Pachute

Since 1985, D. L. Cerney has been a treasure-trove for any lover of vintage clothing. Heedless of changing fashion and consumer trends, as well as the general loss of public appreciation for well-made, long lasting, beautiful clothing that they have noticed, creators Linda St. John and Duane Cerney continue to stay true to their increasingly rare style. The creation of D. L. Cerney was entirely serendipitous: Linda and John arrived in Manhattan in 1984 to visit a friend with the intention of staying only for the week. Instead, they fell in love with the city. The ease with which they obtained their much-loved, first location on 7th Street was like “magic, " as was the contents of their store. As great admirers of vintage clothes, both Linda and Duane used all of their money throughout their 20s to amass the collection — culminating in the 26-foot U-Haul full of unworn, vintage clothes in the original factory boxes that they would sell in their new store. Knowing their collection was finite and irreplaceable, Linda and Duane began to slowly reproduce the vintage clothing they loved, relying on their far-reaching background with clothing design and creation. Linda taught herself to sew when she was 12 and always loved the beauty of well-made clothing. "We were so poor I would go to the junk stores. I looked at what rich ladies were throwing away and knew it was out of style, but marveled at the quality, " Linda explained. "And the quality of clothing back then lasted until around the late 60s because the consumer… expected quality for their money. Quality’s out the window now — it’s all hype, advertising, and just total BS. "Linda creates “statement maker” clothing in the style of the 1930s through 60s and emphasizes “quality, flattering fit, and beautiful fabrics. ” After closing their 7th St. location in 2013 and opening a studio in upstate New York, in 2017 the East Village once again had the good fortune of having D. L. Cerney open in the neighborhood. Today on 9th Street, D. L. Cerney enjoys a dedicated following of long-term customers and newcomers alike. The store also frequently provides clothes for period piece TV shows as well as numerous Broadway plays, including The Color Purple, Memphis and South Pacific. Linda's designs are influenced by Broadway, old movies, her research and her own memories. As we walked through her store, she excitedly pointed out a few of her favorites, including brightly patterned blouses in the style she remembers her aunts wearing, the timeless, high-waisted “field trouser” that dominate almost all old Hollywood movies and a row of reversible, wool jackets in the style of the '50s reversible jacket fad. Passing by a patterned tent dress with wide, square front-pockets, she plucked it off the rack and deemed it perfect for a day at the beach “with a pair of little red tennis shoes. ”D. L. Cerney not only displays clothing, but is also Linda's studio. “When I’m not busy with people, I am working with all my projects, ” she said. These projects include her critically acclaimed memoir, Where Dogs Go to Die, as well as her exhibit of dolls, 1000 Skinny Girls in a Dirt Yard, shown in the American Visionary Art Museum. The dolls’ clothing features junk food wrappers, potato bags and other traditionally discarded items. Linda is especially frustrated that many fashion businesses use plastic in their fabrics and wishes that more people would be interested in investing in clothing with fabrics that are wonderful, last for a long time, and naturally decompose.

Amanda Dolan and Meagan Colby have a wild, wacky, sparkly, and generally outrageous sense of style. On 9th street, they fit right in. Spark Pretty, their pop-up shop turned permanent storefront, has garnered plenty of attention since opening in the East Village in September 2017. The Manhattan Sideways team was eager to learn more about the story behind the store, and so we caught up with Amanda and Meagan on a quiet Tuesday in January. After stepping inside, the term “visual lifestyle brand” will make perfect sense to even the most fashion-hapless visitor. Amanda and Meagan have transformed the space from floor to ceiling with a spectacular collage of posters, lights, memorabilia, and clothing that is a work of art in itself. The design is anything but random. It does not take long to realize that everything has been carefully curated to reflect a particular aesthetic from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, and that when it comes to the clothing, a great deal of effort has gone into acquiring each vintage dress, pant, jumpsuit, skirt, jacket, and curated T-shirt. In fact, Spark Pretty is the result of a lifelong passion for iconoclastic style. Amanda, who grew up in Greenwich, CT, stuck out among her peers who dressed in the "latest shades of beige. " She cites childhood visits to thrift shops with her grandmother as one of the reasons she enjoys looking different. Meanwhile, in California, Meagan made fashion statements of her own, whether it was with purple hair, piercings, or a pair of oversized dad jeans. The two women agree that they were lucky. They always knew who they were and what they wanted to wear to reflect their personalities. Careful not to come off as shaking their fingers at the younger generation, the pair insist that searching for buried treasures in bins and boxes helped them hone their personal style in a way that has become less common in the internet age. "Sometimes you don’t know what you are looking for until you find it, " Meagan admitted. The two friends first met as stylists working at Betsey Johnson, but when the retail chain filed for bankruptcy, they decided to strike out on their own. As part of their inventory at Spark Pretty, they have a selection of one-off items from the Betsey Johnson showroom. Both women agreed that working at Betsey Johnson was their "apprenticeship. " After over fifteen years of friendship, road trips, and shopping, the Spark Pretty brand was born. Now, along with in-house designer Thomas Knight (whose custom work has appeared on Usher, Lady Gaga, Madonna, and Rihanna), they are sharing their treasures with the world. During our conversation, something else became clear: Amanda and Meagan are committed to the East Village community. When it came time to decide on a permanent location, they discovered that 9th street made perfect sense. For one, it is a great shopping street with funk that fits the Spark Pretty vibe. More than that, they immediately recognized that it is a real neighborhood with a "tight knit family of fellow small business owners, " the type of place where they can plant real roots. That is not to say that running the store is easy. Even if their work is a labor of love, there is still plenty of labor involved and Amanda and Meagan have set high expectations for themselves. “9th Street is magical, ” said Amanda. "This is our little jewel box. "

The newest installment to 9th Street's vintage wear clothiers is one that specializes in fashion from the 1920's, 30's and 40's. Scattered throughout there are antique dolls and toys, taxidermied animals and many more oddities.

