tomorrow: friday 12/20/13 vintage gift spectacular!

tomorrow: friday 12/20/13 vintage gift spectacular!

so many great designers and vintage dealers and more - tomorrow, friday 12.20 at 220 salon 213 SW Ash St #211, Portland, OR 97204 - downtown portland...come score a deal and find a gift for everyone on your list. have a cup of tea or relaxing glass of wine and browse the goods far away from the mall madness. we are bringing some new special pieces for this event! 12 - 6pm. you also can find us tomorrow in Hollywood at 4512 NE Sandy Blvd. hours there are 12-7pm (in case you are still on the look out for an ugly sweater)!

christmas ugliness in store now!

christmas ugliness in store now! come on down to Hollywood Babylon at 4512 NE Sandy Blvd. Portland, Oregon 97213. we have tons of ugly christmas sweaters and more. check out our etsy shop in the "shop online" tab above if you are not in the Portland vicinity...

hollywood district (insider) shopping guide (revised)

dear portland shoppers: oh wow it's crazy out there! i attempted to hit the post office in nw portland yesterday and had to abort mission!! i was thankful today to find myself in lovely & calm hollywood district (except for trader joe's parking lot - dayum!) here are a few reasons to avoid the mall and downtown traffic and head to the charming diamond in the rough that is Hollywood District: >Hollywood Babylon 4512 NE Sandy Boulevard - DUH! the best place to score a sweet vintage gift for yourself, or anyone on your list. we just returned from a shopping vacation in AZ and the store is stocked with some great new and cozy items. as always, our prices can't be beat! >the post office@50th & Sandy isn't too hectic and has a handy self service postage machine (perfect for domestic holiday shipping) >Hollywood Theater 4122 NE Sandy Boulevard - the main landmark of Hollywood is a relaxing place to catch a flick and they have gift certificates and memberships which would make for a nice gift and also supports an amazing local non-profit >Yours Vintage 1627 Northeast 42nd Avenue - the coziest vintage/thrift shop in Portland, OPEN Thursday -Saturday 1 pm - 6 pm (behind the hollywood theater, next to bluefin sushi & trader joe's) >Antique Alley 2000 NE 42nd Avenue - okay this is possibly one of the main draws to the hollywood district besides the theater and hollywood shoe repair - this enormous basement level antique mall has it all - great tchochkes, furniture, records, jewelry and more...allow plenty of time to take it all in. >Cosmic Monkey Comics! 5335 NE Sandy Blvd - the coolest independent comic book store around period. they have gift certificates. >Case Study Coffee 5347 NE Sandy Blvd - next door to cosmic monkey comics!, case study is the neighborhood artisanal coffee house...it's next level good. hit them up to charge/recharge before/after shopping in hollywood. >Velo Cult Bike Shop  1969 NE 42nd Avenue - across from Antique Alley. The perfect place to take a break from shopping, have a pint of beer or cider and find a perfect gift for the cycling enthusiast in your life... >Lorena's Mexican Restaurant 4160 NE Sandy Boulevard - next to the Hollywood Theater, finally! decent family mexican food (a rarity in the Pacific Northwest). and margaritas! >Killer Burger 4644 NE Sandy Blvd - the best burger in the hood - i think it's all about the bacon. they have crazy hour from 2 - 5pm monday through thursday $4.50 for a burger and fries. >Hollywood Shoe Repair 4504 NE Sandy Blvd (open weekdays) we are blessed to be right next door to one of the most talented (and fast and affordable) cobblers ever known. he gets so much traffic, and we're grateful for the overflow visiting us at hollywood babylon! >Patti Smith West over on 42nd near Fremont (3746 NE 42nd Ave) is a great curio shop with jewelry, vintage pottery and gifts, clothing and furniture all arranged in the most lovely inspiring way. ps, i looked up patty smith portland and found this article about the other patty smith <3 alright so i'm sure i missed some amazing hollywood gems - but that was a short list, so get to it! happy holidaze everyone! xo, HB NE Sandy and 41st circa 1934 (courtesy of Vintage Portland)

inspiration: vintage holiday pinups

we are getting super excited for halloween at hollywood babylon!! here's some eye candy to get ya in the mood! (ps, we have lots of weird stuff at the store right now to create an awesome costume or find the finishing touch) xo, HB

portland flea - next sunday 10/20

hey everyone, just a heads up we will be down at portland flea once again next sunday with more fresh vintage finds! you can find us there every third sunday. location is inside union/pine and on the street outside at grand & pine (next to andy & bax). this is a great flea market with an eclectic range of vendors and vintage goods. we will be bringing some halloween costume ideas this week along with tons of new and (cheap) stuff! here are some pics from the pdx flea... Image ImageImageImageImageImageImageImage yep - there's even a photographer there who takes old timey tin-type photos... a great place to find something for everyone on your holiday shopping list! hope to see ya there* xo, HB *our brick and mortar location at 4512 ne sandy boulevard in hollywood is closed monthly on the third sunday ;-)

