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We are who we are... Spanglish you speaki my language? We enjoy life and breath off cultures, music, fashion and our surroundings as a whole.
AROUND 2003, I was visiting San Francisco and stopped at a friend’s lovely-looking boutique of house and gardening wares. Business was booming. In the window, next to some seed packets and an old wooden bathtub, I found a stack of sleek blue plastic watering cans. “I get them from Ikea for $2 and sell them for $40,” my friend said with an absurd guffaw, “and people are buying them like crazy!”
It has become painfully obvious that, in the last few years, the worth of most everything — plastic containers, investment portfolios, condos, cupcakes — has been wickedly inflated. A trip to Peachfrog, a new emporium of liquidated and overstocked merchandise, was a much-needed, cleansing corrective to all that jazz. The store carries men’s and women’s clothing, accessories and home furnishings guaranteed to be 70 to 90 percent off the original price.
The store starts at the bottom. Immediately upon entering, you are in “the Pit,” where everything has been marked down to $5. There are a handful of subdued garments here, but the gaudiest ones caught my eye: stretch turtlenecks in a sea-green python print hung near a shelf displaying a blue metallic photo album decorated with rhinestones. A top in mottled sky blue had a shredded outer layer, as if Donatella Versace had worn it when attacked by her cats. A striped orange blouse with ruffles looked like a uniform from a peach cobbler kiosk at Knott’s Berry Farm.
It’s therapeutic to visit Peachfrog now because the store is filled with items that defined the recent past — that weird “Let’s Go Shopping!” era when Britney Spears was the most searched name on the Internet and everyone thought it was cool to wear underwear with sex-me-up phrases on the crotch like “Boy crazy!’ and “Goddess.” (Upstairs from the Pit, these undergarments are $2.50.) Signs appear at every rack and bin displaying the full retail price, along with Peachfrog’s marked-down offer. A gold lamé Tammi Lyn tulip bag, for example, was originally $473 and is sold here for $20. Someone actually paid full price for a bag like this. It’s easy to picture this person clacking around South Beach, lazily buying a $22 bottle of Principessa Bagno bubble bath, available here at the slightly jumbled makeup counter for $6.
Much of the main space is dedicated to women’s clothing. Colorful sundresses ($35, originally $140) hung on a circular rack like “elimiDATE” contestant-ghosts. Slacks appropriate for a temp job you have to pretend to care about lined the wall, many for $40. Jeans and cords from labels like Radcliffe, Replay and Killah were $10.
William Norton, who has worked as a steel sculptor and the director of installations at PS1, opened Peachfrog in November with Howard Blumberg, a professional liquidator. With more than 20 years in the business, Mr. Blumberg knows how to find sweet deals that bigger stores overlook.
“We’re different than Marshalls or Syms or even Century 21,” he told me later by phone. Peachfrog, he explained, zeros in on “voided inventories,” liquidation lingo for all the merchandise that falls through the cracks, which he defines as “store stocks, samples, odds and ends, returns, irregulars and mixed lots.”
The store was full of funky New York City girls who understand that the queasily garish clothing of our embarrassing past can be reinterpreted and made retro-cool with the right earrings, confidence and sense of irony. I had one of these girls with me — my friend Cary — who ran through the store, scooping up halter tops, a pair of pre-faded Daisy Dukes and a miniskirt the color of orange sherbet, costing a total of $30.
In a dressing room at the back of the store, Cary slipped on a sundress, but the zipper broke. She also tried a pair of Miss Sixty cords, rust-colored and extremely low-slung, but she resembled Christina Aguilera on the cover of “Stripped,” and it’s too early to bring back that trend.
The Peachfrog space used to be an egg roll factory, and men’s selections are found in what was once a huge freezer. There, two young men were trying on baggy Sean John pullovers, for $7.50. A tall wood wardrobe was stacked with soft white thermals and undershirts for $2. Most sizes were XXL, and I sensed this place was a gold mine for guys who can pull off hip-hop fashion’s difficult draping.
Unlike the women’s things, the more garish styles in the men’s section weren’t inspiring. Most of it looked as if it had come from the closets of reality-show stars like Criss Angel, the male cast of “Sunset Tan” or that creepy TV personality Mystery, “the world’s greatest pick-up artist.” A rack of Aqua-VI hoodies, brocaded with metallic curlicues, originally sold for $98 but were $15 here. White jeans from Energie, also $15, were dusted with silver glitter as if Tinker Bell had slept on them.
Still, I was tempted to buy something. If it looks dumb, who cares; you paid only 10 bucks for it.
Before I made a terrible mistake, I walked over to the home selections. I loved the Burlwood items: bowls and baskets, $10 to $20, carved out of knotty “reclaimed fir tree root balls,” according to the Peachfrog signage. Next to them was a clipboard and a pen. “What’s in your Burlwood?” it said at the top of the page. Customers had written answers, including “Popcorn,” “Mag-o-zines,” “Lifesaving antidepressants” and a hastily written love note: “Hi cute girl with black hat that works here.”
On a table nearby were woven basket-objects the shape of bed pillows for $10 to $15. Originally priced at $80, they are the kind of thing you would find in an aspirational home décor magazine. Way back in 2003, when useless items seemed so important, you may have even purchased them (along with a $40 plastic watering can). But here, they were affordable and stripped of any exaggerated status or worth.
I left Peachfrog calmer, my demoralized value system wrenched out of the nosebleed naughties and back to hard, honest earth.
PEACHFROG
136 North 10th Street (between Berry and Bedford Streets), Williamsburg, Brooklyn; (718) 387-3224
CRAZY BARGAINS! A roomy store of liquidated and often hilarious merchandise to guide us out of yesterday’s delirious dreamland into today’s rock-bottom reality.
PREPOSTEROUS PRICES! Every rack and bin is accompanied with a sign displaying the original damage, and Howard Blumberg, the friendly co-owner, is often on hand to tell you the story behind the sale.
MORE AMAZING DEALS! There are cheap finds at Artists and Fleas (129 North Sixth Street), and sidewalk vendors on Bedford display rumpled clothes and occasional discoveries. ![]() |
How low can you go?: Drink for free at The Slide. |
great happy hours
Acme Bar & Grill
Chic NoHo scene? Try Rehab across the street. Cheap, daily-rotating happy hour? Acme's Monday to Friday happy hour runs from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays feature $2 "Acme Brew;" Wednesdays ladies get two for one; and Thursdays are all about $4 Hurricanes.
• 9 Great Jones St., between Lafayette St. and Broadway, 212-420-1934
Blind Tiger Ale House
It's not so much the discounted prices ($1 off all drafts and well drinks), as it is the sheer length of Blind Tiger's happy hour, which runs from noon to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday. That means you can practically get started on your cheap cocktail immediately upon downing your morning coffee.
• 518 Hudson St., at 10th St, 212-675-3848; blindtigeralehouse.com
Boxcar Lounge
This tiny bar specializes in creative cocktails made with champagne and sake — along with well drinks and draft beers these house specialties are just $5 each until 10 p.m. (until 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday).
• 168 Avenue B, between 10th and 11th Sts., 212-473-2830
Fiddlesticks
Fiddlesticks has numerous nooks where you can grab a table and read a book without being interrupted — except when one of the great-looking bartenders pulls you a pint. Happy Hour lasts until 10 p.m. on Monday through Friday, and $3 will get you any drink you desire (expect martinis and shots).
• 56 Greenwich Ave., between Sixth and Seventh Aves., 212-436-0516
Landmark Tavern
With three-for-two buybacks, "Single-Malt Mondays" offer the best opportunity for cash-strapped connoisseurs to sample the Tavern's 70 fine scotches. Regular happy hour runs Monday through Friday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and features 10 cent buffalo wings and buy-one-get-one on all drinks.
• 626 Eleventh Ave., at 46th St., 212-757-8595
La Linea
Soulful, dive-y lounge for the romantically sleazy, with $2 discounts on all drinks 3 p.m. till 9 p.m., seven days a week. The currently running summer special includes $3 margaritas and $4 apple martinis during those same hours.
• 15 First Ave., between 1st and 2nd Sts., 212-777-1571
Magnetic Field
At this welcome addition to the Brooklyn Heights/Cobble Hill bar scene, tap beers and well drinks are $3 for several hours, Mondays through Wednesdays. Tuesday is happy hour all day —all day —and on Sundays the bar gives a BK shout-out with all Brooklyn beers $1 off.
• 97 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn, 718-834-0069; magneticbrooklyn.com
Mars 2112
Once you get over the sight of mute aliens in rubber-and-spandex costumes, the fake red-rock terrain of Mars 2112 can be silly fun. And gimmicky theme bars are much more appealing when they offer drinks and appetizers for half off from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week, with a DJ adding to the vibe several nights as well.
• 1633 Broadway, at 51st St., 212-582-2112; mars2112.com
Parkside Lounge
This once-sordid dive has gotten a second wind, with raucous parties and $3 beer and well drinks daily from 1 p.m. until 8 p.m.
• 317 E. Houston St., at Attorney St., 212-673-6270; parksidelounge.com
The Slide
This gay bar next to Marion's Continental (same owners) takes happy hour to the next level with 60 minutes of open bar nightly. Happy hour officially runs from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., during which time beers are $2 and well drinks $3. But from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., the cash register shuts down entirely and patrons drink for free.
• 356 Bowery, at 4th St., 212-475-7621
Thirsty Scholar,
Sometimes you do wanna go where everybody knows your name. Or if not everyone, at least the bartender. And if not your name, at least your drink. Happy Hour runs from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week — beers are $3-$4, martinis are $5, and cosmos and frozen drinks are a mere $4.
• 155 Second Ave., between 9th and 10th Sts., 212-777-6514
Welcome to the Johnsons
Seventies throwback with recession-ready drink deals: On Mondays through Thursdays from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. and on Friday and Saturday from 1 till 9 p.m. pay only $2 for Buds and well drinks. Free snacks, too — of the Doritos variety.
• 123 Rivington St., between Essex and Nrofolk Sts., 212-420-9911
always cheap
Rudy's Bar
All drinks here are cheap, but the best deal — if you've got strong tastebuds — is Rudy's Red, the house's own somewhat swill-ish brew served in plastic "buckets" for $7.75. Bonus: Free hot dogs!
• 627 Ninth Ave., at 44th St., 212-974-9169; rudysbarandgrill.com
Corner Bistro
$2 mugs of McSorley's and some of the best burgers in town ensure that there's always a line at this West Village classic.
• 331 W. 4th St., at Jane St., 212-242-9502
Holiday Cocktail Lounge
W. H. Auden once lived next door, and Trotsky across the street. Both knew a little something about the low life, and so does the clientele of this East Village landmark. All drinks run from $2.75 to a mere $4. In fact, we voted it New York's best bar if you're unemployed!
• 75 St. Marks Pl., between First and Second Aves., 212-777-9637
International Bar
Whether you're drinking whiskey on the rocks or beer in a can, you'll get change back from a $5 at this friendly dive known for its great jukebox.
• 120 1/2 First Ave., between 7th and 8th Sts., 212-777-9244
Jeremy's Ale House
Starting at 8am, an unlikely mix of construction workers, fishmongers coming off their shifts, and Wall Street suits down 32-ounce Styrofoam cups of Bud ($1.75) at this one-of-a-kind waterfront dive.
• 254 Front St., between Peck Slip and Dover St., 212-964-3537
O'Connor's
The biggest change this place has seen in the past twenty years came in 2000, when drink prices went up by 50 cents (leaving most still under $3).
• 39 Fifth Ave., Brooklyn, 718-783-9721
Mug's Ale House
Archetypal old-school tavern with $2-pint specials for both waterfront workers and starving artists.
• 125 Bedford Ave., Brooklyn, 718-486-8232
Gowanus Yacht Club
Most Smith Street hangouts charge Manhattan prices. Not so this outdoor-only glorified hot dog stand, where the Carroll Gardens hipoisie enjoys $2 PBRs.
• 323 Smith St., Brooklyn, 718-249-1321
The Village Idiot
Long before Coyote Ugly was a bar or a movie, there were girls dancing on the the bar at the Village Idiot, and owner Tom arm-wrestled besotted customers for drinks. Beers are $1.25-$3, beer pitchers are $5.50, mixed drinks are $3.25, and shots are $3. Good luck!
• 355 West 14th St., at Ninth Ave., 212-989-7334
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