LACASAPARK » Vintage

Chasing the Autumn! North Fork, New York

jaehee — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 05:47:56 +0000

Beautiful Sunday morning at Orient State Park, North Fork, New York

After many of quite dreadful humid and wet September days for New York to prep crisp real Autumn, this was maybe the first truly gorgeous weekend weathers we had! It was dry and warm yet accompanied by cool clean air to compliment spotless amazing perfect blue sky! The Autumn has officially kicked off! Still in a half sleep in the bed Saturday morning, we could see gorgeous sun coming through our bedroom window’s grainy blinders… The sliver of warm sun light was just enough to make us jump out of the bed and just take off to be out of the city! And where we are heading to? North Fork in Long Island, NY!

Just one briskly packed small bag for all of us, we are excite to explore North Fork! It’s our very first time and all I knew was there are many mini vineyards lined up. Yes, some wine tasting, good food and pick up couple of fresh corns… Hopefully we can stumble into a cozy B&B tucked in somewhere. It all sounds good to my soul and my belly! It’s going to be a heck of good weekend!

About little over 2 hours, we are getting into the beginning of North Fork. What can we say…. It got Surf and Turf kind of thing going on here in North Fork. I know we are near the ocean and I see ton of handsome pumpkin farms, small yet swanky vineyards already starting from the very beginning. We know we are really going to like here. Above is a back yard at ” Material Object“, a home furnishing and wine related object store in Jamesport. This 1870’s farm house converted into wine tasting and home decor shop sure shows envious eclectic taste of the shop owner. The natural light filled space is to die for!

The Main house of Material Object, The picture can’t justify the actual space. Here only showing a fraction of entire house. Everything you see here is for sale.

The Barn house/ Cottage like second home which is set back. This felt like a newly built with much charm. But Not the original structure.

Arriving at Greenport. Almost the end of North Fork. It’s a real cute town with many good restaurants, antique and vintage shops as well as oyster and lobster shacks by the water! Here we are chasing early fall but boy I have to say we just can’t complain about warm sun on your back and perfect breeze! It feels sort of early summer and early fall at the same time!

Claudio’s restaurant was opened back in 1870’s! There’s the main one on the main street and also 2 clam bars right by the water. Bit touristy but all good here.

Yeap! It sounds perfect! Lobster roll anyone? It’s already Lunch time!

Hmmm choices choices…

OK waiting for our number to be called. We are at # 2 Clam bar of Claudio’s. This place is run by self service and there’s no live band playing ( sort of wedding band, Haha!) Which we consider as a good thing.

Both are $29.95 plates. Not so cheap. Skip the fake butter, Who needs it? Cole slaw, I always love! Lemon works for anything.

Gael’s too busy eating his creamy clam chowder!

After lunch town strolling begins.

The Greenport town has a good mix of old and new including a tiny Greenport jail ( not pictured..)! It’s charming and not touched by big chain stores yet. There’s a Calypso boutique as far as a known brand shop. No Starbucks or Ben & Jerry’s. Instead there’s ” Sand pipe Ice cream shop” where I had the best ice cream in entire US for only 4 bucks! Maple syrup Walnut and Vanilla black cherries. Yum!

This is The best vintage and antique shop in Greenport! Beall & Bell, 430 Main Street. Right items at right prices. We saw some of the best pieces here!

This old School gym acrobat pads were sold! I was happy that quite many pieces in the shop are marked as sold! Which means we are in the right place! How good are these? Emi had a great idea! One of these would easily doll up your bed as a head board. Especially for guys, that’s awesome I think!

One next to the Beall & Bell. This one also sells home furnishing materials such as textiles and things.

