Cheap Vinyl, Baby Dolls and more at The Thing
When I came up with what I’ve decided might be my best Halloween costume ever, Dooneese from SNL’s Lawrence Welk Show parody, I needed only thing to make it complete: baby doll hands. This didn’t seem like a hard thing to acquire, so obviously I waited until the last minute. Well, not only are normal, non-talking/diaper wetting baby dolls hard to find but they are damn EXPENSIVE (when I inquired about this to the owner of a toy store: “Well when’s the last time you tried to buy a baby doll?” Touche.). But then, there it was… my golden beacon of baby doll hand hope… legendary thrift store The Thing in Greenpoint!
Not only is it where I found a baby doll for a mere $3, but it is a vinyl lover’s paradise. Yes, it’s all unsorted. Yes, it’s all dusty. But each album is only $2, making an afternoon in The Thing’s chaos vortex worth your time if you’re into that kind of thing. I also found an Amadeus VHS tape for $2 (I know what you’re thinking, but I totally see a VHS revival happening one day!), and some awesome old magazines from the 70s.
Had I had more time would have checked out the books, posters, old photos and completely random assortment of other things crammed into every spare inch of the space. It is an awesome place, but certainly not a clean, organized, comfortable place by any means, creating its love/hate relationship with anyone who walks through the door. But with time and maybe some rubber gloves, you’re bound to find something to brag to your friends about for years to come.
The Thing
1001 Manhattan Ave (btn Huron and Greene Streets)
[Greenpoint]
