Bacon's Antiques

Bacon's Antiques is one of those places that looks super interesting, that we've driven by literally hundreds of times, and yet for whatever reason it took us forever to get around to visiting. Recently we finally got around to stopping in and it was, to say the least, an interesting experience.

Bacon's is located in the South End on Maple Street. If you are coming from the downtown area it is right after the ever amusing South Green and before the Maple and Franklin Ave split.

When we first got to the door we were initially confused. Despite being within the open hours, the door was locked. A handwritten sign instructed us to dial a number if the store was closed. As we were dialing the door suddenly buzzed and we were inside. The inside of Bacon's can best be described as hectic. There is stuff everywhere. There is almost no room to walk through the store there is so much stuff.

Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of stuff in Bacon's we decided we couldn't spend the entire day in the store and should get right down to business. First we asked the shop owner (presumably Bacon) if he had any baseball related memorabilia. "Not right now" we were told.

There had to be a few hundred framed items stacked up on the floor. Knowing we would never look through them all, we tried again.

Sad City: "Do you have any Hartford related items in the frames?"

Bacon: "None that I want to sell."

Sad City: "Ok."

Bacon: "Are you in the business?"

Sad City: "What business?"

Bacon: "The antique business."

Sad City: "Ummmm, no just looking for some cool stuff."

At this point we were starting to suspect that Bacon's was more of a collectors stash than an actual store. We decided to give it one last shot. On top of the shelving and hutches around the store there were about 8-10 advertising liquor bottles that measured between two and three feet tall. Though most of the brands were brands that we didn't recognize, they were very cool. We inquired if they were for sale.

Bacon: "Not really, I've had those for years, they are from the 1940's."

Sad City: "Yes, they are very cool. Would be interested in one."

Bacon: "Well if I were to sell them I would want to sell the collection as a whole."

Sad City: "And how many in the collection?"

Bacon: "Thirty something."

Sad City: "Well I live in a studio apartment so that isn't going to work." "Out of curiosity, how much would they cost?'

Bacon: "Well I paid between $50 and $75 for them in the mid 80's."

Sad City: "Ummmm, ok."

At this point we decided no deal was going to be struck. While we have no idea what Bacon actually wanted for the bottles, purchasing thirty of them would require getting rid of all of our furniture and living amongst a forest of three foot high liquor bottles. While that sounds somewhat tempting, we haven't quite reached that level yet.

If you are into antiques it's still worth the trip to check out a lot of cool old stuff and the cool old ad on the side of the building.