After we checked in at our motel ( yes everything was booked and we were lucky to find quite lovely and affordable motel right outside of downtown Greenport), we came to restaurant, Noah’s for dinner. It’s not the high season since it is already October, but you want to make reservations ahead for better and really good restaurants in Greenport. They get booked up fast. Literally any restaurants in the town will have a some sort of raw bar going on and also good seafood dishes. We wanted to check out Frisky Oyster, but it was too late by the time we called for the reservation. Bit old school and bit groovy here with hefty price tags. We quite enjoyed our meal at Noah’s as they offer many great small dishes are not actually that small. You could call it generously portioned tapas of seafood, great salad and meat bites. We ended up having 5 small dishes and 2 bottles of local 2010 Chardonnay, ” Bedell” from one of the North Fork’s wineries, Bedell . It reminded me of Sauvignon Blanc, Oyster bay from New Zealand.

Now Sunday morning, We are at Orient Beach State Park in North Fork, a short car ride from Greenport! Water’s quite amazing here!

You will see lagoons and ocean everywhere in North Fork. It’s really beautiful!

Running me, Emi and Gael.

Nice run, shower and pack and we go. Here we are at one of farm stand on the road.

Gael loves to shop produces. He loves to touch and smell them. We were peeking inside to see they are full and healthy. And these corns are so sweet and juicy! We also like them raw!

These are called MUMs and they are cheap. 3 mums for $12!

And we didn’t skip one thing! Now checking out a few antique store by the road. We scored a real cute picnic basket filled with 4 of wine glasses, silver wear, plates, cheese knife and wooden cutting board and wool matching blanket to the plaid liner of the basket, probably never used before. All these for $30! Now, that’s a good deal!

I always like these!

Honestly, we were bit tip toeing around the wine tasting as we realized there are hundreds of wineries in North Fork area! Then after the last antique shop we stopped in, we saw the sign if ” Bedell” winery. We love the Chardonnay from them last night! So here we are we are stopping in.

It looks sort of Nespresso shop.

It’s about noon. There are lot of people tasting wine. We realized most of wineries here has small Raw bar. Mostly Clams and Oysters.

Live Jazz is not so bad!

It feels like we are in Napa!

You can also bring your own food and just hang out here with some wine from the winery. It”s a perfect day to do it! I mean look at that sky!

You will find these many little lovely trails that connects to vineyards or the beach in North Fork. So charming!

It was the perfect 2 day getaway to truly enjoy beautiful sun, last minute lingering lovely summer but surely it was beginning of Autumn for us. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and if you like to get out of city a little, try North Fork! It is a real little gem that has little of everything you can taste what water and the land can offer!

LOvE North Fork!

Portobello Market, Notting hill, London

jaehee — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 03:28:32 +0000

From a fur jacket to sandwiches to cheap and cheerful Kate and William’s lovely portrait pins, at Portobello market, it’s impossible for one to walk out the market empty handed!

Sorry readers, I have been bit consumed with work for last few weekends in a row, postings have not been so often enough, but I just can’t miss posting the Portobello Market in London! This was my second time and it did not disappoint me as there are mixed thoughts about the market especially ones in fashion world but actually only thought I had was I should have been there earlier like 7:00 am not 11:00 am and I wished I spent the whole day at the market to brows, taste, try on and bargain! It does get really packed before the noon already but the crowd quite behaved I think. No pushing or mean talks to ones ahead of you, but I did hear about pick pocketing, so watch out with your bags if you are there.

Portobello market has quite loaded history as the Market started in 19th century as a fresh food market and even today, the food section of the market is quite dominant and packed with quality street food to fresh produce. Then 1940’s Antique dealers have arrived to the market and it has continued to now drawing tons of people to every Saturday’s Antique market. The entire market runs from the north terminus at Golborne Road to very south end at more up-scaled Westbourne Grove occupying about 0.58 mile long street of swanky Notting Hill area. I highly recommend you to continue on to very north end of the market Golborne Road as there are very much eclectic mix of very good vintage shops, antique & mid century dealers as well as good amount of Moroccan community well established on that strip of road with food markets, street food car and bars in a bit more down to earth residential setting.

Now come stroll with me much famous Portobello market!

The market entrance. Shops to the left and tents with vendors are lined up along the Portobello road.

Anything works here in the market. But the Fur is maybe the one you may consider to buy. So many good options!

