Hurray for the Coney Island Talent Show! This years second annual talent show was even bigger and better than last year’s! A spectacular array of diverse talents were exhibited on the boardwalk stage!
At Lola Star we were so happy to donate the prizes for the “best dressed” category!
Here are some of the gorgeous winners modeling their fabulous Lola Star prizes!!
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I feel truly honored that so many people shared such incredible Coney Island love stories with me for this project!
I was only able to include exerpts of the stories in the movie. I highly recommend reading the full stories that these lovers shared.
* WINNER CONTEMPORARY CONEY LOVE STORY * Christine and Chris
* WINNER VINTAGE CONEY LOVE STORY * Eddie and Florie
Audrey and Eric, Chris and Will, Dano and Coney Island, Dari and Jonathan, Jonanna and Brian, Joanne and Paul, Diana and Joe, Jane and Bill, Liz and Dave, Meredith and Tim, Natalie and Frank, Nick and Melissa, Paulette and Ian, Puma and Big Mike, Puma and Louie, Ras and Lisa, Stephanie and Vass
In January I took and inspiration trip to California and fell in love with the state! I also fell even MORE in love with Moxi Roller Skates!!
My relationship with California got off to a rocky start! Years ago, I visited during fashion week to help a friend show her collection. I was dismayed by all the pretentious parties, rude fashion people and horrific traffic. I wrote the state off, thinking I did not connect with Southern California. But after my latest trip, I’ve seen the light and realized that I LOVE Socal! I had an incredible time, met the most wonderful people had spectacular adventures.
My favorite CA adventure began when the super wonderful owner of the hotel I was staying at, The Varden, suggested I walk down to a cute little section of Long Beach to a street full of vintage shops! He gave me a map with the shops noted and I was off.
I arrived at the street where the shops were all marked with little dots. The map instructed me to go right, but as I began to turn, I had an incredibly strong premonition to turn left. And so I turned, knowing there was something very magical calling me to the left.
About a half a block down I found an adorable shop! It sold vintage treasures, tiki delights and cute jewelry. I left the shop satisfied that I’d found the magical destination which was calling me to the left. But again, as I began to turn right, something called me back to the left. There was something else.
I walked about another block down this street and then- I saw what had been calling me to the left! I could hardly believe my eyes! It was like a mirage of magic in a normal world. A bright pink store and a gigantic roller skate sign welcomed me like friends waiting at the airport for you to emerge from the arrival gate! I went into a slight state of shock as I saw the skates in the window and realized I was about to walk into the fabulous world of Moxi Roller Skates!
We sell Moxi’s gorgeous skates at the Lola Star Pop Up Boutique! In fact, my shop had just been on NBC the night before and the piece featured the Moxi skates (and furry hula hoops). I purchase the skates directly from the manufacturer, Riedell. I had a vague idea that some roller derby gal was behind the designs, and I had a vague idea that the had a shop somewhere in California but I had no idea that she was in Long Beach and no idea of the magnitude of awesomeness behind these skates! No doubt, they are the most fabulously incredible skates you’ve ever seen. I really didn’t think I could love them any more than I already did…. but then I met the girl behind the skates…… the incredible Estro Jen.
I walked into the shop still in a bit of shock. Estro skated up to me in hot pink roller skates and asked if she could help me! We began to talk and had endless entrepreneurial roller girl topics to discuss. Just like me, she had a vague idea about Lola Star and Dreamland Roller Rink but really had no idea either! It was like I’d met my roller business soul sister from the other side of the continent. We went to coffee and talked for hours about our victories and disappointments in attempting to reinvent roller skate fashion, culture and re-inject the modern world with it’s magic!
She is building an incredible roller empire in Long Beach which is sure to shine all across the world very soon!
Needless to say, I never made it to the vintage shops that were to the right! I stayed at Moxi for the rest of the afternoon chatting with Estro and Rage and meeting an endless stream of amazing skaters who rolled through the Moxi Skate shop! I was so inspired by the fact that, like me, Estro’s business is a manifestation of a pure, insatiable love. And when your love is pure, your dreams are invincible. I have to confess, that after the set backs of the past few years, loosing my
shop, then loosing the Childs Building where Dreamland Roller Rink was located, I started to forget and doubt that. But this fun afternoon at the Moxi skate shop and meeting the incredibly inspiring Estro Jen helped to restore my dreams.
Estro insisted that I borrow this fabulous pair of hot pink skates so I could skate back to the Varden Hotel! I skated back beaming…..on a path beside the ocean as the moon rose over the Pacific Ocean.
Hopefully one day roller-fabulous ladies like myself and Estro Jen will rule the world!! Stay tuned for a fabulous bi-costal party collaboration between the fabulous worlds of Lola Star and Moxi Roller Skates!!!
Some of our customers are channeling their creative energy into customizing their super cute new $20 Dreamaland skates!
The fabulous burlesque performer Lolita Von Cake bedazzled and blinged her $20 skates out to look like they cost a million dollars!
Got a pair of skates you’ve customized? Send them to weloveyou@lolastar.com and we’ll put them on our website!
Did you fall in love in Coney Island? Is it your special romantic date place? Did your grandparents meet in Coney Island? Did your parents get married in CI?
Please send Lola Star your photo/story and we will feature your love in our “Coney Island is for Lovers” Valentines window display at our Lola Star Soho Pop Up Boutique (435 Broome St, at Broadway)! We will also feature your romantic love story and photo on our web site!
Win a $50 gift Certificate to Lola Star! We will award the most romantic love story in the Contemporary and Vintage (1960 or earlier) Love story categories with a $50 Gift Certificate to Lola Star!!
Free Lola Star Coney Island Lovebirds tote bag for all who contribute!
Charlie’s obsession with mermaids led him to discover the Lola Star Boutique when he was just four years old! He has been a regular customer ever since! This is a photo of Charlie, from his younger days, modeling his favorite Mermaid Day tee at our Boardwalk Boutique:
Charlie began his research into the world of fantastical curiosities when he was a toddler. His love of mermaids broughgt him to the life transforming discovery of Coney Island and the legendary Weeki Wachee Springs in Florida! His exploration of these lands of enchantment inspired his new obsession with shrunken heads, Fiji Mermaids and other taxidermy creations!
Inspired by Coney Island visionaries like Takeshi Yamada (pictured above), Charlie began to craft his own oddities! Now, at the age of 12, this young oddity connoisseur and artist is selling his creations at Lola Star!
Be the very first collector have one of Charlie’s exquisite shrunken heads! Available now at the Lola Star Soho Boutique!!!
This is so incredible. It totally blew my mind!
I adore Arcade Fire! This video for their amazing song “Wilderness Downtown” which utalizes
“Choreographed windows, interactive flocking, custom rendered maps, real-time compositing, procedural drawing, 3D canvas rendering”
makes me love them even more!!
After you watch the video using your address type in this address
1205 Boardwalk, Brooklyn, NY 11224
For a fascinating journey through a Coney Island in transition set to a perfect song….
This video is truly magical. Experience The Wilderness Downtown
Lola has been collecting Tara McPherson’s art for almost a decade! Her sexy, mysterious visions fill almost every room of Lola’s home!
We are so thrilled to be selling Tara’s gorgeous art at out Soho Boutique!!
One of Lola’s goals with her new boutique was to bring you amazing, affordable art! You can have one of Tara McPherson’s brilliant lithographs hanging in your home for just $5-$40!!!