inspiration: westwood & mclaren

we are obviously inspired by our punk history here at hollywood babylon, and so it seems as good a time as any to credit vivienne westwood and malcolm mclaren for largely initiating the punk movement in england back in the late seventies. in researching their story and also the upcoming exhibition at the met's costume institute "Punk: Chaos to Couture” (opens may 9th) i found some amazing links and images to share...maybe punk's not dead after all... "It all goes back to the early 70’s, when Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood opened up a shop on Kings Road in London selling the favoured Teddy Boy fashions (a tailored, fitted look reminiscent of British dandyism). In search of something new, McLaren traveled to New York where he met the New York Dolls. With their tattered, worn-down, glam rock persona, the American band inspired McLaren to bring back a thrift shop mash up style that Britain desperately needed. Further inspiring Westwood and McLaren was the Situationist movement, which had come to the fore in France around the time of the Paris riots of 1968. The Dada- like anarchism of the Situationists led by Guy Debord ,combined with the ripped, safety pinned, thrift store aesthetic of the New York muscians was perfect for the new revolutionary style that McLaren had in mind. Ironically, what McLaren created was totally contradictory to what the Situationists were rebelling against. The capitalist spectacle and commodity fetishism which Debord had famously denounced, is exactly what McLaren recouped as punk's ugly, raw, deconstructed image in the form of mainstream fashion. Despite the blatant disparity, the British youth ate. that. shit. up." Image the new york dolls Image mclaren and westwood designed goods for their shop on kings road in london's chelsea district, this is where vivienne westwood got her start as a designer...the shop went through many incarnations and re-brands through the seventies from first being titled "Let It Rock", then "Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die," then "SEX",then Seditionaries and finally became known as "World's End". World's End remains open as part of vivienne westwood's global fashion empire. malcolm mclaren went on to do many things including managing the sex pistol's, making his own music and art and he's also known for helping to popularize hip hop in the early 1980s... vivienne-westwood-voyage-to-cythera_asp10142img1 one of my favorite vivienne westwood designs from her retrospective. Image vivienne westwood and malcolm mclaren back in the day... Image the sex pistols. the commentary below came from an article in the new york times regarding the upcoming "Punk: Chaos to Couture” exhibition at the met. "Still, for some punk originators the idea of leather and studs at the Met, with the imprimatur of Vogue, which co-sponsors the Costume Institute Ball, on May 6, is heresy. “Getting these high-fashion designers, what does that have to do with punk?” said Legs McNeil, who was a founder of Punk magazine in 1975. “So rich people could go slumming? Come on, give me a break.” It’s a “masturbatory fantasy for Anna Wintour and Vogue,” he added. “They always go and try to co-opt what they can’t own. They try to co-opt authenticity and turn it into something boring.” Debbie Harry, the enduring Blondie frontwoman who helped shape the downtown scene at CBGB in the 1970s alongside bands like the Ramones, Television and the New York Dolls, said the era’s style was deliberately transgressive. “We were definitely looking to be different,” she said, “to be not really fashionable, but to look very cool, to look rock ‘n’ roll.” She made outfits of cinched garbage bags and pillowcases she found on the street. Her taste wasn’t always a hit. “I almost got thrown off a bus once for wearing my underwear,” she recalled. “The bus driver screamed at me. I had on little orange satiny pink tap pants — they looked fantastic, but he was outraged that I was walking around in my skivvies. I remember using my bra as outerwear, and really getting a lot of bad looks.” But, she added, “It just felt right. It looked hot.” awesome. keep it alive yall. Image debbie harry and anya phillips in the late 1970s Image photo of blondie by chris stein *quote #1 came from here **quote #2 came from here

art at babylon: tim goodyear's 'the illages tok'yo' show featuring re-imagined vhs covers.

if you pop by hollywood babylon in the next month or so you will be in for a treat, as we are currently displaying the awesome art of tim goodyear. (you may have seen it before inside pork magazine) we kicked off the show with a bad movie night in the shop featuring deadbeat at dawn and the uninvited...friend us on Facebook to stay tuned on facebook for future events at hollywood babylon. (always free) Image ImageImageImageImage [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pKPkf9dJKw&w=420&h=315] [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX-baqOLO4g&w=420&h=315]

save the date: january 19th - hollywood babylon turns 2!

save the date: january 19th - hollywood babylon turns 2!

all day saturday, january 19th we'll be having an INSANE SALE party starts at 7pm...stop by and toast our 2 years in business with us! we'd love to see ya! hot mama salsa + drinks provided

elvis at christmas

elvis christmas elvis really embodies the holiday spirit for me - he was known for his generosity and unconditional loving personality! when i think about his message, i think of one word: LOVE! ps, thanks everyone for shopping hollywood babylon this season, we are your one stop shop for ugly christmas sweaters, classy attire, affordable vintage and good boots. wishing you all a joyous holiday season...no blue christmas! xo, HB