There are quite many vintage clothing vendors at south end. Not so hip but good furs again. It”s also pricier than the north end of the market where you get broader selection of vintage for both men and women.

and Ton of vintage bags!

Here’s my tourist moment!

Now the food market starts!

Yummy pastries!

Sea of Keish!

I have to say people eat about the same wherever you go….

OK These chicken bits smelled Soooooo goooood! No I didn’t stop for any food at the market this time… But next time, I will!

All right, one more look from a different angle. And sure it smelled still good!

A little quiet moment off the Portobello road. So pretty and bit Brooklyn here.

The food section ends and there will be a short moment of ” Whatever works” section, a sort of 99 cent store on your block.

OK now, for me the real deal of the market actually starts at the very end of the market. When you pass about half mile long of antique, food and chachkies you will come to a small square under a bridge where there are great small vendors all get together and sell interesting vintages showing off their own individual great styles! They are all friendly and super hip. Take your time and chat with them. They may tell you maybe the best kept secret to go out and eat in London. Don’t forget to keep walking toward the north end toward the Golborne Road!

See that’s the spirit I like! One of cool vendors celebrating his birthday with others at the market!

Another gentleman with a cool vintage Pea number!

After the market ends, you will encounter with many little cute bars, restaurants and vintage shops. And they go on for a while.

Yeap this one is a real good one! Ton of vintage boots, jackets and fur coats.

A great textile shop with their own small line of cashmere, wool, silk blankets. I love this shop!

So now we are at Golborne road. The frist shop we walked in had this amazing original Venini’s glass lamps from 70’s. The owner had about 6-7 of them. All identical. Each costs about $2400.

You can find really handsome furnitures here at Golborne road… Or is it maybe just being in London…

One next to another, there are good numbers of great antique furniture and interior shops on Golborne.

Awesome building and an iconic London vintage shop, Rellik. There are many design vintage pieces from the 80’s.

The lovely shop owner of a progressive clothing shop, Convenience.

Ahhh I so wish I had more time at the market and really dug into it. But a sweet half day of visit surely gave me a good idea of what I need to do better the next time. I really feel people in London are really friendly. More than the New Yorkers I have to say! I have had many small mini chats with many peeps at shops, streets and the market, and they all seem so lovely. So many people admired my tan from vacation in Puglia, Italy. You know how notorious London’s gloomy weather but we only had one short shower the last day at London so we were very lucky as I remember it rained quite a bit the last time. I forgot how incredible London is and it totally reminded me of Alexander McQueen Exhibition at Met in NY. He absolutely loved and was always so proud of where he came from. Great London!

LOvE London!

Brooklyn: New Heaven for Fleaing!

jaehee — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 21:06:46 +0000

A new handsome home for “Artists & Fleas” in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. North 7 between Whythe and Kent.

So I’ll say the real golden time for the Flea markets in NYC was then about 10-15 years ago when Manhattan was still managing some low rises and a few empty lots including outdoor parking lots near Chelsea. Remember the big parking lot with $1.00 admission? It was real chilled and cool same time with ton of vendors bragging awesome mint condition vintage clothing’s picked out from some old ladies’ closets from the upstate NY or kicking mid century Danish numbers or Art deco pieces under the beautiful summer sky of sexy Manhattan Island. We always spotted John Galiano in his acid wash disco jean or Anna Sui in her blacker than black bangs and her whimsical yet dark outfits. I learned how petite the designer Alaia was then while I was trying on this big 70’s Miami floral floor length caftan over my shorts and a tank top. Every Saturday was me, Jaehee day spending pretty much an entire day browsing, trying on and bargaining on pair of little heels or cutest sun dresses. Ahhhh I loved it sooo Much!!! Also then vintages were that much younger so they were in better condition. My impressive collection of vintage clothing had really started then. I just loved it all.

