SPACE 137 is a small family owned fashion focused business where our in-house “purveryors” scour the worldover looking for the hottest fashion trends, the chicest vintage finds, the funkiest furnishings and the most unique jewelry for the best price for our buyers. We barter, trade, wholesale, negotiate, buy in bulk, take on consignment, stand in lines all night, fight rush hour traffic, search want ads, go off the beaten path, even into tribal villages to find deals for you! We are your deal finding junkies! If you do not see what you want in our store, contact us as we are sure to have it somewhere in a box, crate, carton, bin, bucket, bag in our inventory and we will be happy to locate it for you. If by some slight chance, we do not have what you want in our store nor in our inventory give us up to 24 hours and we will tell you just how fast we can get what you are wanting shipped to you. Thank you for looking!   

From the outside, Scott’s Bazaar possessed very little charm and certainly didn’t offer the type of curb appeal that would make you look twice while driving by.  Scott’s Bazaar was my Great Aunt Ruby’s resell shop that existed at the corner of Normandy and Vernon from the early 1970’s through the mid 80’s in the heart of South Central Los Angeles.  In that neighborhood you’d be more likely to find a taco stand, drugs or witness a drive by shooting in those days than to find fashion treasure, but  inside of those walls offered just that.   Beyond the dingy glass of the shop that occupied three adjacent store fronts were downright apparel gems.

I remember that most days, Ruby Scott, who was in her late 80’s and with declining health, sat alone in that gloomy place as there wasn’t a heavy flow of daily foot traffic.  I remember that it was dimly lit and very dusty.  I can still see her sitting in that old wing back upholstered chair with her oxygen tank slung across it, as was so often the scene when my cousin and I would drop off a box of chicken mid afternoon for her lunch.  I also remember that when a customer did show up they most times would drag out trash bags full of goods after foraging for hours.  Later that night she’d often say, “those white ladies own a shop over on Melrose.”  There were several dealers from those Hollywood area vintage/ resell clothing shops that made the trip to the “hood” to Aunt Ruby’s  shop attempting to stock their racks.  Very popular places, that have since closed their doors like Auntie Mame’s and others who’s names have since escaped my memory.

Since then I’ve hunted through countless resell clothing shops and thrift and vintage stores and to this day i contend that this was the honey hole of honey holes.  You would see beaded formal gowns from the 30’s up to the 60’s.  There were mink stoles, capes, coats, mitts and hats from the 40’s up to the 60’s.  There were racks of mouton bolero jackets from the 50’s and 60’s.  There were cashmere beaded sweaters from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.  Racks of 50’s stilettos and handbags.  There were silk crepe lace dresses everywhere.  There were cases of bakelite, lucite and rhinestone costume jewelry from the deco period.  There were boas draping manikins.  There were even Dashikis and Kaftans occasionally.  Every dress silhouette you could imagine from any period in any fabric was there.  There were imported silks, brocades, tapestries, knits and wools.  There were mens suits, ties, and trench coats that the “rat pack” would have been proud to have owned.  The problem then was that most people interested in these items back then were Hollywood strip weirdos or punk bands.  Aunt Ruby was definitely ahead of her time.  

In those days, I was in my early twenties and had very little interest in ‘old stuff’.  I was a college student with a part time job and along with my cousin and aunt occupied the upstairs portion of Aunt Ruby’s house, located only a few blocks from the shop.  I remember evenings returning home after having spent half of my paycheck on a few shirts at some over priced Hollywood boutique, Aunt Ruby would invariably ask to inspect my goods.  I can still see her rubbing the fabric between her aged fingers.  She would examine and tug at the seams and zippers.  She would thump the buttons with her thick nails and grade the quality by the tone it made.  Invariably, the act was followed by the statement, ” .. I had that at my shop”.  In our ignorance, it was statements like that that affirmed for my cousins and me that she was indeed a crazy old lady, though she was a bit eccentric.  The fact that her basement, garage and every unoccupied bedroom in her house, combined, contained twice as many clothes as the shop did, only added to her mystique.  There were piles as tall as people and narrow trails that meandered through the madness.

Looking back on it now, one thing is for sure, The statement “i had that at my shop” which remains a family joke to this day, meant that she knew the treasures she had collected and she knew clothing like the back of her hand.  Sometimes I wonder if my children look at me the way we looked at her when I rant about today’s music verses the music I grew up listening to.  What she knew was, just like music, current apparel trends only mimic or are inspired by that which was previoulsy created.  And just like with music, the copy never measures up to the quality of the original.

Lula B’s East located at 2639 Main St. in the “deep Ellum” area of Dallas, Texas.

But it’s strange how when you think kids aren’t paying attention to your rants how they one day evolve into the form of that very rant.  Funny how we somehow glean or absorb habits and ideas from those that we spend time in close proximity to.  And that brings me to the point of this blog.  You see, one day I looked up and noticed that all of the closets in the house were starting to burst at the seams from all the wonderful articles of clothing my wife and I had amassed over the years from thrift stores, garage and estate sales.  It was then that I realized that I had a problem.  My problem was that I couldn’t  drive by a thrift store, vintage store, garage or estate sale without stopping.   I’m obsessed and spend the majority of my spare time in them.  Even, as a touring musician, when I was working abroad I’d seek them out.  I even included the vintage store shopping experience in my video “SLEEPOVER”.  It was this obsession that birthed SPACE 137.

SPACE 137 is our own present day version of Scott’s Bazaar.  They say the apple doesn’t fall from the tree.  For the last three years we have been located inside of Lula B’s (Cool Stuff for Cool People) East and West locations in Dallas, Texas.  Lula B’s stores are a a treasure trove of all things fine and funky, kitschy and collectible, vintage and pimpadelic.  Both shops hold exciting discoveries of every kind for every budget.  There, you can decorate and dress in one-of-a-kind style while saving money at the best vintage store in Dallas.  We started out with 25 square feet of space on the back aisle of the East store and our first inventory was a collection almost exclusively from our closet.  It wasn’t long before we had expanded our space to about ten times the size, occupied space at the other store and had become a favorite place in the city for quality and stylish resell/ vintage clothing.    We also have added vintage kitchen and bar ware as well as small antique furniture pieces that I find and refinish (remind me to tell you the story of growing up in my grandfather’s furniture refinishing and upholstery business).  We’ve styled photo as well as video shoots for recording artists as well as outfitted countless prom goers, rock bands, other cool people.  As well, thousands of shoppers worldwide have viewed  our cosmic store at stores.ebay.com/137Space.

I have created this blog to feature some of the incredible items  that we have available, as well as, share insight about the art and the fascination with shopping on the secondary marketplace.  I hope to provide you with new fashion discoveries that will broaden your landscape and bring a new flair to your personal style and fashion sensibilities:  insight like how to win at the secondhand shopping game (or at least minimize mistakes) by discovering how to quickly identify thrift store treasures by their tags and care labels; how to determine whether a garment is well made or mass manufactured; how to update an old garment and bring it new life; how to identify and differentiate fabric sorts. This is some of the priceless information that I seemed to have absorbed from the time that I spent with Aunt Ruby. I, also, seemed to pick up her passion and addiction for amassing amazing pieces, and yes, our house is starting to resemble aunt Ruby’s and that is only a part of how the story began. In this business you kinda want to “have your cake and sell it too”, and so I now understand my Great Aunt Ruby’s sentiments after those dealers would haul those bags of clothes out, “..they took all my good stuff.”  You have now entered SPACE 137.

–Tony Williams