If you love old things … faded postcards, pre-loved cufflinks, rusty road signs and silver cigarette cases … if you’re into 1980s ephemera, from original Atari consoles to Sega Playstation’s rarest games, from Garfield figurines to Mickey Mouse phones … then my hometown has you covered. And then some.

One of my favorite things to do when I head home is to block out two to three hours to go antique/vintage/nostalgia hunting. There’s fashion and custom refurbishing. We have a Mexican metal shop. We’ve also got a Museum of Fond Memories. What’s that, you ask? Well … what does it sound like? It’s a place where yours truly scored an original poster from the book signing tour for “Still Life With Woodpecker,” by Tom Robbins.

Elvira cut-outs to Spuds Mackenzie advertisements … tattered paperbacks to ancient postcards … the stacks here smell of dust and do, indeed, illicit Fond Memories.

Here’s where to shop, should you find yourself in Birmingham.

Jim Reed Books & The Museum of Fond Memories

If you knocked over a tall stack of paperbacks in this place, you could set off a fluttering, musty domino effect. The 50,000-title store smells fantastic. It’s that old paperback “paper” smell. Remember bookstores that weren’t Barnes & Nobel? Yeah. Me too. Owner Jim Reed is a true character and his collection is carefully cataloged and extends far past what you see in the shop. Disappear in the way back and leaf through celebrity headshots. Inhale. Grab a random book and read the first five pages. Or, inquire about buying yourself a signed edition of something you’ve long loved. I’m considering their tattered movie cutout of Elvira, but I’m just not sure it would tie the whole room together.

What’s On Second

The joke in town is that What’s On Second is now located on First Avenue. For many years it was one block over, but it didn’t lose any charm in the move. A sprawling, loft space contains highly organized collections from the late 1800s to the 1990s. It’s a bygone toy store on steroids. There are Batman, Duck Tales, Alvin & The Chipmunks and Fraggle Rock figurines. California Raisins by the plastic bucket full. They have not only Atari and Nintendo games, but entire working consoles. Shop for vintage costume jewelry, massive metal beer signs, hat boxes, bottles, clocks, Heinz pickle posters, rotary phones … and my personal favorite––stacks upon stacks of vintage postcards. They have them separated by state and, for Alabama, by city. You can browse and find a few to save as keepsakes or to send to friends.

Zoe’s in Forest Park

photo courtesy of Zoe’s in Forest Park

The visual is wonderful. Quirky mannequins in the windows are wearing everything from couture, Sunday ’60s dresses to super-hero capes and wigs. Inside, it’s organized not only by clothing item type, but also by color. It’s Willy Wonka for women’s wear, or men’s apparel too. Plus, they have two tortoiseshell kitties. One is friendly. The other is … well … often going spastic after pretending to be friendly. You’ll figure it out.

Stray Cats

One of our newer shopping options (only around since 1999), Stray Cats is a massive garage shed setting that stocks custom-built, antique signs of all shapes, sizes and materials. They repurpose old barn slates into tables and craft candelabras from cast-off beams. It’s the only place in town where you can get something very old custom crafted into something new.

Frontera Iron

Everyone needs a two-foot scrap metal chicken. I may not need a busted-up Elvira cutout, but everyone needs a chicken. Frontera has been around … oh … as long as I’ve been alive (I’m nearly 39. Cough.) They can make you an iron base for a desk (I once had this done), a stand for your foyer or a cool chandelier from iron and bone. They go on regular buying trips to Mexico, bringing back colorful tiles and trivets … and the metal to make those chickens. I’m also the proud owner of a cow skull with a big bullet hole in its forehead. There’s no air-conditioning here. Plan to sweat while you shop. It’s part of the endearing package.

Charlemagne Record Exchange

I can remember being in high school, when Nag Champa incense was exotic and covering your car in Grateful Dead stickers was a prerequisite. A prerequisite for what, I’m not exactly sure. But, it was very important. I didn’t have a record player, but I loved going up the narrow stairs to Charlemagne to look around. All the cool kids smoked Camel Lights back then, behind the dumpster in the parking lot. All the cool kids had record players too. I just bought myself a Bluetooth Altec-Lansing, and I cannot wait to get back up these stairs.