by gum, by golly!

Awhile after the vintage show we attended in late February (I demand to know how it's already April!) I was contacted by some of the brains behind Chicago's well-known Randolph Street Market and several other local vintage and antique shows. Their next show is the Modern Vintage Chicago Spring Fashion and Jewels Show on Saturday April 16th and Sunday April 17th.

Today I'm pleased to share an interview and a giveaway they've sponsored for Chicagoland readers. More about that giveaway below the interview!

My interview with Sally Schwartz, founder of Randolph Street Market and producer of the Modern Vintage Chicago shows.

Q: What started your love of vintage and antiques?

A: I was always fascinated with old, well made stuff. Even as a kid, I was into vintage and wore baggy painters pants and fatigues as a kid in middle school. I loved finding old mink stoles when I was in high school and I inherited a bunch of art and artifacts from my grandparents, including an ornate cigarette lighter collection.

Q: What is the most satisfying part about producing vintage and antique shows?

A: It’s watching people as they explore their own pasts, seeing beautifully preserved pieces find new homes and new lives. And just the excitement and inspiration of seeing exceptional items for living.

Q: What inspired you to start the Randolph Street Market?

A: I had a party planning and decorating business. I was known to elaborately design period décor, which relied heavily on props and authentic pieces.

Q: The Modern Vintage Chicago’s Spring Fashion and Jewels Explosion is coming up the weekend of April 16th and 17th. What makes this show different from others you produce?

A: This show is exclusively fashion, jewelry and accessories, the entire two story building is filled to the rafters with the most fantastic, affordable mostly but some luxury items – all in fabulous condition. Most vintage shows are stuffy or smelly or tattered, this one is just straight up chic but great great prices. We get buyers who come in from over seas and around the country because they’ve heard this is the largest concentration of great pieces at great prices.

Q: What’s the one thing you’re most looking forward to about this year’s show?

A: It’s always about seeing what’s new and what fits me!!!

Q: If you had to narrow it down, what’s your favorite era for vintage and antique collectibles?

A: I really love art nouveau in terms of furnishings and decorative art, for fashion it would have to be the 40’s through the 70’s.

Q: What’s your most prized vintage possession?

A: Hell of a great question!! I have a super cool Hermes pressed leather, interchangeable handbag. And on a sentimental note, I have my grandmother’s wedding fan that she wore, framed against blue velvet and mounted on my wall.

Q: Is there one elusive vintage or antique item you’ve yet to find (for yourself or as a dealer)?

A: I’m always looking for really intricate tabletop cigarette lighters but they are super hard to find these days. I especially love the ones that play music.

Q: Last but not least, many of the readers of my blog hail from all over the country and the rest of the world. What would you tell them is one of your favorite things about Chicago?

A: Chicago is a city of extremes – tall buildings against lots of beachfront and park land; super rich yet down to earth folks. Educated elitists and bubbas who love their sports. Amazing gourmet food and the best pizza and hot dogs anywhere. Beauty and blight, it never gets boring!!

Modern Vintage Chicago is also sponsoring a giveaway for my Chicagoland readers!

The winner will receive two free tickets for their Spring Fashion and Jewels Show on Saturday April 16th and Sunday April 17th. The show will be held in the West Loop at Plumbers Hall, 1340 W. Washington.

Granted, I know not many of my readers out there are actually from Chicago, so if you enter you'll probably have a pretty decent change of winning. ;)

How to enter the giveaway:

Be a follower of this blog, if you aren't already.
Live close enough to get to Chicago the weekend of April 16th-17th.
Leave a comment on this post. Don't forget to leave a way to contact you if your blog or profile doesn't have your email address!
Want an extra entry? Post about this giveaway on your blog, or link to it on Facebook, Twitter, etc. Just post a separate comment on this post with a link to where you mentioned it (make sure it's a separate comment since I'll use Random Number Generator to find the winner). You can get one extra entry this way.

~~The giveaway ends a week from today on Monday night April 11th.~~

ETA: Giveaway now closed! See you there. :)

I know I'm looking forward to the show, so good luck!

So, you may have heard we got a bit of snow over the last 24 hours here in Chicago?

I worked from home and Mel stayed home, so we bundled up in our deepest winter gear and went on a walk during lunch.

In the photo above, I was already standing on top of about 6 inches of snow. I think we got about 20" total in the city. The photos are beautiful today, but don't get me wrong, it was downright dangerous yesterday. On the walk home we actually had to take a 3 block detour through an alley and side street because the snow, ice and wind were so bad we could barely walk. In fact, out of our living room window we saw several people being literally blown into things by the wind.

But today, once the weather settled down, the most amazing thing we experienced was that we got to walk onto Lake Shore Drive. For those of you unfamilar with the city, it's a multi-lane highway that runs along the lake for most of the length of the city. It was closed last night and hundreds of cars were (and still are) stuck due to a series of accidents. It's still closed today. And where it passes by our neighborhood, we were able to climb over snow drifts... and walk onto it!

Here you can see a tow truck on the northbound side. We were over there for about 5 minutes and saw dozens of tow trucks going by. They were the only vehicles on the road. The people in the photo are about to cross from the street over onto the southbound side of Lake Shore Drive.