When Millennium arrived, things started changing. NYC went crazy riding on so called ” Luxury Condo” business buying up all the empty lots including my beloved weekend flea lots. Ahhh… So disappointing and heart breaking. Ugliness of Home Depot tasted not so luxury buildings were coming in pushing away charming and fun filled such NY things away. There’s still one left inside of parking place called ” The Garage” on 25th street on Sundays in Chelsea area still keeping the tradition in authentic styles and vibe. Then Hell’s Kitchen and all others started but they are just not the same at all. But today is bit different. Manhattan being over developped in general forces to find alaternatives outside of the city. The answer? It’s Brooklyn. Housing, Restaurants, Art, Music and Flea Markets. Young, talented and broke handsome people of city started flowing into down town Brooklyn like Fort Greene and Williamsberg from lower east side and east village. Bettern rent and less compettition brought in new kind of mainds and brains for new food culture in Brooklyn. There are so much more undergournd scenes in Brookly now especialy for fashion and music which goes side by side. Things are ineterstin ghere in Brooklyn. And that includes also Flea markets and vinatage shops!

Artists & Fleas houses many independent designers and numerous excellent vintage vendors. This one above I love! It’s very Janis Joplin from the 70’s. Hippie, Rock and Roll and bit of Voo-doo all mixed in. This booth is located right by the entrace to your right hand side.

Then there is a New home for Sunday portion of famous and beloved ” Brooklyn FLea” also in Williamsberg right by the “Artist & Fleas”. North 6 between Kent and East river. Below, one of over 300 vendors at the Brooklyn Flea. You will also find him on Saturday Brooklyn Flea at Fort Greene, Layfayette between Flermont and Venderbuilt.

Yummmm! The Porchetta Sandwich guys at Saturday Brooklyn Flea. And here check out the vendor list.

Then there are Vintage shops in Brooklyn. Many. There are many especially in Park Slope now! Check out “ Guvnor’s” on 5th avenue between Lincoln and Berkeley, Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Love the shop. It’s small L.A in Brooklyn! Two vintage motos welcome you at the entrance.

Here at Govnor’s, you will find equal amount of boys and girls vintages complete down to accessories.

Just about a block away from the Govnor’s, there is ” Odd Twins” more of feminine version with bit flea market vibe. Check it out!

Hey there will be a party at Odd Twin on April 15th celebrating their 2 year anniversary. Free beer and a live band!

By the way, nice floor at the Odd Twin.

While Emi picking out a few vintage records, I picked up a set 5 very cute grid printed glasses. I think they are awesome! $4.00 each any vinyl and $35.00 for the glass set.

There they are where I spotted. The shop has small objects everywhere up for sale.

And here’s my own shop and showroom, Lacasapark! 542 Washington Ave between Fulton and Atlantic.

I carry ton of awesome jeweleries, high end designer vintages to rare find collectibles!

And here are a few of my favorite vintage places in Brooklyn!

Beacon’s Closet

Bufalo exchange

Film Biz Prop Shop

Repop

Malin

A small cultural melting pot of Seoul: Hong Ik University Town.

jaehee — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 05:36:15 +0000

Entrance to down and cool complex fun Hong Ik University town (Hong Dae), Seoul

Get on the subway line 2 and literally get off at ”Hong Ik University” station in Shin Chon area. It’s very easy to get around in Seoul by Subways. Just like NY. It’s just more pleasant with fancy double sliding glass doors and velvet covered heated seats. Oh and great phone reception on entire subway line! Clean and Fast. Maybe the best way to get around the town for sure. I took Andrew and Jessica with me to stroll Hong Dae ( Dae means “University” in Korean) and hope to find a perfect little bar restaurant to sip some good sake and munching on little dishes!

If you were ever been in Tokyo, you would notice it right away. Hong Dae town greatly reminds you of Shibuya and Shimo Kitajawa in Tokyo yet less commercial. Bit grunge, bit bohemian, tiny tiny shops and groups of stream of cute and young people. Especially on the weekend nights, it gets much lively. Little cafes and restaurants and bars are everywhere with cute signs and charming attitude. They look interesting. A huge underground music scenes and weekend artist market called ” Free Market (not Flea Market) is also supposed to be quite cool and hip. There supposed to be many young artists from Hong Ik university and outside selling their art and artsy objects while they are creating them in the market. A few indie bands also joins the weekend art fair. It all sounds quite interesting. Hong Dae town is sort of a small meting pot of Young culture of Seoul.

