Inspiration LA 2023

[tmitchell59]

Her jackets were not affordable. However, she did have some classic ones. I particularly liked her HD collection. Correction, She is from Ventura California. Her name is Pat. Her exhibitor's name is Pat and Mike. Her husband Mike passed away some three years ago. Very nice person. Excellent collection

Do you recall the name of her operation?

 

[photo2u]

Do you recall the name of her operation?

She goes by the Pat and Mike name.

 

[photo2u]

Here is an early unlabeled cycle queen with a HD belt. This one was near mint. I like HD designs, but am always suspect of their leather quality. I'm guessing several makers did HD jackets through the years and quality changed with each maker. A lot of jackets with HD labels were produced in the 50s.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/2E6GyMSR9zoRoXi52

I do remember your jacket. Nice 54/55 cycle queen with original belt.

 

[tmitchell59]

Do you recall the name of her operation?

Thanks! They do not have a Website, interesting.

 

[TooManyHatsOnlyOneHead]

Great shots @jeo Handling the stuff in person is pretty wild. There were some leathers nearing 100 years old that were just unbelievable. It was interesting seeing the range of Bucos. I'd say most of them from just a leather "quality" POV didn't get my juices flowing especially at the price points, but every once in a while there was a stellar one. The designs though were just fire. You can see why they're still sought after.

@Marc mndt I literally tried on every Thedi jacket on the rack LOL (maybe 20 or so). The new sheepskin cafe dpocket frankenstein is unreal. The sheepskin leather is very tough not even close to what you would expect from your typical shearling. The word that comes to mind is "crusty" but in a good way. Hard to describe. The one hanging on wall dpocket with Badalassi and Goat skin rough out, unbelievable. I want something in that goat skin. The one Jeo mentioned that he liked, very basic black jacket from the front, some nice design in the back is also spectacular. But seeing the blue leather in person, wow, I want something with that. The Racers are gorgeous. Theo is just able to nail the patterns. Because his leathers are so flexible, he pushes the measurements so you can get that proper fit, still be comfortable, and look great. He's taking my shearling collar home with him so he can make an exact copy in the brownish/red color and then will send back both to me when done. After that, I'll go through my closet and figure things out.

Also, I did see the Freenote/HB collab. Pretty nice. If we're talking about the same one, it was pretty much an Avro style with the horse hair finish on the collar and Dpocket (trying to remember but think that was it). Or maybe that was a different one.

A takeaway from the show is how fortunate we are to have access to amazing jackets in the classifieds. I've bought and sold some nice stuff for far less than what was being asked at the show. In particular, all the Cals. Selling them sometimes for $200-300 range, LOL. Also a HD white label one pocket cafe racer. Not only was the price insane, but the quality too. I didn't see many things at the show for less than $1000. $1500+ seemed to be the magic number. Don't get me wrong, lots of jackets there looked like NOS or closet queens for sure.

 

[ragtime_joe]

Pat and Mike have a bunch of the jackets featured in Rin Tanaka's books.

 

[Nacho]

Thanks! They do not have a Website, interesting.

They don't, Terry. Unfortunately.

The husband's name is Michael Manpearl. He passed away in 2020 due to pancreatic cancer. He was 71 years young. R.I.P to the legend.

Pat & Mike's collection was indeed featured in Tanaka's book as @the shivman has mentioned above.

 

[Will Zach]

They don't, Terry. Unfortunately.

The husband's name is Michael Manpearl. He passed away in 2020 due to pancreatic cancer. He was 71 years young. R.I.P to the legend.

Pat & Mike's collection was indeed featured in Tanaka's book as @the shivman has mentioned above.

View attachment 506007

I heard of Mike Manpearl. Big time collector, gone too soon.

 

[Nacho]

I heard of Mike Manpearl. Big time collector, gone too soon.

Yes sir. It's a big loss to the vintage community.

 

[photo2u]

@jeo great pics thanks for sharing. Congrats on the buco, great score. We usually see these steerhide ones totally beat up with lots of 'teacore'. This one was well taken care of. So you actually met the first owner?

Is that the recently discussed Freenote x Himel collab I see there? Did you have a chance to try it on?

View attachment 505840

If is the jacket with the horsehair d pocket? Then I did see it and tried it on. Personally, I did not like the horsehair in this particular jacket. Perhaps because it was new? I am used to the older-looking hose and steer hair.

