Liz Birthday Day: Architectural Artifacts, Edgewater Antique Mall, Broadway Antique Market, Bang Bang Pie and Biscuits
Today is Liz’s birthday, and I had a full day of excursions scheduled. First off, we hit up The Bongo Room for breakfast. Since we’re now in Hyde Park, we opted for the Roosevelt location instead of Wicker Park (general note: it still fills up super fast). After eating a delicious breakfast and going over some options on where to visit for the day… we headed out to our first stop: Architectural Artifacts.
Huge thanks to Gretchen S, for sending along this link. She let us know about their upcoming auction, and so we decided to venture over to take a look. The place is massive, and we spent a good long while, wandering around in amazement.
One of many great coin-op machines in great condition: Wheel of Love.
Nearby, another coin-op Horoscope machine.
Very cool. As with most machines of this nature, despite me not having sufficient visitors to warrant such a thing… I still want one.
Three floors of stuff! This is a large, large building chock full of amazing things.
A room just off the entrance – chock full of all manner of lights and ceramic tiles.
Lots of type and metal plates. The guy on the right was way heavier than he looks.
Lots of ceramic tiles.
Tile closeup.
Even more tile. Walking around here and looking at different designs felt kind of like crate digging.
The giant-sized novelty hamburger really ties the room together.
A pair of circular drawers.
Very cool. Not sure what I’d do with these guys, but they looked awesome.
The place has everything – including a few vintage cars. And also on the left there… I think that’s the signage for Cal’s Liquors? Since they closed up, could that be the actual sign?
An assortment of vials from an old pharmacy. No Laudanum to be found, unfortunately, but not for a lack of looking.
Throughout the space, I’d come across large amounts of thread and yarn.
An angel kneels in the center of a rather stunning room, filled with mirrors. Liz talked to one of the employees, and learned that this room arrived in pieces – and they didn’t really know what they had until they reconstructed the whole thing.
Apparently, it used to be part of a jewelry store.
I also posted up a few videos of the room and of the angel.
A small pile of blueprints.
So, anybody out there feel like…
going on a heist with me? I know a place we might hit…
A small collection of Porsches.
I know Liz is awfully fond of Porsches. One of these days, if the fates allow, I’ll be able to buy her one of these guys.
Although she also seems to have taken a shine to this 1959 Siam Di Tella Argenta pick-up.
These three stateus/columns caught my eye. How would a normal person even use one of these guys?
The only practical purpose I could see for these things is to decorate the entrance to my supervillain lair. Beyond that one very specific use, I don’t know how else one might utilize these things. Maybe as part of my booby-trapped mausoleum (again, I would need to switch my occupation to supervillain).
Royal Trio slot machine.
Old school buttons to stop each reel.
Two coin-op massage machines. I’m not sure if these operated in the same manner as the classic belt massager, or if the rope along each machine just kind of holds you in place.
I think maybe the vibration only happens at the feet?
Mini airplane.
Mean machine.
Old-school wine corkers. Very beautiful, and also very pricey.
A very, very large 60 second clock.
More blueprints and sketches on parchment paper.
Two holy men. It wasn’t until later that I happened to see the boobs in the background.
A small box of Chemistry-related overhead projector slides. Talk about literal old school…
Fragile.
A room full of letters.
I’m half the man I used to be…
Liz, kicking her feet up.
Not sure what this thing is for. Liz thinks this may be similar to an umbrella swift.
Hit the lights!
I happened to visit the Men’s room on the first floor, and was delighted to see that the walls were adorned with rolls of toilet paper.
Our next stop was Edgewater Antique Mall. Wandered around a bit, and I found a few interesting items.
One of the first things I spotted was this very NSFW painting. It wasn’t so much the nudity that grabbed me, so much as the painting’s composition. Staring at this thing made me wonder how the artist’s decision making process. Something like “I want to paint her twice, but I want everything centered. I know what I’ll do…”
Spitballs and Holy Water, by James F. Donohue.
This is like the Finding Forrester of novels featuring black nuns as protagonists. It’s got a little of everything thrown in…
Random find – God Hunger, by Michael Ryan. I read this book in one of my first poetry classes at Indiana University (the sme class where I met Justin and Alex).
I know how to enjoy my body, thank you very much. I… wait, crap. That came out wrong.
A random photograph at Broadway Antique Market. I really wish I had some context for this photograph, and what transpired in the few seconds prior to this photo being taken. This was inside a locked display, so I couldn’t turn the photograph over to see if there were any additional details.
I imagine on the back there’s some kind of note. Like: A team of… and honestly, I’m not even sure how to complete this hypothetical. So many unanswered questions.
Why am I so sad all of a sudden?
We ended our day at Bang Bang Pie and Biscuits – a place near our old neighborhood that we finally got around to visiting. And oh my word, was this place fantastic.
The guy at the counter was incredibly friendly. And on finding out that this was out first time visiting, he hooked us up with a free biscuit, along with a side of pimiento butter and candied bacon. Liz got the sausage biscuit (which I got to sample, and fell in love with), along with the Honey Pie. They had run out of the Rhubarb Crumble, and so I got a slice of the Vanilla Bean Cheesecake. We both also got a cup of coffee.
I wasn’t great on checking the time, but I think we just eeked in before they closed the doors. By the time we were seated and eating, they were turning people away. When they served us our pies, we realized that had given us a slice of chocolate instead of the cheesecake. When I tried to return it, they gave me the cheesecake and told me to keep the chocolate. Since it had left the kitchen, they couldn’t resell it… and they were happy to let us have it.
We were overcome with generosity and kindness here, and I cannot recommend this place enough. Everyone we interacted with was friendly, and seemed genuinely happy.
We chatted with one of the workers for a while, and learned that they make hundreds of biscuits throughout the day (and I think all the biscuits are possibly vegetarian/vegan). Some of the pies are made and “set” the night before, but the fruit pies are the ones that typically are made the same day (due to the crust needing to be as moist/flaky as possible). Generally, they start around 5AM and the fruit pies are available starting around 9:30 AM.
I think most days they have one of each kind: chocolate, cream, and fruit. If the main pie in each category runs out, they have backups.
We had a wonderful, delicious time here and even as I write this… I’m thinking about their biscuits and pies, and wishing I could go back right now. Fantastic end to a fantastic day.
Related:
Liz’s Birthday Roadtrip to Michigan – Day 1: Hammond Salvage and Resale, Rabbit Run Inn, Lakeside Antiques, and Harbert Antique Mall
Liz’s Birthday Roadtrip to Michigan – Day 2: Great Lakes Antiques Mall, Sweet Pickins, Sunset Junque, and Blue Star Antique Pavillion
Liz is Apparently Having a Happy Birthday
Thanks Felix, now I want ALL THE THINGS.
Melissa (April 28, 2014 at 1:40 pm)