Below, one of many small shops. It says ” Avenue, Hong Dae”

To top off great reputation to have the best Fine Art major in Korea at Hong Dae University, the vibe at this university town is Artsy and Carefree. It’s still commercial yet got lots of character and attitude. You will also find good amount of vintage shops selling accessories and vintage clothing that are from 70’s and on.

One of vintage shops in the town, Cat’s. Their website. www.lunabagel.com

Andrew trying on a vintage fur vest with leather trim! You know fur is super “In” in Korea and the rest of world. You know!

The ultimate Street food, Thukbokki house. Spicy chili sauce rice cake with fish cake, garlic, sugar and more. This is The national street food of Korea.

Ttuckbokki man stirring Ttuckbokki and next to it, Oden (Japanese fish cake ) on sticks simmering inside Dashi (dried fish based clean broth). Dashi is well known to be the base broth for Udon noodle soup.

It’s typical to see many commercial places located on the second floor in Korea. Or let’s say in Asia in general. Especially in Korea though. A small country and crowded city makes the real estate market impressively expensive. I am not kidding the Seoul real estate market is way way more expensive than Manhattan!

Karaoke building, ZillerOzone. Karaoke, Norebang in Korean, gets quite fancy here in Seoul. Individual rooms with drinks and food you can order in. Private service for private parties and free recording of your entire singing session during the stay. You can walk away with a CD with your own recording.

After a few days of hearty delicious Korean food, We are up for some yummy sake and Japanese bites! We find this small yet wonderful place, ” To-Ra”, a Japanese sake Bar with many tasty dishes! Traditional looking wooden facade and Japanese sign attracted us right away!

The first floor of the sake bar. A tiny place. We almost walked out thinking not enough space for 3 of us but friendly owner stopped us to try the second floor. Actually the third floor. Their entrance is on the semi second floor. The restaurant is located on a smooth hill. You can actually see well lined up sake bottles from the outside. The entrance floor may be able to serve only 10 people in total.

The third floor and To-Ra’s actual second floor. Many more tables and bigger space up here. Low ceiling, mixed and matched chairs and tables are cozily covered by dim and warm orange lighting. It’s perfect for us to tuck ourselves in and do what we wanted to do for this freezing cold night. Order some sake and delicious food and chat the night away…

Little nibbles to start. Bean sprouts. It’s on the house. Delicious!

Hot Oden pot on the table cooker. Various shapes and kinds of Oden. Mushrooms, scallions and Dashi broth. Let it all boil and just dig in!

Fried Squid bites with black squid ink. So crispy and fresh. Squeeze of lemon and Yum Yum Yum! Below Jessica and Andrew…

Quick fried soft tofu sitting in a soy based broth… This was one of my favorite. So tender and so much flavor. I loved it!

Seared tuna with ponzu sauce and side of grilled wild mushroom. It was bit too cold at the center but still yummy. Or we may have been quite full by the time this dish arrived. Regardless, isn’t it pretty!?

Me and Jessica cheering to the night. The last night of great week at the Korea office together.

A view of Hong Dae through a cozy window of “To-Ra” Sake bar.

After a long lovely dinner with Andrew and Jessica, we headed out for a little strolling for the town a bit. ( also needed to walk after that big dinner!) You will find quite many Taro Card readings in the town. About $4.00 a session.

Another Bar, ” Po Cha”. An old traditional signage for a bar: a wooden box lamp. These small details add lots of little charms to Hong Dae town.

Expect to see millions and billions of coffee shops in Seoul. The least interesting thins is the Star Bucks chain in Seoul. There are so many big and small independent coffee shops that make kick ass authentic coffee! I was told most of coffee shop owners will go for a year or two of intense training to Italy to learn roasting coffee beans to making a heart on your cappuccino. No place has disappointed my Italian native trained tongue for a good cup of coffee yet in Seoul.

Good interior and exterior design adds more fun to your cup of coffee.

A cute Sashimi and Japanese cuisine house, ” Wha Dong”. Wha means Flower in Korean.

Bit dirty and cute at the same time. A small street…

People are lined up to get into a club, Cocoon. So Hong Dae town apparently has much appetite for all sort of music like Hip Hop, Jazz, House, Rock, Trans, drum and base and more… The last Friday of each month is a “Club Day”. You can do a club hopping with one single ticket you have purchased. Also it’s a great area to try many small indie bands and other live concerts in Seoul.

Tented Food Carts= Pojang Macha= The best way to taste the most common street food in Korea.

I would say visiting Hong Dae Town is may be the best way to taste the heart of Young culture in Seoul. With much tiring and suppressing education system in Korea, getting accepted into a college is the biggest deal of your life. And that is ‘ THE TICKET’ to start your true life as an adult. And they will truly enjoy that freedom to live, argue, read and think. And Hong Dae is a really good short cut to glance that Young culture of Korea.

Talking LOve, Talking 70’s, Talking about you!

jaehee — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 15:26:28 +0000

I was born in 1972. The hippie free rebellious organic everything 70’s. So wish I could have tasted the middle of all, but I was only a baby! Completely feeling the 70’s vibe in the fashion air for the moment, here I have a few tears put together.

Lacasapark Flea Style!

jaehee — Sun, 16 May 2010 00:16:32 +0000

It was very windy when we were setting it up this morning but it got calm down bit and sun came out and Emi got quite a sun on his face. Ha ha! It was quite a day for us and thank you everyone who came by to say hi and also hang a bit and all the new friends we met. Thank you and Thank you!

We sold many fresh items and met so many great peeps! And you all stylish people! I guess this is the beauty of the flea. Blue sky, great people, fun coversation and providing what you want!

Sure we will do it again soon!!! Thank you again for great business today!

Go Brooklyn Flea!!

Lacasapark at Brooklyn Flea this Saturday!

jaehee — Tue, 11 May 2010 11:42:36 +0000

*

Lacasapark will be attending Brooklyn Flea on this Saturday the May 15th!

We will be carrying Designer vintage to cheerful summer dresses, accessories, shoes and Vintage and Antique Barn objects, lamps and awesome period crates! So come hang and shop with us!

Where: One of the ” Fence” booths at Brooklyn FLea on 176 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn

How to ge there: C to Lafayette Ave Station. G to Clinton Washington Station. B/D/Q, M/N/R, 2/3, 4/5, to Atlantic Ave.-Pacific St (www.brooklynflea.com/map/index.html)

Flea Hour: 10:00 am-5:00 pm

See you all at the Flea!!!

p/s there are ton of delicious gourmet food vendors at Flea from Red Hook Taco stand to brick oven pizza to Organic Ice creams!!

Question?: contact Jaehee 917-373-1548, Jaehee@lacasapark.com

Sweet and Flirty!

jaehee — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:03:12 +0000

Spring Sale at Lacasapark: Thank you!

jaehee — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 15:05:03 +0000

Thank you for stopping in last night!!!!!!

And stay tuned for Lacasapark at Brooklyn Flea at Fort Greene! www.lacasapark.com/la/2010/04/back-to-lafayette-the-fort-greene-booklyn-flea/

Spring Sale at Lacasapark! : April 23rd, Friday

jaehee — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 11:52:39 +0000

Everyone! Spring is here! The Garden will be open, there will be bubbly proseccos! Come, browse, hang with friends and shop till drop!

Jean Paul Gaultier, Vivianne Westwood, Zucca, pieces from the turn of the century, Yves saint Laurent, Gucci by Tom Ford, Awesome Helmut Lang moto pants by Helmut lang ( remember?) and so many more mint condition vintage pieces from 50’s-80’s (Talk about Evan Picone!!!!)

It opens at 6:00 pm. April 23, Friday. Cash/Check

www.lacasapark.com/park.php

And many many more!