 

[jeo]

Thank you @jeo for these pictures! I'm so glad you tracked that Buco down. It's a special jacket and the fact that you actually met the owner is so rad. Also that Beck! You are clearly a man after my own heart, and I'm taking that pic of you with David as a sign that maybe it's time to think about one of his 333's....though nothing beats mint vintage like you've just scored.

Thank you, I appreciate you saying that! Was that you that posted it on the finds and deals thread?

 

[jeo]

The seller is a super nice lady. She is selling some wonderful jackets including some in the images seen in Jeo's post. I mentioned the forum and she might post some of her jackets here. View attachment 505982

Are her jackets affordable? Looks like some nice ones. Where is she from? Does anyone have a list of sellers or know where I could find one?

Her jackets were not affordable. However, she did have some classic ones. I particularly liked her HD collection. Correction, She is from Ventura California. Her name is Pat. Her exhibitor's name is Pat and Mike. Her husband Mike passed away some three years ago. Very nice person. Excellent collection

Do you recall the name of her operation?

She goes by the Pat and Mike name.

Thanks! They do not have a Website, interesting.

Pat and Mike have a bunch of the jackets featured in Rin Tanaka's books.

They don't, Terry. Unfortunately.

The husband's name is Michael Manpearl. He passed away in 2020 due to pancreatic cancer. He was 71 years young. R.I.P to the legend.

Pat & Mike's collection was indeed featured in Tanaka's book as @the shivman has mentioned above.

View attachment 506007

This is in regards to all these posts above about "Pat & Mike - Men's Vintage Clothing and Denim". I had very long conversations with Patty on both days and I'd like to share the story of how I ended up buying the mint brown Beck 333 from the 40's from her. Please excuse if this is too long.

That is Patty and her son Zach in the picture. Both incredible people!

I immediately knew that this is the booth I wanted to spend the most amount of time in. By far and away the nicest leather jackets in the show. One by one each and every one of Patty's jackets are incredible pieces in the nicest conditions you'll ever see.

For those who didn't know who Mike Manpearl was, he was a very well respected collector/dealer in the vintage community, widely regarded as having some of the nicest vintage leather jackets around anywhere. So well respected that Rin Tanaka wrote a piece about Mike after his death. Patty told me she would share with me.

With regards to the pricing of the jackets. All the ticket prices were priced by Mike. They are NOT cheap. Having said that her Bucos were very reasonably priced when compared to the other Bucos you saw at the show given that hers are SO much nicer. There were no steals to be had anywhere. But negotiation is expected.

The first day for me was for admiring. Patty had two uber mint Beck 333's hung up (one of which I ended up buying.) Mine had an $8000 price tag. The other one was black which was a little later but in even better condition had an $8500 price tag. Needless to say that was way too high. I knew something was wrong here. I showed her how Becks can be had for much cheaper (although not anywhere near the same condition). She also had $7000 on the minty mint JH-1. She asked me about the price of that one and I said "worth every penny". I was just floored by that one. I kept on ranting and raving about it. I obviously don't know this but I'd bet it could be the nicest Buco on planet earth. All other prices of her jackets were justifiably high. In our conversations about pricing I also gently reminded her that there is a big difference between what something is "worth" and what a ready, willing and able buyer is actually going to pay. She agreed. It's now all about motivation on her part.

The second day I go straight to Patty to see that the JH-1 is now $8500 and the two Becks got cut almost in half. Mine at $4000 and the black one at $4500. She told me my enthusiasm for the JH-1 is what got her to up the price of the Buco and what I shared with her about the Becks is why she dropped them. She told me she trusts me for some odd reason even though she doesn't know me from a hole in the wall. Her exact words.

The first day I didn't even ask her to take the Becks down. I just admired them. I could tell the black one was way too big for me. The earlier brown one also looked big. But now reduced I asked her if she could take the brown one down. As soon as I had it in my hands, I knew that it was going to fit. For what seemed like the very long process it took me to put the jacket on, I was saying to myself, please don't fit, please don't fit and what do you know.....it fit! It's a 38 btw that fits like a 36. I think I cursed out loud. This was going to cost me.

Now that I'm an interested buyer, I started asking questions. I very quickly learned why the Becks were priced so high. Mike had a special affinity for Becks. He also wore the black one a lot according to Patty. Those prices from day one were Mike's "I don't want to sell them price, but if you're willing to pay an exorbitant amount, I'll let them go."

