The power of the Internet and the convenience of EBay makes collecting whatever floats your boat as easy as a click away.
When a good friend and I shared a millinery business in the 1990's our focus was creating vintage inspired ladies hats that were woven with romance. Unfortunately with no EBay "back in the day" we had to travel to Los Angeles to fabric shops, we cruised antique malls, and we read "Victoria" with a passion to find the ribbons and flowers that would become a part of our hats. We ordered things by phone from the east coast and the Midwest crossing our fingers that when ribbons, flowers, and other accoutrement arrived we would be delighted.
One weekend when my friend and I were in Los Angeles to search for embellishments, we parked our rental car in the maze of parking lots offered in downtown LA.
"Should we take this parking ticket with us or leave it in the car?" we asked each other.
"We should leave it in the car, so we don't lose it."
We didn't lose the ticket...but, we did lose our car.
Seriously.
Downtown LA.... with not a whisper of an English speaking voice besides our own. Two white women, rental car, and both of us with no knowledge of what type of car we were driving or where we had parked it. The sun had set and it was getting late. I began to panic. All I could remember is that we were parked close to (as bizarre as this may sound...) but what I thought was a Chinese deli.
As the minutes ticked by and I became more and more anxious we spotted our soon to be heroes. Los Angeles' finest. A male and female police officer. We rushed toward them and rattled off our tale of woe and desperation feeling a bit like Blanche Dubois depending on the kindness of these strangers. They agreed to drive us around the area so we could possibly find the unknown car. Street after street, parking lot after parking lot they drove becoming involved in our not so amusing treasure hunt. And then my friend spotted the vehicle. "That's it! It's the red car!" (it was red?? I hadn't a clue...)
I cannot remember what we found that day for our hats but I do remember the thrill of the hunt. It was an amazing adventure.
When a good friend and I shared a millinery business in the 1990's our focus was creating vintage inspired ladies hats that were woven with romance. Unfortunately with no EBay "back in the day" we had to travel to Los Angeles to fabric shops, we cruised antique malls, and we read "Victoria" with a passion to find the ribbons and flowers that would become a part of our hats. We ordered things by phone from the east coast and the Midwest crossing our fingers that when ribbons, flowers, and other accoutrement arrived we would be delighted.
One weekend when my friend and I were in Los Angeles to search for embellishments, we parked our rental car in the maze of parking lots offered in downtown LA.
"Should we take this parking ticket with us or leave it in the car?" we asked each other.
"We should leave it in the car, so we don't lose it."
We didn't lose the ticket...but, we did lose our car.
Seriously.
Downtown LA.... with not a whisper of an English speaking voice besides our own. Two white women, rental car, and both of us with no knowledge of what type of car we were driving or where we had parked it. The sun had set and it was getting late. I began to panic. All I could remember is that we were parked close to (as bizarre as this may sound...) but what I thought was a Chinese deli.
As the minutes ticked by and I became more and more anxious we spotted our soon to be heroes. Los Angeles' finest. A male and female police officer. We rushed toward them and rattled off our tale of woe and desperation feeling a bit like Blanche Dubois depending on the kindness of these strangers. They agreed to drive us around the area so we could possibly find the unknown car. Street after street, parking lot after parking lot they drove becoming involved in our not so amusing treasure hunt. And then my friend spotted the vehicle. "That's it! It's the red car!" (it was red?? I hadn't a clue...)
I cannot remember what we found that day for our hats but I do remember the thrill of the hunt. It was an amazing adventure.
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