Accidental Vacation Kitsch

Submitted by Markydoodle August 13th, 2010
Certifikitsch Winner

I’m really not a shopper. But a place that I stumbled onto on vacation this year didn’t feel like a store.

Everywhere I looked, and I mean everywhere, there were very interesting items for sale.

And once I’d take a photo of something, I’d realize the things around it were also cool.

Owned by Margaret “Gritt” Benton, the on-duty clerk told me the place doesn’t even have a website.

Suddenly it occurred to me that if I had the time, I’d want to pick up and look at everything in the store.

And then I thought, “are people noticing that I’m taking pictures like a maniac?”

And not buying anything?

So I picked up the first thing I could find that I thought would be easy to transport back to Colorado.

It’s actually very good, and while the cover is provocative, it’s a brief cultural history of the Hawaiian Islands once discovered by Captain Cook. Sharon Britt, the author, is a well-known photographer in the area, and self-published the book. Yellowfish Trading Company. Hanalei, Hawaii.

4 Responses to “Accidental Vacation Kitsch”

  1. Allee Willis

    So many great things! Though this looks like a very expensive shop. I have a lot of Hawaiiana but all from thrift shops. Hawaii is such a great state for souvenirs.

    Let us know how the book is. It’s certainly an interesting cover.

  3. k2dtw

    PS…Perfect full circle???… They must being buying/shipping back to Kauai all the vintage Hawaiiana that everyone bought and took home with them the first time???