(btw Patty shared that he also loved wearing this incredible mint Block Bilt aviator style jacket from the 30's. That one had what I thought was a reasonable price tag if I remember correctly. I forgot to take pics of that one too)

She also started sharing the unfortunate circumstances behind Mike's death. She mentioned cancer which I immediately sympathized with although she never got to the part about pancreatic cancer, which is one of the most painful and devastating.

@Sicko Nacho , I'm almost in tears now that I've read that Mike had pancreatic cancer and I also now know that this Beck was meant for me to own....my father was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer in late 2016. He was gone in 4 months.

With the Beck's now reduced, a warm rapport developing and extreme interest on my part, I wanted an experts opinion of price. Luckily for me I had two of the foremost experts in the world at my disposal, Larry McKaugh and David Himel. Larry gave an evaluation of $4500. David said $3000 is a steal, $3500 is a realistic price and anything over that is favorable to the seller. I made Patty an offer. Before she could respond I promised her two things. 1) I will be the best custodian for this jacket and will love and cherish it for the rest of my life. 2) I will help her in any way I can to sell and/or spread the word about Mike's incredible collection. We came to an agreement. I paid her, got my receipt and we hugged it out. I was beside myself for the rest of the day. I still can't believe I own this jacket!

After that I was walking around with a huge smile on my face. Many people acknowledged the rarity of the jacket and after I shared what I paid, pretty much everyone agreed that we both made out, the hallmark of what a good business deal should be.

Crappy cell phone pics. Incredible for about an 80 year old jacket!

As I promised Patty, I am more than willing to connect anyone with her. Just one word, going back to motivation. Patty shared with me that while she would like to sell all the rest of the inventory, does not need to sell anything. She will work with people on price but she will not give anything away. She also shared with me that after all the leather jackets are gone she will likely not continue with what Mike was doing exactly. She simply does not have the expertise to do so. She told me that Mike would spend hours on end every day on Ebay, would take two day road trips just to go buy jackets...a real collector, a real connoisseur. I am so incredibly proud to own one of his jackets.

Patty gave me her personal cell phone as well as her email address. I wouldn't want to blast her info out to the world here without her permission, but if you want to connect with her, please reach out to me via DM.

 

[jeo]

Thanks for the great Pics!

Now, what about prices? Sales?

I saw a couple of price tags! The one Levi had a $8500 tag! Saw another that looked crisp and it had $850.

Do you believe the jackets were for sale or just for show? There were obviously some rare and desirable jackets.

I did guitar shows for years, never been to anything with vintage cloths.

Are the shows like this in the mid-west, like Chicago area?

I saw a few ebay jackets on there! At least one, Roughwear I regret not buying.

Any stuff like catalogs/advertising for sale?

Anyone have knowledge of the Buco linings we discussed?

Thanks for the post.

I recently sold a Hercules like this in brown. This one was listed at $2500 marked down to $2200. Yes it is most probably a Roughwear Co. jacket. I sold mine for considerable less.

View attachment 505987


This Rough In was on ebay, the one I regret not buying.

View attachment 505995

Early 50s Ralphs-Pugh horsehide. I've got this jacket. It has the finest Horsehide I have encountered, way beyond Buco and and most of the others. Like to know the price on this one.


View attachment 505996

Terry, was that Rough In really on Ebay? If you have pics of the old listing, please send to me and I can confirm for you. That one had $1500 I believe. I only question that because Patty told me they never had an IG, do not have a website, and do not even have a store. She didn't mention anything about Ebay though so it's very possible that it was on there. But you're telling me it sold, and Patty still has the jacket...

Patty told me that Mike had a warehouse and he would sell only to collectors, people that knew him, people he would curate for and would also obviously take appointments from past clients and referrals.

She also told me that besides the warehouse, Mike had a cedar closet in his bedroom where he kept the absolute best of the best. From everything there it was the two Levi's and the two Becks that came out of that closet.

@tmitchell59 to answer your questions more specifically:

As far as I know, all jackets were for sale, not for show. Certainly all Patty's jackets were for sale. Cannot say for the entire show though as I couldn't possibly go through every piece at every booth.

You could absolutely negotiate down with anyone and get better prices.

