ANTIQUING IN ALTON, ILLINOIS!!!
Are you ready for another adventure with Ken and Liz?????? Tuesday was another beautiful day in Missouri and we just had to get out and enjoy the sunshine and the breezes. We had been talking for a while about going to Alton and checking out their antique stores .. Madonna and Mike had been there and loved it. Somewhere in our "travels" we picked up a book of Antique Shops throughout Missouri and Illinois and Ken quickly found the book and made a list of all the Antique Shops in Alton .. there were 13 of them .. of those 13 .. 10 of them were located on Broadway .. you can't get much easier than that .. LOL!!
After a quick breakfast we were in the car and on the road .. ready for a day of antiquing!!
This is rather a strange looking bridge to me but Ken said it won a big prize for it's architecture!!
I may not have been greatly impressed with the bridge but it did take us over into ILLINOIS!!
One of the first things I spied as we got into Alton was this beautiful mural painted on one of the buildings!!
This was actually a pottery shop and we didn't go in .. but I loved their flower display out front!!
STEVE'S ANTIQUES .. this was the first shop we went into. OH MY .. Steve had a LOT of antiques .. primitives .. and collectibles .. but everything was PILED!!! Do you watch "American Pickers" on TV???? This was a huge building with room after room piled full of "treasures" but you would really have to do some digging to find something .. YIKES!! Mike and Frank (from the Pickers) would love it!!! ME .. I like the shops that have things at least half-way organized so you can see what's there .. and PRICED .. that helps too!!! I've wished ever since we headed home that I had taken some pictures inside the place so you could see just what a mess it was .. Arrgghhhh!!!
This is an Antique Mall .. there were 3 different shops AND a Café inside. The shops were very nicely arranged and organized .. seemed like Paradise after walking through "Steve's" place!! They had public bathrooms too .. WHEW!! After the long drive there we definitely needed a bathroom break .. I wasn't about to ask Steve if he had one .. wouldn't even want to think what it might look like .. LOL!!
Country Meadows Antiques is upstairs ..
And then when you get back outside you go down the ramp at the side of that store to get to this one .. sorry I forgot the name of this one!!!
I just liked the looks of these two buildings!!
This shop was closed .. instead of a sign saying "CLOSED' on the door the sign said "SHUT" .. I guess the owner of this one had a good sense of humor!!
Those two pink things sticking up in the air are a part of the Argosy Casino!!
You can see the bridge that we crossed to get into Alton .. notice the two things sticking up with things running off of them!!
One end of the bridge!
AH HA!! A Resale Shop in the middle of all these Antique Shops!!!
Of course we had to go in!!! I didn't find any "treasures" persay .. but I did find 2 blouses for only $3.00 each and a pair of black REBOK tennis shoes .. looked like they have never been worn .. for only $2.50!!!
A better picture of the Argosy .. and a barge moving slowly past it!!
I didn't know Lincoln had ever practiced in Alton!!
The sign above this picture about Lincoln .. was on a podium at the side of this building .. so I assume this is the Ryder building that the sign is talking about!
We went down this way searching for one of the Antique Shops that was NOT on Broadway .. we never did find it!!
However we did eventually make it to Fast Eddie's Bon Air .. this is a very very popular bar / restaurant in the St. Louis area!! Very highly advertised!! I'm looking at it and thinking "Oh Boy"!! Was not much impressed!!
As you can see by the Burgers on the grill .. this is one VERY POPULAR place!!!
That's Ken hiding behind the pole .. actually he wasn't really hiding .. he had gone to get some napkins and was handing them to me (the white blur on the right) but I wasn't there .. I was up snapping a picture that he walked into .. LOL LOL LOL!!
Once I got my FAT EDDIE'S BURGER (1/2 lb. of Hamburger for 99 cents) and ate a couple of bits I knew why this place was so popular!! Love that charcoal flavor .. Yummmmmmm!! And a great price!!
After lunch at Fast Eddie's we used our GPS to find the last of the listed Antique Shops ..
I have a sad tale to tell you later about this one!! I broke a $75.00 pitcher!! This place was filled with glass stuff .. nic nacs .. china .. whatever. Ken didn't stay in there long .. once he saw it was full of glass .. he said he was going out to the car .. that he felt like a bull in a china shop .. LOL!! I should have gone out to the car too .. I was in the third very small room of the place .. packed with shelves and the shelves were full. The lovely pitcher you see in the picture below was sitting on the floor in front of a set of shelves .. I picked up an interesting old glass jar from one of the shelves above the pitcher .. decided I didn't want the jar .. when I sat it back on the shelf I guess I didn't set it far enough back because when I removed my hand .. you guessed it .. the jar fell off the shelf and of course hit the pitcher setting below and broke the handle off .. YIKES!! A $75.00 pitcher!! Of course the lady who owns the place came in .. she asked if I was okay .. I said I was okay but the pitcher wasn't and showed her what I had done. Of course I had to pay for it .. BUT .. she very kindly took the $75.00 price tag off .. told me she had only paid $35.00 for it and that she'd had it long enough she would probably be marking it down anyway so she would only charge me $20.00!! Bless her heart!! It made me a bit sick to pay $20.00 for a pitcher that I didn't really even like but I am just thankful that she didn't expect me to pay the $75.00!!!
Here is the poor pitcher .. Ken has it down in his shop at the moment .. he's gluing the handle pieces back on and clamping them. I'm thinking MAYBE I could put some tall dried weeds in it and set it somewhere. What do you think????
After this fiasco we were ready to leave town .. too bad we didn't leave BEFORE we found this one .. LOL!!!
We didn't find a lot of "treasures" to buy in Alton .. but I enjoy looking as much as I enjoy buying .. so it was a great day!!
These are my few "treasures" .. an old Mason jar .. $15.00 .. pretty high but I've never seen one like this! Coca Cola tin .. $1.00. Old level .. $2.00. The two Morton Salt advertisement tiles $2.00 each.
On the front of the jar it says MASON .. PATENT NOV 30, 1858
On the bottom of the jar it says PAT NOV .. and there's a 46 in the center of the bottom .. so I'm thinking MAYBE they were made in 1946 NOT 1858. It doesn't matter to me .. I like the jar because It's something I've never seen before .. makes it special to me!!!
The Coca Cola tin I like because it has the various Coca Cola advertisements on it .. and for only $1.00 .. couldn't possible pass that up!!! Ken found it for me .. HE'S LEARNING .. LOL!!
When I first moved in here Ken helped me gather up his ollllddd tools so I could display them .. I bought the level to add to the old tool display!!!
That's it for our Antiquing in Alton .. it was a beautiful day and we had a great time. You don't have to come home with a trunk full of "treasures" to have a great time .. the biggest treasure is the memory of a day well spent with someone you love!!!
JUST IN TIME!!!
I so enjoyed your trip with you!!The pics were great!!Your hamburger looked delicious! I liked your treasures too! You will always remember the pitcher!!Ken did a good
ReplyDeleteJob fixing the handle.I like it!!!
The Pitcher is not quite as ugly as you said it was. I kinda like it!
ReplyDeleteIrene