on the 2000s-era lower east side music scene and learning there's more to life than hair metal
life in 10 tracks with antique jewelry dealer erica weiner
Jewelry historian and entrepreneur Erica Weiner founded her eponymous brand in 2006. She started out designing costume jewelry on the Lower East Side, amidst the music scene of the early 2000s. Over time, her interest in jewelry lead to a career selling esoteric antiques and researching the stories behind them, using jewelry as a lens through which to view human history, from the secret language of flowers to the strange and sentimental use of hair in jewelry. Today, Erica lives in the Hudson Valley with her partner and two young kids. Here, Erica shares the song she lost her virginity to, the Britpop that soundtracked suburban drives and a semester in Scotland, and the song that sounds like the smell of New Jersey roads in the summer.
Jane’s Addiction
I lost my virginity to “Summertime Rolls” by Jane’s Addiction in my childhood bedroom one afternoon after school. Is that too much information? My boyfriend at the time drove a 1970s red Volkswagen Beetle, he had a butt cut, and he was a skateboarder. We used to hang out behind the Dunkin’ Donuts and it was really all pretty boring but that’s what the 90s were for me: driving around the burbs.
Ween
I was a camp counselor the summer of 2002. I wanted to go back to my childhood camp in Maine to a place felt safe; I was in NYC during 9/11 and needed to escape. My sister did it with me. We had an idyllic summer listening to Ween. We drank beer with boys in pickup trucks and had bonfires in the woods.
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the LES! i lived on Norfolk bet. Stanton and Houston during this era. wild times.
Erica remains the best!