For Episode 51 of STARK REALITY, Jim welcomes special guest Kathleen Schaaf, owner of Meow Vintage in Long Beach California since 1986. Kathleen has been hunting deadstock vintage since the late 70s. She’s known as the ‘Queen of Vintage’, and her store on 4th Street was the first vintage shop on a street that is now known as ‘Retro Row’. Jim and Kathleen talk about digging for clothes in the 70s/80s, going on roadtrips to find deadstock, ‘denim dogs’ aka jeans vendors, t-shirts, west coast classic surf wear like Hang Ten, OP, etc, fast fashion, underground music scenes and how they are related to vintage clothes, trends in vintage as times change, newer buyers and how they shop, and staying excited about digging for clothes after 4 decades plus in the game. She is the coolest, her taste is impeccable and Meow’s is a true curated vintage shop. Was great to chat with her in depth after shopping there for so many years. Recorded July 19th 2022.
She also gives us a nice playlist of underground rock/punk/etc. for Episode 52 of STARK REALITY here.