Vintage Clothing Stores: Salt Lake, San Francisco, New York, Boston and Los Angeles

As international business travelers and rock star wannabees, we poke around the world for vintage and rare, hard to find items. We love outrageous clothing styles from the 1960s and 1970s especially bell bottoms from the heydays of the Haight/Ashbury district. If you weren't there, you missed some of the greatest fashion moments but you may be able to catch some recycled items at these vintage clothing shops while traveling or RVing in the United States. If you WERE there, who knows - maybe your embroidered Peach Melba blouse that was lost in the van on the way to Woodstock is hanging on the racks waiting for you to reunite!

Grunts and Postures in Salt Lake City

Yes, Mormons have a vintage clothing store. Don't worry; it's not recycled garments worn by the dissident Mormons of the 1960s, some of the stuff goes back to World War 2. This store is a must for the vintage shopper as well as rockers, punks, artists and other unique intellectual types. The vintage dress I bought sure did make for an interesting reverse prom way back when. The night was so great we didn't even make it to the actual dance opting instead for a private airplane flying us around the Mormon valley and in to Robert Redford's restaurant at Sundance. (Compliments of the paychecks from my job at McDonald's, not my parents.) And I didn't even get laid. So it goes.

597 E 100 S. Downtown Salt Lake City (New Location).

Aardvark's Odd Ark on Melrose Avenue

It's amazing how this store has grown from being the original vintage peddler of Los Angeles. The stores are packed wall to wall with various vintage, Hollywood movie crap and retro styles. It's almost like an assembly line yard sale but one-of-a-kind hard-to-find stuff can be found when willing to take the time to look. I have found high quality fuzzy leopard retro coats and bell-bottom blue jeans that have rocked on stage as well as off. There is definitely never a dull moment shopping here especially when there really was a banana in the pocket of a pair of jeans I tried on. Can you say Gross?

7579 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.

85 Market Street at Pacific Avenue (New Venice Beach Location).

21434 Sherman Way in Canoga Park (San Fernando Valley).

1253 East Colorado Blvd. Pasadena (I have no clue when this one popped up but the high prices have to account for something).

1501 Haight Street, San Francisco (Worth it for the flashback).

Cheap Jack's in Manhattan

Lots of famous people, magazine editors and Susie Cream Cheeses shop here. They're known for providing classic vintage styles as well as stuff from the 1920s to modern times. The store has been rated #1 by the press. It's a little too trendy for extreme eclectic tastes but still worth poking around in for fun and cheap thrills while waiting for a business meeting or appointment.

303 Fifth Avenue (at 31st Street), New York.

Garment District in Boston

This is the only place in the world that we have visited that sells clothing for a dollar by the pound. The bell-bottom jeans I walked out with are awesome, supreme in quality and priced low enough to stick it to the man. That whole section of Cambridge, Mass has enough vintage shops to keep a person busy for an entire vacation.

200 Broadway, Cambridge, Mass.

Buffalo Exchange in San Francisco

Buffalo Exchange is the franchise of vintage clothing stores yet it is just cool. All their stores are stocked with a variety of new stuff and recycled shoes, clothing, accessories and home additions. The quality is good at their reasonable prices. These people are also known worldwide for trendy jeans. The Eddie Munster platforms I bought for gigs are still in excellent condition (despite the wear and tear of gigging goes) and definitely worth their price tag.

1555 Haight Street, San Francisco.

Visit their website for the other locations all throughout America.

http://www.buffaloexchange.com/locations_list.php