Brookelynn Starnes, owner of this vintage-inspired boutique, always enjoyed shopping on 9th Street... so when she decided to open up a store in Manhattan, she did not have to contemplate too long on the perfect location. Brookelynn certainly appreciates the foot traffic that a street like 9th brings to her shop, but she has worked hard to develop a loyal customer base and believes that this is the real secret to her success. She is grateful to these people and loves the relationships she has built over the years — both here and in her other location in Park Slope. Brookelynn, a designer for many years, has made the decision to focus on other labels for the store rather than creating them herself, for now. She is "super duper selective, " carrying quality clothing with a range of price points. Always trying to keep her pieces "fresh and current, " she is constantly following the Indie cult both here in the States and abroad. "I am piece driven, rather than brand. If I find something awesome, then I just have to have it. " She researches "like crazy" both online and at trade shows, and she learns a great deal from her international clientele. In addition, Brookelynn often accompanies her husband, owner of Rivington Guitars on 4th Street, and roams the country looking for both vintage clothing for Cloak & Dagger and guitars.

What happens when a parole officer and high school teacher quit their jobs to start a clothing store? You get Ibiza NYC, a shop as colorful and free spirited as its owners. Chrystyna Hordijenko a Johnny Husiak opened Ibiza after vacationing there two years earlier. The pair was taken by the island's jet-setting glamour and "sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll style nightlife, " which they wanted to bring back to New York. Both knew that their career shifts were significant but right, as they were still able to recall what they thought to themselves as they made the leap: "This is so much more interesting. "Though they have been business partners for over forty years, their friendship dates back even further. Chrystyna and Johnny met at nine and twelve years old as neighbors living in Little Ukraine, a subset of the East Village. In the beginning, the bold colors and textiles characteristic of Ukrainian clothing informed the store's style. With customers like Meryl Streep, Whoopi Goldberg, and Susan Sarandon, they evidently succeeded in preserving the glamour that inspired the shop's inception decades earlier. Certainly not an unfamiliar tale to many businesses, but Ibiza might win the prize for having moved the most times while still managing to survive. After some thirty-five years, Johnny and Chrystyna relocated from University Place to Broadway across form the The Strand bookstore in 2009. They were there for five years and then settled in Tribeca for about four years. They uprooted again in 2018 for what they consider to be the best retail block in the East Village. "Basically, we've been retail nomads since about 2009 but we're quite happy where we are now, and thankfully, business is definitely picking up, " Johnny commented. Upon their move to East 9th, their style drifted from Ibiza's 1970s nightlife toward modern Indian-inspired styles. The store's everyday clientele, however, reflects its lasting appeal, as Chrystyna and Johhny report that they still dress customers from the shop's earlier days who have returned with their own children.

The ice cream at Alphabet Scoop is refreshing in more ways than one: Managed by Robbie Vedral, Alphabet Scoop is an extension of Father’s Heart Ministry, which has been focused on empowering the neighborhood youth in the Lower East Side since 2005. Robbie, for his part, has always believed that if you take care of your employees, your employees will take care of you—in this case, those employees just so happen to be high schoolers from the East Village. Under the wishes of his parents, who are still pastors of the church next door, Robbie has taken it upon himself to hold Alphabet Scoop to an uncompromising standard, always ensuring that things are done right. From a background of 25 years in retail, Robbie has found that he can learn from anyone’s mistakes - including his own. He has, in this vein, adjusted the shop’s schedule to keep it open all year; previously it was just a summer stop, but Robbie found that being a seasonal location made it more difficult for customers to anticipate when Alphabet Scoop would be in business. So, now, rather than seasonal hours, Alphabet Scoop boasts seasonal flavors. Pistachio flavor, a summer 2019 special, comes highly recommended by the Manhattan Sideways team. Alphabet Scoop is also constantly experimenting with new flavors suggested to them by customers, so if you’ve been saving up that million-dollar ice cream flavor idea, Alphabet Scoop might just be the place to make it a reality. The “sweet n’ salty” flavor is proof of the potential here, as it was suggested by one of the shop’s  younger customers. While the spritely New Yorkers that work in the shop are paid for their work, Alphabet Scoop is also a non-profit. The mission, transparently, is as stated on the walls: “Justice & Sprinkles for all. ” The kids, typically between the ages of 14 and 16, learn all aspects of the business, from hands on skills such as making ice cream to managerial skills like taking inventory. The goal of Alphabet Scoop is to encourage maximum involvement from its employees, so they are invited to help make decisions about the business. Robbie told us a story of a young woman, for example, who has worked in the shop for close to two years, and who was initially quite difficult to work with - but with patience and persistence from Robbie and other employees, the young woman grew to better understand the mission of Alphabet Scoop, and now even has keys to the shop. Robbie’s work at Alphabet Scoop shows the importance of creating strong foundations for young people, as well as how truly influential small businesses can be in their communities. Stop by the shop - any time of year - to help Robbie make his impact.