When I walked into Pinky and Blue Boy, one thought kept coming to me. “Wouldn’t it be cool if I had nice people like these living in my basement?”

Pinky and Blue Boy is a vintage clothing store specializing in 1960s and ’70s clothing. It’s located on Magazine Street, on the Uptown side of Napolean.

Clark, the proprietor, is nice, warm, and friendly. He is the “Blue Boy” of the pair.

Clark was wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with “Chicago Police shoot to kill”, commemorating the 1968 Democratic National Convention, at which many hippies were beaten by police under orders from Mayor Richard Daley.

Clark looked a little like Charles Manson, very skinny with long hair.

When asked why he opened a store that dealt with keeping the ’60s alive, he said, “People were more individualistic back then.”

“People were doing stuff back then. Now no one is doing anything,” he said

He said that opening a vintage clothing shop is a statement of his individuality, because “no one opens these (vintage clothing shops) in this city.”

Clark doesn’t use a cash register, in protest of the corporate system. He said he went to Louisiana State University and majored in zoology.

I asked him what his specialty was, and he replied that he has always wanted to do experiments on humans.

The place looked like a basement with cool stuff from the ’70s thrown around, though Clark said something about redecorating. I may have caught them at a bad time, but the phrase “moist cave with cool posters” would describe the décor.

I looked at the merchandise, the “stuff” in the store.

They had everything from very nice Spanish leather jackets ($100 apiece)to a box full of stuff for $1.

The prices on old, colorful button down shirts were $13 to $18.

Mod skirts and dresses that, as a sign reads, “Mark Jacobs styles from” go for about $30.

There was even a pair of $60 white Spanish leather boots that the repressed inner-homosexual in me loved.

There were clothes for guys too, such as jackets for $30, and cool ties from the ’50s.

Most of the merchandise was from the ’60s and ’70s, all of it is in great condition.

Although they didn’t have anything I haven’t seen in New York, I’m not going to go pretentious on you, so let me say the selection was hip.

Initially, being used to the prices at thrift shops, I thought the prices were high. Clark said that his shop is a vintage shop, a different beast than a thrift shop.

Thrift shops deal mostly in things that are more tattered or beat up than most clothing.

They tend to have any kind of used clothing, not a theme of decade, brand or style.

In thrift shops, most anything can be had cheaply.

Clark runs a vintage store, which I remember walking into in New York and then immediately walking out due to the ridiculously high price of old jeans.

This store manages the quality of a vintage clothing store with lower prices. For that, I commend it. It’s a hybrid.

If you like old clothes which might or might not be cool, friendly, fun people and the “rummaging through a basement for treasure” feel, you might just like Pinky and Blue Boy’s.

Lucy Logic investiagates a rack of brightly colored men´s shirts. Pinky and Blue Boy offers rare clothing that might be hard to find in other stores. (Beth Suda)

Pinky and Blue Boy proprietor, Clark, the “Blue Boy” himself, shows off the case of vintage jewelery items available for sale. (Beth Suda)