A few times a year we take a road trip to La Crosse, WI. A beautiful city along the Mississippi River. The city’s downtown streets are lined with old brick buildings that radiate character and style. La Crosse is a college town and along these historic streets you’ll find coffee shops, breweries, unique shops and our favorite place, Pearl Street Books, a mecca of used books, and new. With limited time this visit, we spent hours in the bookstore and a bit of browsing at The Antique Center of La Crosse. Antiquing is like searching for a needle in a haystack for me. There is nothing I need, but have a few items on my radar I hope to find. Old Pyrex mixing bowls in pink and turquoise and vintage linens in perfect condition. The mixing bowls are always priced over $100. I cannot justify spending that when I plan on using them regularly, and have unfortunately broken a few in the past. I stay hopeful that someone, someday, will have one priced for less. After having fun trying on peacoats, furs and hats from the 1940’s through 1970’s, all of which were too large or too small, we headed out to book shop! I did leave with a linen that exudes springtime happiness.
Little red birds.
My Pearl Street Bookstore finds.
I swear, every time we come here, I score the most amazing and fun vintage books! The book with the cat on the cover is titled The French Cat, and resembles my cat, Jean-Paul. I love finding books with photography from vintage France, Spain and Italy, especially if it features the Mediterranean!
A glimpse inside.
I spotted my husband sitting in a corner reading. It’s easy to get lost in here. He also finds amazing books that he’s wanted to read and so many that seem interesting. And they usually are! For used book prices, you can’t go wrong!
I mentioned that there’s nothing I need, but found this mirror at a local antique store for a cheap! And had the perfect spot for it!
Not vintage, but definitely vintage flare. Anything polka dot is timeless!
Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse!