Day 2 Part 2: Kokorokoko

So. Girl 2 googled something like “best thrift stores in Chicago” or whatever, and chose Kokorokoko from a list of 5 compiled by some Chicagoan because the description mentioned the possibility of hypercolor t-shirts. Unfortunately/predictably Girl 2 failed to notice that the list of stores and their addresses was compiled back in 2009 and thus, did not list the stores' current addresses.  When they pulled up to some sort of toilet store, they realized they’d been foiled (again) by Girl 2’s laissez-faire googling.  Not swag.

SwagBabe set them back on track with a more accurate google and an updated address, and a few minutes later the girls nailed yet another Costanza-worthy parking spot in front of THIS gem:

Check out that frontage, yo! (If you didn’t know, frontage means the façade of a building, or something. Hi Alea!)

Belinda Carlisle, you wise old B. You were right all along. Ooh, heaven IS a place on earth. 

The girls stepped out of the car and the sky opened up and the thrift store genie promptly sucked them up straight into the shimmering heaven that is Kokorokoko. Members-only jackets.  California Raisin figurines.  Vintage 80’s Playboy mags.  Neon. Vintage cigarette tank tops.  Lucky rabbit feet.  Lighters with nakey babes on them.  A cigarette case adorned with an enameled cat. Everything impeccably organized and expertly curated by the store’s owner, Sasha, a total Betty with a fetching haircut, an impeccable sense of personal style and a discerning eye for fashion.

Also, you guys…THIS song was playing in the store:

Girl 2 clearly swooned in her pants but quickly recovered when she discovered a Samantha Fox t-shirt, which Sasha explained she had acquired from one of her clients, an O.G. punk rock German gentleman with tattoos on his head who typically only dealt in rad and rare 80s zippered jackets, but who one day called Sasha to relay the contents of his forthcoming rad jacket delivery and gruffly/Germanly declared, “Oh. And I vill be bringing you a Samantha Fox t-shirt.” 

Yup.

Naturally Girl 2 snapped that baby up faster than you can say Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

Anyway, for practically two hours the girls pranced around the store pretending they owned the place (they WISH) and chatting with Sasha about the history behind the store’s name (she came up with it years back during a hypothetical discussion about what her name would be if she were a drag queen), swapping life stories (Sasha was crackin’ eggs of wisdom, Girl 2 was fryin’ them up in her brain-pan and gobbling down wisdom-omelettes) and trying on her various wares.  

SwagBabe modeled a fly hot pink one-piece bathing suit in which she looked like a jaw-dropping smokeshow, and both Sasha and Girl 2 agreed it could easily be worn as a leotard under some bangin' cutoffs or whatever.  Heaven.

Slim P also did a fair amount of prancing of her own and was turning all kinds of heads, natch.

Also, please observe the poster Girl 2 found hanging in the bathroom:

Pass the smelling salts, s'il vous plait.

All in all, Girl 2 picked up some fetching little gifts of romance for a very special dude to add to his bag of swag (which to that point consisted entirely of the mustache disguise from an Ohio rest stop vending machine), SwagBabe picked up some great treats for a very surly dude back east, and the girls got back on the road feeling all snip-snap and coolified.

The bottom line here is that if you go to Chicago and don’t make time to visit Kokorokoko, you are fundamentally a bozo, my dear, and we want absolutely nothing to do with you ever again for the rest of your miserable life.

The other bottom line here is that WWHCD always works, and that visiting thrift stores on a cross-country road trip is infinitely better than visiting hellish historic landmarks.  (Barf/Gag me with a snap bracelet.)

Sasha, we love your guts.

Until we meet again,

2 Girls and a Slim Pug