Roller skates, created as an alternative to ice skates, first gained popularity in the early 20th century. Rinks popped up in major cities around the world. The Rink was the name of the first movie featuring the footwear. Released in 1916, it starred Charlie Chaplin as a bumbling waiter.
Unlike most mass-produced things today, skates then were built to look elegant and to last; more emphasis was put on craftsmanship.All of this could be seen in the pair of roller skates 31-year-old Kevon Walker held in his hands.
"This is over 100 years old," said Walker, showing a reporter the worn, white size-eight quad skates, the kind with the wheels aligned like a car's. The boots, ankle-high with one-inch heels, were made of leather; the wheels were wooden.
"This is actually stronger than the skates you get now," said Walker. "You see the heel? They don't make them like this anymore." He tilted the skates to show engraving in one of them, along the metal where the wheels were attached: "Chicago Roller Skates, Made in the USA, 1914."
"That's how you know they're authentic," he said. "These, I'm asking $650, and they're worth every penny."
Walker was surrounded by many old things with value that comes from no longer being widely available. They're also the kinds of things that helped shape modern society.
Walker's store–The Burg in Port-of-Spain–celebrated its one-year anniversary recently. Vintage stores are popular throughout New York, London, Berlin and other metropolitan cities. The Burg is the first vintage store in T&T.
"There are a lot of vintage collectors in Trinidad," said Walker. "They don't have hubs. This is the first hub."
The Burg is like a pop culture museum, filled with a fascinating panoply of items: clothes, vinyl records, VHS tapes, radios, record players, shoes, jewellery, books. They take you on a journey through the 20th century.
A vinyl copy of Run DMC's genre-bending 1985 single Walk This Way, still wrapped in plastic, is propped up in one corner.
"This is not a reprint. This is an original," said Walker. He pulled a one-dollar bill from the 1930s–protected by plastic–from the top shelf of a glass display case. Back then that denomination was blue, not the pink it is today.
"This bill is valued at $2,500," he said. "The person I got it from told me that the colour for the $100 came from this. It held the same value as a $100 bill holds today."
He held up a broadsheet Guardian dated April 2, 1989, and pointed to stories about Gorbachev and BWIA. "Look at this. This is history!"
He imagined someone reading about him in the future: "'The Vintage Man'. You know Trinidadians like to give you these aliases. They call me Vintage Man."
As Walker showed the reporter around, an elderly man who later introduced himself as Lyneus Haynes walked in.
"A Grundig, boy," Haynes exclaimed, looking at the 1950s radio on a stand near the front of the store. "It brings back memories of the past. When Trinidad was Trinidad."
Walker told him it cost $1,800. "It's shortwave," he added. "It doesn't pick up any local stations. It picks up stations in South America and Europe."
Haynes complained about the destruction of the Greyfriars Church of Scotland–which many considered an historical monument–on the same block where The Burg is located.
After Haynes left, Walker talked about the lack of appreciation in T&T of preserving things from the past. Many people come in the store, he said, and ask him, "why you selling ole thing".
He held an exhibition and sale of vintage magazine ads earlier this year and wanted to include some that he knew featured late actor Geoffrey Holder and the Mighty Sparrow.
"I couldn't find any ads. Everything was thrown away," he said.
Walker travels to New York and different parts of Europe to buy, sell or barter items. He said Caribbean vintage–particularly records–are in high demand and can be worth a lot of money. He picked up his laptop and opened a website to show where a Sparrow record, Under My Skin/You Don't Love Me, was being auctioned with a starting price of US $1,000.
"I'm trying to find this record in Trinidad," he said. "I'm sure someone might have this record in their house and have no clue the value of it."
Walker, a DJ/producer, loves vinyl records, history, art and design–and they all come together in vintage stores.
"I've always frequented stores like this my whole life," said Walker, who spent his teens and early 20s in New York. "They always had vinyl, so it was a one-stop shop for me. I might find a cool T-shirt, a cool sneakers, a cool bag. And most of the time these things have stories, they have cool origins, (they're) conversation pieces."
When he returned to Trinidad he was frustrated by the absence of vintage stores so he opened one himself. Like all businesses, there were some struggles early on, but he got support and understanding from his landlord, well-known Port-of-Spain businessman Gregory Aboud.
"This location is a find. I love this location for a vintage store," he said of Mall 58 on Frederick Street, where the popular Cleve's One Stop Music Shop is also located. "The interior of this building is classic, is vintage. It was perfect."
He's organising events to help market The Burg. On the last Saturday of the month, he invites DJs to play vinyl records. Next month he begins classic movie nights. The storefront will act as the screen as the audience sits around the fountain at the heart of the mall.
Walker wants to expand the community of vintage lovers. He links vintage collecting, which expands the life of products, to another of his interests: recycling.
"I don't see things for what they are now. I see them for what they could be," he said. "For the sake of our environment, people need to think along those lines."
More info
Call 287-3054 or visit The Burg on Facebook and Instagram.