in which i go on an adventure

i got a call this morning from s's mother, asking if i could do her a favor. his teenage cousins have asked for "big, knock-off dolce&gabbana purses" for christmas, and as she couldn't find any in indiana, she wondered if i knew where to find them in new york. i happened to be headed to chinatown for birthday party supplies anyways, so i said i would be happy to wander down there looking for the fakes.

i wasn't sure where to start, so i headed down canal street, the faux-purse runway, wandering into every storefront that wasn't already monopolized by diamonds and perfumes. usually when the hawkers whisper "handbag? handbag?" to me as i walk by, i ignore them, so i actually found it fun to say "yes, take me to the gucci" today. i had finally found a couple of cute purses (a "versace" and a "d&g vogue") at some unnamed place on canal and chrystie, when the woman helping me asked if i wanted to see more. she then ushered me and about 10 other women through a false wall and down some stairs into a hidden basement room filled with chanel, coach, fendi and gucci. (the whole day, i couldn't stop thinking about the episode of "sex and the city" where they go to los angeles and samantha buys the fake fendi, and she has to go to the valley and buy out of some guy's trunk.) they lock you down there until the sales people can confirm the coast is clear to emerge with some probably ill-gotten goods, which feels a little sketchy, but it was also kind of funny to me that fake purses are such serious business. the woman waiting on the stairs with me was from alabama, and i guess this is a big deal for tourists--everyone in the store had accents (eastern european, southern, scottish), and seemed really excited about buying their illicit purses. i ended up buying the two i had originally wanted, which were kept upstairs in the clear, and was even able to haggled the price down. it was a totally new experience for me, the hiding and the negotiating, and actually a lot of fun. only in new york, right? (oh, and la, i guess.)