an trimmed the ends, to ensure a snug fit. They are soft and comfortable, and after a full days wear in warm weather, did not make my feet sweat too much or stink. This one simple fix has upped the game for these shoes. As I said before, the leather and construction are of very good quality, despite perhaps their overseas provenance. The only drawback was the insoles, cheapening the shoe and rendering them practically unwearable. Problem solved. Frankly, I don;t know why Eastland wouldn't just produce the shoes with an insole like this in the first place. The shoes just seem more "right" now.

At $12.87/ pair on Amazon, these are definitely worth every penny. I bought two pair, the second of which will go in a pair of Chuck Taylor's as soon as I purchase them. Converse used to use a cotton insole in the old days, and I had no problems. Years back they switched to a synthetic, and the stink became unmanageable, and I haven't bought a new pair in years as a result. These Pedag insoles just changed that.

An easy upgrade and improvement, knowing about these can open up options in shoes you might not knew you had.

p.s. new stuff in the Shop.

Worth Every Penny : Newton Street Vintage

Zach of Newton Street Vintage and I make a pretty good team when it comes to putting together a 10x10 pseudo shop under a tent in a parking lot.

Evidence of this fact can be found in the fact that the two of us can't work together without either one taking home some piece of the other guys stash. Sometimes we buy, sometimes we trade, but we never walk away from one another empty handed. This outing proved no different, as I found myself making room for what may be the best cold weather suit I've owned yet:

Trad/Ivy/Preppy authentic, well-curated vintage heritage Americana, or whatever the semantics police would have us call it now, is played in spades in this old charcoal pinstripe suit. Natural, nearly un-padded shoulders, no darts, 3/2 roll...all the details, all rendered in the kind of thick but soft sturdy cloth that barely exists anymore in the world of ready made clothing.

The extra high third buttonhole, right in line with the breast pocket, age this one solidly in the late 1950s/ early 1960s. The stripes are not-quite-white. That's a huge bonus for me. I rarely wear black shoes, and will likely never wear this business suit in a business setting, so those tan stripes ought to work nicely with my near fetishistic collection of brown shoes, most especially cordovan longwings and tassel loafers.

Despite the weight of the cloth, the coat is "skeleton lined" only at the shoulders. The more I learn about clothing, the less I appreciate a fully lined jacket.

A note on button holes: the best of the old jackets had four button holes, evenly spaced. Don't forget that the coveted "3/2 roll" is a derivative of the old tunic cut military uniforms, not just a fashion detail. Note also how the buttons are sewn on a full half inch from the edge of the coat.  This is a sturdy garment meant to last a long time, not a fashionable thing meant to work for a year or two. Likely 60 years old, I just got it, and intend to see at least ten Winters use from it. No doubt I will.

The previous owner had the pants let out...all the way out...so much so that some extremely talented tailor in the alterations department built this gusset in the back from scrap cloth rescued from elsewhere in the suit. I'll have them taken in, but it's almost a shame to destroy that gusset.

From, as you may by now have guessed, the High Holy Brothers, back when the Brothers were all High and Holy.

As I stated at the start, I got this one in trade, for a bottle green blazer by J. Press, a vintage tweed jacket, and a pair of tan gabardine slacks with side tabs and forward pleats by Ralph Lauren Purple Label. Fair enough. Had I paid the $125 it was priced, it still would have been worth every penny.  Think of the kind of junk you would have to settle for on sale at Marshall's for that price.
Vintage clothing, whether found for pennies at a thrift shop or bought at a fair price from a well respected seller, is usually worth every penny.

Worth Every Penny: Marimekko Ties at the Andover Shop

Before we begin, allow me to give some credit where credit is due. My friend Zach has been working at the Andover Shop for a few weeks now. He put me wise to these Marimekko ties recently, and beat me to the punch in mentioning them first. I can't help but add my two cents.

Readers may note that our man Tin Tin recently had a pair of fully fabulous trousers made of the same cloth, slevedge and all. When I heard that the rest of the bolt, and a number of other knock-out Marimekko bolts, ahd been hand made into ties in New York especially, and only, for the Andover Shop, I was sold. I went down to see them in person.

Because the scale of the Marimekko prints is so large, even ties cut from the same cloth are all completely unique. 3 inches wide, untipped, handsewn...because old Charlie knows whats good and whats hip. He's the ultimate designer...because he is not a designer.



Note the yellow thread at the edges...knockout punch. Available in a variety of prints, each tie is one of a kind. So mod, so jazz, so Andover Shop.

These ties are priced $85 each, $42.50 in the 1/2 price Sumer sale. Perhaps a pinch pricey for any old cotton tie, but wirth every penny for a limited run piece of art like this.

p.s. while it is true that I think this tie is worth every penny of $85, and a deal at $42.50, in the interest of full disclosure, I inform you that this was the generous gift of Mr. Charlie Davidson himself. So flattered.

p.p.s I put it on right there in the store, a perfect match with yesterdays ensemble.: