Inside the newly opened Chuck’s Vintage on East 91st Street. Photo: Michael Simonson
Clothing at Chuck’s Vintage on the Upper East Side. Photo: Michael Simonson
Boots and other vintage items. Photo: Michael Simonson
Vintage dreams - Fashion icon Madeleine Cammarata’s memory lives on in the newly opened Chuck’s Vintage on the UES. Located at 173 East 91st, basement, Chuck’s Vintage originally opened on Melrose Place in LA in 2006. Madeleine made her name in fashion, modeling, and in the world of denim and was known for her celebrity customers - Steve Jobs, Dolly Parton and Robert Plant. Back in 2016, Madeleine was described in an article in an LA publication “as being an in-the-know denim damsel,” and was quoted as saying, that she “once sold 300 pairs of jeans to a customer.” The article noted that a “world renown denim archivist even saw fit to entrust her with millions of dollars worth of collectible denim,” and Madeleine sold them all. The stock in trade at Chuck’s Vintage is its quality denim and American workwear.
The down-the-stairs basement retail shop is easily missed as you walk from the CVS corner at 91st and Third, so check it out.
There’s hand-painted script on the glass door with the store’s name and a short tribute to Madeleine. At night, white lettering with the store’s name and a horseshoe logo brighten the sidewalk outside the store. On the entrance walls leading to the retail space, there’s vintage Americana in license plates, posters, a sled, Heineken and Miller High Lite signs and pics of Madeleine modeling vintage clothes. At the foot of the stairs, a bright red Texaco gas tank stands. Music plays old tunes from a 78 vinyl record player. The songs are selected by the store’s manager Sallie Rose who worked at Chuck’s Vintage on the West Coast.
Everything’s vintage. The music. The books. The clothing. Blue jeans that are on display include Strongholds found in California Gold Rush mines, WW II-Era Levi’s, Lees, and Wranglers. And there’s 1960s ladies’ high-waisted and groovy deadstock Levi’s bells and rugged military and work boots, leather bomber jackets, as well as 70s rock tees. It’s a must go.
Chuck’s Vintage at 173 East 91st, Basement is open Tues- Sat, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. For private appointments, call 646-669-7068. Or click here for the website.
Judging in Manhattan - Manhattan judges are making their mark. Residents from the LES: NY County Supreme Court Judge Adam Silvera has been designated by Rolando Acosta, Presiding Justice of the First Dept. Appellate Division, as an Associate Justice of the Appellate Term, which hears and decides appeals from the Criminal and Civil Courts for NY and Bronx Counties.
The Appellate Term also hears appeals from the Housing Part and the Small Claims Part. Silvera’s also riding high with the Appellate Division’s upholding his decision in a recent case. And NY County Civil Court Judge Lyle Frank’s preliminary injunction barring NYC police officers from accessing sealed arrest records without a court order has received widespread attention.
Online vnexplorer.net reported Frank said that “The law requires court approval for police to see those records, which include arrest records, photographs and fingerprints” and that “police can still use aggregate arrest data without violating the sealing law,” which, vnexplorer.net continued, was enacted to protect people from reputational harm.” And from the UES - NY County Supreme Court Judge Jennifer Schechter has instructed that depositions in the Summer Zervos’s defamation case against former president Trump be completed by Dec. 23 of this year.