Everyone has their motivations. The guy with the Peter's jacket is extremely motivated. I think he had $5000 on it but will go down. Who knows how much. Let me know if anyone would like to connect with him.

I'm sure there are vintage shows in the Chicago area but I can't imagine anything on this scale or quality. I don't know of any personally but I'm sure you can easily find out.

Yes there was old advertising for sale. I just didn't have enough time to go through everything.

 

[jeo]

I mentioned how I think the Beck was meant for me...so on another note about jackets that are meant to be.

Out of everything Patty had there, the jacket I wanted most was a super duper mint tan HH Sportclad half belt from the late 40's maybe early 50's. @tmitchell59 it is very similar to the one you have just yours has a strap on the cuff, this one had a regular cuff which leads me to believe yours is older.

I put it on only to be extremely disappointed it didn't fit, slightly too big. I think I cursed out load again. It wasn't meant to be for me, but it was for someone else.

I was hanging out with @dudewuttheheck and his lovely wife for a big part of that first day. Immediately after meeting them I said you guys MUST see these jackets this one woman has and walked them over to the best booth there. After trying on the Sportclad myself I took it off off and handed it to him and said: "dude this will fit you perfectly and you need to buy it". It fit him perfectly and he bought it! I told him multiple times that I was extremely jealous (in a good way) but that I'm also extremely happy for him and that he scored big time! Perhaps he can share when he gets a chance.

All in all this was an amazing event!

 

[dudewuttheheck]

I mentioned how I think the Beck was meant for me...so on another note about jackets that are meant to be.

Out of everything Patty had there, the jacket I wanted most was a super duper mint tan HH Sportclad half belt from the late 40's maybe early 50's. @tmitchell59 it is very similar to the one you have just yours has a strap on the cuff, this one had a regular cuff which leads me to believe yours is older.

I put it on only to be extremely disappointed it didn't fit, slightly too big. I think I cursed out load again. It wasn't meant to be for me, but it was for someone else.

I was hanging out with @dudewuttheheck and his lovely wife for a big part of that first day. After trying on the Sportclad I took it off off and handed it to him and said: "dude this will fit you perfectly and you need to buy it". It fit him perfectly and he bought it! I told him multiple times that I was extremely jealous (in a good way) but that I'm also extremely happy for him and that he scored big time! Perhaps he can share when he gets a chance.

All in all this was an amazing event!

A massive shout out to you @jeo For helping me find an absolutely perfect jacket for me. I've been looking for a nice 30s or 40s style mid-light brown horsehide jacket for a long time now. They never seem to pop up online. Even our illustrious finds and deals thread or classifieds rarely turn up anything like this, especially not in good condition. My beautiful 50s-60s cal from @JCSD Is basically perfect for me, but I wear brown more than black and I was really searching for the perfect brown counterpart.

That awesome Californian I recently bought should have fit the bill, but turned out to be way too big and has been sold to a fellow lounger.

I showed up to Inspiration not expecting to find anything and mostly hoping to hang with friends, but I was looking for two things: Vintage wool half belts and of course a mid-light brown leather sports jacket.

Overall, I didn't find much that fit my bill, with one absolutely massive exception.

As my wife and I walked in, we saw @jeo And within no more than 10 minutes, I had my grail jacket. That Sportclad that Jeo just mentioned was absolutely perfect for me. Beautiful condition, not crispy at all, and the liner and labels look almost new aside from some pilling on the liner. It fits like it was made for me and even the sleeves are short enough.

I'll post more photos with my good camera soon and get into the details more, but for now here's a couple shots of me in it. Also, I have to mention I feel like the price I paid for such an incredible jacket was extremely reasonable. Jeo noted thay Mike had priced all the jackets. Mine was actually marked down significantly from what was originally tagged so I feel even luckier.

Anyway, here it is after all that rambling. Not the best photos, but hopefully you can see why I'm raving about it so much. I'll post better photos in the future with my camera as previously stated.

 

[MrProper]

A massive shout out to you @jeo For helping me find an absolutely perfect jacket for me. I've been looking for a nice 30s or 40s style mid-light brown horsehide jacket for a long time now. They never seem to pop up online. Even our illustrious finds and deals thread or classifieds rarely turn up anything like this, especially not in good condition. My beautiful 50s-60s cal from @JCSD Is basically perfect for me, but I wear brown more than black and I was really searching for the perfect brown counterpart.

