The Vintage Shop that Captured the New York City Spirit

[upbeat music]

[Suzi] And here we are, Allan.

[Allan] Are we on?

[Suzi] We're on!

[Allan] At home with Allan and Suzi.

Oh, and it's gonna be a wonderful evening.

We have lots of little surprises for you.

Like what?

I can't tell. If I tell, it won't be a surprise.

[upbeat music] - She wants size 8 platforms.

Who? Yeah, so? I don't even know what I'm doing.

[Suzi] Oh, a wedge. - Is it a wedge?

[Suzi] Yeah, it's a wedge, not a heel.

Okay, don't worry about it. A wedge. A wedge. Not- okay.

Let's see. Oh, shit.

Look up there.

[Suzi] You want to tell the story?

[Allan] No, you tell it. You have your own way.

Allan and I were married to other people.

And Allan's wife passed away. I divorced my husband.

[Allan] That's not how we met. - [Suzi] How we met?

That's what she had.

Oh! His wife was playing Mahjong, we were playing Mahjong

at his house and Allan came home, he was drunk.

I was always drunk.

Always drunk and there's all these women playing Mahjong

and I was a new face, and he goes like that, Who's that?

And we've been best friends, believe it or not.

Almost ever since, right?

[Allan] Yes, ma'am. [upbeat music]

We opened the store in 1987,

and that October, the stock market crashed.

The best thing we ever did was sell these used clothing.

[upbeat music]

Now where did, where did these come from?

[Allan] From the 80...

[Suzi] Now, we have to get it down.

Let me go get us, get the Swifter.

[phone rings] Oh, I can't even reach it.

[Allan] It'll fit you. It'll fit everybody.

Make an offer.

How much do you want to pay for it?

Just make an offer.

John Galliano loved the store.

Marc Jacobs used to be in every other day.

Alexander Wang comes in all the time,

he came in from Asbury Park. Oh, forget it.

Everyone except for Karl Lagerfeld.

They all came in.

Michael Kors is a very good friend of ours,

always supported the store.

Anyone you could possibly think of in fashion,

'cause we've been around so long.

Everyone knew us, and everyone in fashion watched our show.

[upbeat music]

I predict that Sandra Bernhard's new CD-

Yes.

Phone Sex, will be the love

to love you of the 90's and that's it.

That's a great prediction.

You would be a terrible wife.

I was! [laughing]

No script, no nothing.

No nothing, we just did it.

We just winged it. 9 o' clock every Monday night.

Right before, you know, you ever hear of Robin Byrd?

Robin Byrd was on at 9:30 and we were on at 9.

Oh, doesn't that sound lovely, Allan?

L'chaim, darling. Anyway-

L'chaim?

Yes. I can't help it, that's what my people say.

[Allan] Okay, what makes us different

is we take couture clothes, some of them new,

some old, and we mix it with vintage.

We do everything. We mix things up.

[Suzie] I think we're very creative, Allan.

[Allan] Well, I think that we're very different.

And here we are, in your living room, live.

Remember Bazaar did a story on us?

This was probably in maybe 1990,

I know what they called us, irreverent.

Which I thought was a very nice way

of putting anti-social. Anti-everything.

Horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible, horrible.

Yeah, hi Steve, what's up?

Who is this?

Yeah, I know who it is. Steve.

Allan always wanted to be famous.

Yeah. - He really did, always wanted to be famous.

I never cared about money.

I just wanted to, I liked celebrities.

[Suzi] Because he thinks he's very special

and he thinks that the world is entitled

to see the specialty.

And that's why we get along so well.

That's the truth! - Because I think he's special too.

There you go. [upbeat music]

What's this? Look at these celebrities that we had.

Robin Williams, Kim Basinger, Kevin Bacon, Marisa Tomei.

We've sold clothes to RuPaul, you know, over the years.

Yeah, we were part of the club scene back in the day.

As a matter of fact, that's how we really got discovered.

You know, the drag performers and the gay community.

They really appreciated our store before anybody.

[upbeat Latinx music]

I just pretend I'm in my aerobics class.

We're doing a lot of Latin music there.

And we make sure that we move our hips

so we don't need hip replacements.

[Allan] Now, Suzi. - [Suzi] We have Anthony,

my favorite model. Black in the front, woo.

Do we see Anthony's buns? Wait a minute, Anthony.

Turn around again, we want to see your buns.

No? Everyone wants to see your buns!

[Allan] Suzi, sell the outfit. [doorbell ringing]

[Suzi] Oh, it's Anthony.

Anthony, you should have used your key.

[Anthony] I don't know where my key is.

Put that in the back.

[upbeat piano music begins]

[Anthony] I still feel like I'm 18,

and that's how old I was when I first started working here.

At the time, it was new.

Most people look down on, you know, secondhand clothes,

you know, from the 80's.

But we made it kind of trendy and work.

They were my favorite shoes and they belonged to Elton John.

When I first came here, the heel was broken.

[piano music continues]

Moving into the city was such a big deal,

you know, for any young kid and it all was at.

[piano music continues, rain falls]

[Suzi] Oh please, New York was the greatest.

First of all, in the 80's there was the supper club,

there was MARRS, there was, what was the other one?

With the slide coming down?

U.S.A. - Club U.S.A.

[Allan] Palladium. - [Suzi] We have a Palladium.

[Allan] Stringfellows.

[Suzi] Oh, Stringfellows was a different kind of club

but we went there.

As a matter of fact, that's where we met Keith Haring.

Yeah, right.

[Suzi] This city has changed because it's become a place

for people who can afford to live here.

And even the things that you read about

that are recently opening, they're nothing.

Like the girl that was in here, she presses juice.

I mean, come on!

The brown one with the flowers, the silky one.

She wants it.

I just think this is a little big.

[Anthony] Let's take a look.

[Suzi] When Anthony tells them

Could you puke? Could you puke? I'm leaving.

I think I'm leaving.

When Allan and Anthony get here, they bullshit so much

and women love to hear things from a man,

even if it's a lie.

I think we had a very good run.

[Allan] I would say so.

[Suzi] I think we had a great run.

The best thing was, we let life happen,

we didn't have a plan, and look at the outcome.

♪How can I begin to show you that I care? ♪

♪ Though we're apart ♪

♪ You remain so deep in my heart ♪

♪ [Vocalizing] Why can't we be friends? ♪

[Suzi] I think we're always gonna have a need

for each other. And isn't that what it's all about?

Like, I need your company. I need your opinion.

I need you to make me laugh. This is what it's all about.

♪ I, I really care [doorbell rings] ♪

I don't know who it is.

[Suzi] Maybe he wants to say goodbye to you.

I don't know him. Hi, can I help you?

Hi there. Yeah, we saw it's your last day,

can we look through?

Nothing to look at. Nothing?

All this stuff is going. Oh, it is?

It's sold, everything's sold. - Okay, well good luck!

Thank you.

I didn't like him.

What kind of fucking attitude is that?

What a fucking nasty little fuck.

Did you see he's listening nasty?

[Suzi] Let's go smack them.

Didn't say good luck. Nothing.

Can I just tell you something?

Please, even though there are other places

like Beaches and all that, there's nobody like us.

I mean, look at us.

[laughing]

Oh, God.

[upbeat music]