By Monica Dahir
Literally all of Baltimore’s Hampden is W 36th Street. It’s one convenient street for all your thrifti/antique/ hipster/old-smelly-thing needs.
What is this place? Why is it so Jesus??
If you are walking down W 36th St, Hampden Junque will be one of the first antique/thrift stores you come across. It currently has an impressive storefront filled with Christian iconography-- a lot more Jesus than most people see in one place.
Why is it so Jesus? I have no idea, but apart from that, this place is exactly what it says: a junk + antique shop.
1006 W 36th Street
843 W 36th Street
One of the most common things found at these antique/thrift stores are cute & overpriced plates and kitchenware.
The second most popular item are old, creepy dolls and toys. At some point , someone thought it was a good idea to make these-- it wasn’t.
This elf is horrifying.
The Parisian Flea, like many of the stores here are a lot larger than they seem. Most of these stores use one or two floors-sometimeseven three.
This back room has a door that leads to the outside and on days when its hot out, this room is a blessing. It also doesn’t smell as old.
This store knonws how to look as cute and inviting as possible. But that doesn’t really change much-this store is just as expensive as the other ones, it just looks nicer.
3554 Roland Avenue (the one store not on W 36th)
Charlotte Elliot is by far the most surprising store in Hampden. Not only is it aggrssively orange purple in contrast to the rest of the buildings here, but it atually covers two storefronts and is larger than the other stores currently there. Both sides of the store offer very different experiences in their products on display and the kind of old-thing smell.
837 W 36th Street
The left side of Charlottle Elliott is a book store. It’s filled with bookshelves and tables with stacks on stacks of books. The topics of the book have a huge range: yachting encycolpedias to Japanese art symbolism.
Most bookstores have space for people to sit or stand and read as well, this store does not. Its very limited on space apart from a few small isles and some space in a back room.
There is a bizarre abundance of African art decorating the room.
It smells like that romantacised bookstore smell, but older. This is like your grandparents reminiscing about how they met in a weird bookstore-- how they can’t believe its been so long since they saw so-and-so book and you’re spacing out because you’ve heard this story 50 times.
The other side of Charlotte Elliot looks a lot like the other thift/antique stores. And like those other stores, it has a second level: a delightful little basement.
The lighting is dim-- theres only string lights across the entire ceiling and a few lamps on tables. Its a low ceiling too, and its filled with dresses, accessories, hats, belts, scarves... Theres a surprising number of what looks like old prom dresses.
This area is a cute and intimate surprise.
But it also smells the worst down here. The old-thing smell is significantly more potent the farther you go in.
833 W 36th Street
Milk + Ice Vintage has a slightly different aesthetic to it than the other thrift + antique shops in Hampden: it doesn’t look old. It doesn’t smell either. Milk + Ice is more of a brandname store than a thrift store. It carries clothes that are actually thrifted, and its own brand of “vintage styled” clothes. The antiques sold are really interesting here. It has a range of overpriced products going from taxidermy insects and animals to documents and art.