Another day not working. So I decided to scope out some more of D.C., and go "antiquing." "Antiquing" is apparently an actual hobby thing that people do, hence there being a name for it. Basically, it entails going to a bunch of antique shops in a day, and looking for good prices on cool finds.
Because I love old things (and pretty much anything historical. I am a total history nerd), I decided that going antiquing would be fun. I figured that D.C. would be a good a place as any to hunt for old antiques, since the whole area goes back to colonial time. There is bound to be some good stuff out there. So I went on the internet and looked up a few places that are supposedly good antique stores. I found three-- one of them is on U Street near Adams Morgan, the other two were in Georgetown (natch). So I started at the one on U Street (since U Street is the next stop after my metro stop, so it was on the way), and then went to Georgetown.
The first place I went was called Goodwood. It is located at 1428 U Street NW, about 2-3 blocks past the U Street Metro stop. It was your pretty standard antiques store: had a range on nick-nacky things; a lot of smaller items like jewelry or small home goods type stuff. They had furniture as well, which they used to display a lot of the other items, but that did not really seem to comprise the bulk of their stock. The items were tagged with prices, but did not come with dates or anything to indicate how old any item might be. So that was a little disappointing, but (as I came to find out), the upshot is, the store was very reasonably priced.
GoodWood is open Monday-Saturday 12:00PM-7:00PM, and Sunday 12:00PM-5:00PM.
The next stop was the two stores in Georgetown. Actually, that is slightly false: first, I made a detour into Foggy Bottom (Georgetown does not have its own metro stop, apparently. So I had to get off at the Foggy Bottom-GWU stop and walk about a mile to Georgetown. Whatever, walking is good for you) because the shoes I had been wearing were not so good for not getting blisters, and I knew getting to Georgetown would require walking. So I found a Nine West in Foggy Bottom and made a stop. On my way there, I found the European Union. Apparently, the EU gets its own embassy (actually, I think I knew that considering I just finished a semester on EU law). This has always struck me as a little strange: since the EU is a conglomerate of several countries, all of whom also have their own embassies and consulates, isn't that kind of like double representation?
The first place I tried to go was called Susquehanna Antiques, which I had read online is like *the* place for antiques. But, naturally, while it was open for business, it had one of those "will be back in 15 minutes" notes on the door, so I had to kill time somehow. Luckily, there was an antiques store next to it! This store was called Cote Jardin Antiques, located at 3218 O Street NW. The store had a nice selection of goods, a lot of which was pretty "hardy;" like, if I had a nice backyard or something, it was a lot of the type of stuff that I would want to put in my back yard for decoration. Obviously, it also had indoor wares. Probably unsurprisingly given the store's name, the style of most of the things they carried was French/European. I actually quite liked their selection, although it was not an inexpensive place. I think the cheapest thing I found was priced at $120. Still, if you have the money and are in to rustic European type goods, this would be a excellent place to shop.
Cote Jardin Antiques is open Monday-Saturday 11:00AM-5:00PM. Apparently, the store also has a location in Palm Beach, Florida.
After snooping in Cote Jardin, I found that the "back in 15" sign was still in place, so I had to find something else to do. I was determined to go to the Susquehanna Antiques, especially after walking all the way there. So to kill more time, I went to the next store on my list, which was only a couple blocks from Susquehanna. This place was called Random Harvest, located at 1313 Wisconsin Avenue. The store had a nice, classy selection of mostly furniture, that would look very nice in a contemporary home going for the rustic-New England-but-not-heavy-"old" look. As an antique store, however, I did not like it as much. It had antiques, but it was more of a combination between actual antiques, "vintage" wares, and newly-manufactured goods made to look old or rustic. So it was more of a speciality furniture store than a straight-up antiques store. If I had the cash, I would definitely think about purchasing some of their stuff, because it is very nice, but for antiquing, probably not as much.
Random Harvest is open Monday-Saturday 11:00AM-6:00PM, Sunday Noon-6:00PM. There are also locations in Old Town Alexandria, Alexandria proper, and Bethesda, Maryland.
After waiting around some more, I was finally able to go to Susquehanna Antiques, located at 3216 O Street NW. This place, for all you antiquers and lovers-of-old-things, is the real deal. It has apparently been in business for about 100 years, and its stock definitely bears testimony to that. Unlike the other antique stores I went to, this place had a much more warehouse feel to it: while the others tried to make some semblance of cohesive display, this place was just a depository of random old things everywhere, placed where room could be found. And random stuff did I find. There were a lot of canvases; in fact, canvasses and paintings fully decorated most of the walls, and room for some even had to be found on the floor. Seriously, 150-year-old canvasses were just stack together leaning next to tables. Some of the artwork was also tres cher; I am pretty sure I saw a $30,000 painting from the early 1800s in there. There was a wooden carousel horse from the 1920s, Polish silver Sabbath candlestick holders from the 19th century, and an old wooden dollhouse from I don't know when. There were Empire and Federal style gilded mirrors with their original glass, dating back to Revolutionary times (pretty much exactly like the mirrors and furniture I saw yesterday in the National Gallery). I even saw items dated back to the late 1500s. Basically, for a history geek, it was the greatest find, like, ever. Unfortunately, all of the items were pretty much out of my budget, which was super sad. Hopefully one day, when I in theory have a job and income, I can afford to go to places like this and just geek out totally. But again, if you have the money and are really into antiques, this is the place to go in D.C.
Susquehanna Antiques is open Monday-Saturday, 10:00AM-6:00PM.
So that was it for my day of antiquing. I could definitely see this becoming a hobby of mine, as I just find looking at old artifacts fascinating (and would love to have some of my own). I think, however, I will have to wait a bit to really "get into it," until I actually have an income that can support such a hobby.
On the way home I stopped at Pete's New Haven Style Pizza to grab a couple slices, since it is next to the Columbia Heights stop. It was pretty good thin crust pizza. One thing I have noticed about East Coast types: they are really intense about pizza. Apparently New Haven style is distinct from New York style pizza. And then there is the always-entertaining debate between East Coasters and Chicagoans, regarding thin crust versus deep dish. According to my Connecticut-raised boyfriend, Chicago-style deep dish pizza, while very good, "is not pizza." He is very insistent on this point. Maybe this is where the laid-back West Coast attitude comes in, but where I am from, flattened-out dough with some kind of cheese, sauce and toppings is pizza. Pizza is pizza, there aren't really any "styles" other than the distinction between take out quality and restaurant quality. Ah well. I like all pizza: I am an equal-opportunity muncher.
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