Quote:
Originally Posted by Slauson Slim
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I've gone to Santee Alley many times. The first time I went was with a girlfriend who liked to shop there, and in surrounding areas like the Cooper Building.
HossC posted about the Cooper Building here.
Santee Alley was really something back then (early/mid 80s). Sooooo many counterfeit goods. Bottles of name brand colognes and perfumes, for pennies on the dollar. Tons of counterfeit bags, like Gucci, etc. And all sorts of fake watches, like Rolex and TAG Heuer, real luxury stuff like that. And of course, cartons of illegally imported cigarettes without their legally-required, state excise stamp:
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I confess, I bought a
bunch of that stuff. Cigarettes, at something like half the price, were a no-brainer. I bought a bottle of my usual cologne (I believe I wore
Chanel Antaeus at the time), and for what it's worth, I couldn't tell the difference between the real thing and the counterfeit. Nor could my then-girlfriend, who had a
much better sense of smell than I have. She bought a couple of bottles of perfume, too, though I cannot remember what kind she wore.
I also bought, over the course of several years, three different "Rolex" wristwatches, a Submariner, a Datejust, and a Yacht Master.
I lost the Yacht Master at some point (thank GOD I didn't lose a genuine Rolex!!), but I still have the Submariner and the Datejust, and they still run perfectly. Back then it was MUCH easier to find counterfeit watches - I bought the Datejust on the Venice boardwalk (they used to have counterfeit goods, too), I bought the Yacht Master in Santee Alley, and I bought the Submariner on the southeast corner of 50th and Lexington in Manhattan out of a suitcase.
I'm not sure I'd buy counterfeit goods nowadays, but please do cut me a
little slack - I was about 18 or 19 at the time.
I also went to Santee Alley quite a bit in the 90s. My buddy and I would bring our girlfriends down there and go shopping. That is,
the girls would go shopping and we'd sit around smoking cigarettes and eating “Alley Dogs”, each of which is probably equally healthy for a person to consume.
GSV
Then one day, maybe early 90s(?), the city cracked down on Santee Alley. It was on all the local news broadcasts. Some sort of state or federal entity raided the place, seizing all of the counterfeit goods. It was a big story. And after that, there were no more counterfeits to be found (nor on the Venice boardwalk).
I went to the
Original Tommy's last month, and while there, a guy told me you can still buy illegally imported cigarettes
in the building at the northeast corner of Alvarado and Sixth. "Just walk in the front door, then the third door on the right" he told me, or something like that. I didn't go.
Beyond that, I've also spent a lot of time in the Fashion District in general. I always enjoy seeing people push around the bolts of fabric.
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That map is a good starting point odinthor. Thanks so much!
I'm going to have to give one of your novels a read, they sound right up my alley.
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