First store that took my fancy was Scandinavian Grace:
Most of my friends know of my fondness for Scandinavia, but probably less of my fondness of the aesthetics of designer homewares, despite not having much use for them. They had some really interesting (and expensive) stuff - collapsible silicon bowls, anyone? But my favorite item was a packet of serviettes with maps of Stockholm on them. They were US$7 and had they had maps of Sweden I would've bought.
Just a couple of doors down was an opened, but unmarked door:
I was in an inquisitive mood and so stuck my head in revealing an art gallery. Most interesting pieces were:- 3m x 2m dense rectangle of pinned random objects in little bags
- A wide-screen (on it's side) video of a pin-covered head in a tall box with falling balloons and the man trying to blow the balloons up so they don't pop
- a small constructed room titled 'a deaf ear' with a hanging microphone, speakers, and noisey fan (i still haven't figured this one out, the microphone/speakers didn't do anything)
Down the road was a large second-hand store called 'Junk' selling, among many other things, used postcards for 67c (wtf?). I'm not one to buy bric-a-brac but I liked this:
Maybe I will gift it to someone.Spanish is almost like a second language here, and even more so in Williamsburg. It's not uncommon to hear public announcements in Spanish or see signs in both English and Spanish. From what I've gathered, the ubiquity of the language has become a point of racial contention. Here's some graphical evidence:
This is a declaration on a building construction that was written in English and Spanish. I walk past this sign everyday.After the shopping I had to duck home to show some guys around the apartment who want to shoot their movie in here.
