California Road Trip, pt. 4: Thifting in Goleta

The iceman cometh to Sleepy Hollow

What a day: I only left my bed to eat waffles and play with the Badgerettes. Now, I'm back in my warm den and thinking fondly of winter in Santa Barbara. Locals swear that seasons exist on the Central Coast, but I don't give much credence to their categories:

Thanks for rubbing it in, Santa Barbara Company

Jacaranda season versus...

www.mycoolbackgrounds.com knows what I'm talking about.
The SB Mission looked just like this in the first week of January.

...winter rose season. Bah humbug. Those thin-skinned beach people will never know the pleasure of ice skating on streets, like this local.

Thanks for the inspiration, Ossining Police Department! But I think I'll just stay under the covers...

So, other than the weather, does the Santa Barbara area have anything else to offer? Turns out, yes: thrift shopping.

I've written about Goleta's own Alpha Thrift once before. I love it, so I make a point of visiting its two Hollister Avenue stores every time I'm in town.

This year, I noticed something at the two Alpha stores that the locals have been complaining about: the prices!

See what I mean? Even if you catch the weekly half-price deal
(look for the signs about which color tabs are on sale),
it's too freaking expensive. 

Seriously, this is a THRIFT shop, right? Who's new to the pricing department, Alpha?

I was tempted by these $5 leather Børn slip-ons,
but I left them for you, just in case.

I was able to find a few beauties in the $2 "smiley-face stamp" rack, but I couldn't help feeling let down by my favorite Goleta thrift shop. So I moved on down the road, stopping next at Destined For Grace, at 5960 Hollister Ave.

Destined For Grace, which serves the children of Haiti, was offering some wild deals on Christmas decorations, and had good prices on men's and women's clothing. I am destined to return!

From Alpha or Destined For Grace, keep heading north on Hollister, then turn right onto Cortona Drive. At 6860 Cortona, you'll find another of my favorite places: Habitat for Humanity ReStore, which I also wrote about not terribly long ago.  It's big, clean, and full of stuff that I want for my own home.

Maybe I'm just getting desperate for a second bathroom in my sweet little hovel-for-four, but during this visit, I found the ReStore's bathroom items remarkably attractive.

If I bought this sink, the Badgerettes would open a public pool for Polly Pockets.

So classy, it has no place in my home, but I still LOVE it.

Reminds me of a Wayne Thiebaud painting.

Delicate, elegant, lovely. And, in my home, doomed.

These faucets remind me of a urinal, but not in an off-putting way.

ReStore's non-bathroom offerings are equally delightful.

SAWS.
Buy them all, then create your own hardware-themed homage to Wayne Thiebaud.

EXPAND-O-LIGHT!

Anyone have a 2-story tall entryway? Get this 1920s stained glass panel. Trust me.

Even though ReStore's prices are not rock bottom, they are about 25-35% of retail, which justifies a trip there before you hit the Goleta Home Despot....Or just skip The Despot altogether, and go hit the beach.




Copyright 2014, Tanya Monier