That awesome Californian I recently bought should have fit the bill, but turned out to be way too big and has been sold to a fellow lounger.

I showed up to Inspiration not expecting to find anything and mostly hoping to hang with friends, but I was looking for two things: Vintage wool half belts and of course a mid-light brown leather sports jacket.

Overall, I didn't find much that fit my bill, with one absolutely massive exception.

As my wife and I walked in, we saw @jeo And within no more than 10 minutes, I had my grail jacket. That Sportclad that Jeo just mentioned was absolutely perfect for me. Beautiful condition, not crispy at all, and the liner and labels look almost new aside from some pilling on the liner. It fits like it was made for me and even the sleeves are short enough.

I'll post more photos with my good camera soon and get into the details more, but for now here's a couple shots of me in it. Also, I have to mention I feel like the price I paid for such an incredible jacket was extremely reasonable. Jeo noted thay Mike had priced all the jackets. Mine was actually marked down significantly from what was originally tagged so I feel even luckier.

Anyway, here it is after all that rambling. Not the best photos, but hopefully you can see why I'm raving about it so much. I'll post better photos in the future with my camera as previously stated. View attachment 506148 View attachment 506149 View attachment 506150

I had already seen this on you on Instagram and thought to myself, unbelievable, it fits like tailor-made.

 

[Jasonissm]

This event seems like what dreams are made of for vintage leather jacket lovers. I could only ever wish for such an event here in Australia. Seems like pretty much every jacket for show there is a gem, and being all together in one spot. Even if the jackets are out of the budget, just being able to look at them up close is a treat!

I'm incredibly jealous of those who could attend, and thank you to @jeo especially for sharing the experience with us and spending your time giving us a write up on the event for those who could not attend, fantastic read! Congratulations on making it out with a grail level jacket as well!

@dudewuttheheck also coming out with an amazingly fitting jacket as well. Pretty much as good as it gets, love the collar shape on it. Any photos of the back?

 

[ton312]

Thanks for the great Pics!

Now, what about prices? Sales?

I saw a couple of price tags! The one Levi had a $8500 tag! Saw another that looked crisp and it had $850.

Do you believe the jackets were for sale or just for show? There were obviously some rare and desirable jackets.

I did guitar shows for years, never been to anything with vintage cloths.

Are the shows like this in the mid-west, like Chicago area?

I saw a few ebay jackets on there! At least one, Roughwear I regret not buying.

Any stuff like catalogs/advertising for sale?

Anyone have knowledge of the Buco linings we discussed?

Thanks for the post.

There is or used to be a huge Antique/Vintage show on Randolph in the West Loop Terry. Not nearly the selection of old clothes presented here but they were there. Much more reasonable pricing but also much less to choose from. I bought 4 or 5 jackets over the years. Unfortunately covid may have killed the event. It was always held in June if I recall.

 

[jeo]

…Seems like pretty much every jacket for show there is a gem…

I'm incredibly jealous of those who could attend, and thank you to @jeo especially for sharing the experience with us and spending your time giving us a write up on the event for those who could not attend, fantastic read! Congratulations on making it out with a grail level jacket as well!

Much more reasonable pricing but also much less to choose from.

Thank you @Jasonissm!

There was plenty of reasonably priced and lower end stuff there I just went to the top and stayed.

Same for the clothing as well. I saw so many old sweaters from the 30’s that I wanted that I thought were really well priced. The vendors are aware people will try and haggle so they start high because they expect to get anywhere from 10% - 30% less than ticket price. They also knew what they had so no steals to be had, but definitely deals all day, you just have to be able to find the right piece and buy it from the right person at the right time and you can get a hell of a deal. Also needed a lot of patience and a little bit of luck.

There was one other booth with a massive selection of nice vintage leather jackets. Again, no steals but reasonable. In fact, I was very close on pulling the trigger on a nice condition Durable from the 50’s. It was a 38 and fit me everywhere but had massive bulky sleeves and that killed the fit and look for me. It was $1500 which is pretty reasonable compared to others I’ve seen for sale and I’m sure you could have talked it down to like $1200 or maybe less.

They are denim doctors on IG. They do appointment only. And btw if you’re local to them, they are one of the best around for vintage leather jacket repair and alterations.

 

[Brandrea33]

This is one of the best threads on the Lounge.

Thank you to all who contributed their time and effort here, especially @jeo !