Dunl / July 17, 2005 10:15 PM

Milwaukee!

D Arthur / July 17, 2005 11:24 PM

Start cruising the alley's unless your a sucker. My house is full of stuff I didn't pay squat for and people are amazed at my collection.You can't rock jack in the newby hoods Wicker Park, Bucktown, Wrigleyville. You gots to hit the true blue hoods as in blue collar hoods.They toss out amazing stuff and I rack more than my fair share of it. Some don't toss, they call the local vet supporting thrift racket but this stuff is bought up by dealers who have the time to cruise low price thrift stores etc for $$$$ markups. Guess who is paying the piper. You sucker! Hit the alley's, that is where the fight is being fought but if I see you in one of my alley's you will get a chair leg wrapped around your head.

sweetwater / July 18, 2005 2:36 AM

The UK.
It's the kind of place where you go to a
field w/ a metal dectector and find
Roman belt buckles.

Pete / July 18, 2005 9:17 AM

Sandwich Antique Fair. Definitely worth the road trip.

http://www.antiquemarkets.com/

And in my younger days growing up in McHenry County, my family would drive up to Richmond, IL several times a year for a day of antiquing, along with a stop at the incomparable Anderson's Candy Shop.

http://www.andersonscandyshop.com/

D Arthur / July 18, 2005 9:40 AM

I told you suckers. Start digging in the trash. What, are you to good for the trash. AAAAAAAAHHHHH!

carl / July 18, 2005 9:42 AM

The Jukebox collectors show at the pheasant run in November and April.

eep / July 18, 2005 10:27 AM

Relatives' houses. I got all of my antique furniture from my grandparents' house, and some antique china pieces from my great aunt. My favorite by far is a dinette set my grandparents bought in 1932. Porcelain tabletop, leather-seated chairs, and the price tag still stuck to the underside of the table reads $11. It's now migrated to my friend's kitchen, with the promise that she'll give it back someday.

leah / July 18, 2005 10:34 AM

The Broadway Antique Mall will woo you with her purty Bakelite case and huge Heywood Wakefield collection, their prices are steep and the staff has been less than friendly to me and my friends on more than one occasion.

That's why I prefer the Edgewater Antique mall, just up the street from BAM at 6314 N. Broadway. Whoever selects the vendors has great taste and their prices are often significantly lower than their neighbor's a few blocks down. And they're always friendly and helpful ta boot! Did I mention the shyfriendly dog that hangs out there, too?

kim / July 18, 2005 10:43 AM

Lemont is good but Blue Island is better, try the shops arounf Vermont St? Evrytime I go I find something good compared to other places where I am lucky if i even find anything worth stopping to look.

Benjy / July 18, 2005 11:07 AM

I mostly just ended up with stuff from my grandparents' downstate home when they sold it and moved to Chicago. They really had a sense of style not often seen in those parts -- I got myself a original Nelson Sunburst clock, some midcentury Danish pewter candlesticks, a tribal drum, some midcentury walnut bowls... if only I could have removed the real zebra-hide covered bar cabinet from the wall!

Ron / July 18, 2005 11:08 AM

Garbage picking was once an excellent way to find amazing antiques. This has all changed. The swarms of metal haulers who roam the alleys are now picking up anything old. Many antique dealers are sitting by the metal yards in the mornings and buying from the metal haulers. The dealers are educating the haulers on what to look for. One dealers even prints up weekly flyers in spanish showing the haulers what to pick up. If you go behind Sams Liquors in lincoln park, you'll find Kingsbury street. There you'll see vans and trucks parked on the sides of the street. Those are the buyers. Each one specializes in something different. There's a bike guy who only buys bicycles, a guy who buys furniture and the antique dealers. It's all very "on the sly". They treat it like a big secret.

The alleys ain't what they used to be.

Thurston / July 18, 2005 11:23 AM

Definitely far flung and incovenient, but if any of you ever find yourself in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the San Telmo neighborhood has great antique stores and a lively Sunday flea market. In the country's hey day around 1900 is was as wealthy as France and has the imported European antiques to prove it. The favorable exchange rate and improving but nonetheless dismal economy make it a great place to buy nice old stuff. Great steak there too!

roderick / July 18, 2005 2:58 PM

Ron, you were in Lincoln Park and your flesh didn't burn?

That said, if I were in the market for antiques, I would get them from Ron.

Emerson Dameron / July 18, 2005 4:36 PM

Stop! Look! in Uke Village. But I think that's just me.

Emerson Dameron / July 18, 2005 4:37 PM

While you're in the neighborhood: Ukranian Village corner taverns are well stocked with vintage alcoholics, those old men whose hands tremble as they nudge dimes across the bar.

Ron / July 18, 2005 5:28 PM

Stop! Look! (1305 N. western avenue )is run by a guy named Celio. It's actually called Celio Segunda. Celio is one of the best pickers in Chicago. He's really into outsider and folk art. Everytime I stop by there he's reading an auction catalogue or an art reference book. He also sells on maxwell street on sundays. The trick with Celio is he keeps the really interesting things in the back of the store. Keep asking him for "the good stuff" and you'll never know what will pop out. He also has a ton of pickers who stop by and sell him wonderment. Each day he has something different.

You don't see mant shops like his left in the city

christian / July 18, 2005 6:20 PM

I collect typewriters and some camera equipment, sometimes I find stuff at resale shops, flea markets and garage sales. If I'm looking for antiques, I'll go to St. Charles and look for bargains, or just jump in the car and go to Indiana, you would be amazed at the amount of mid century modern stuff you can find in South Bend resale shops.

miss mann / July 18, 2005 10:11 PM

Not telling. And West Virginia.

Ron / July 19, 2005 12:26 AM

Sorry, too much coffee today.

Lou / July 19, 2005 12:42 PM

I have patience.