• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

Listen to local bluegrass bands at Club Helsinki Hudson and browse vintage boots at Sideshow Clothing.    (Photo: Courtesy of Club Helsinki; courtesy of Sideshow)

Wake up with a coffee and a pastry from the year-old Strongtree Organic Coffee Roasters, where organic, single-origin beans are roasted daily in small batches. Then head to the top of Warren Street to scour the area’s latest vintage shops. Sideshow Clothing Co. (707 Warren St., 518-828-2810) opened in February and carries everything from a $15 sundress to vintage Frye boots for $85. Three blocks down, Hudson Vintage (433 Warren St.; 518-828-7484) specializes in retro jewelry and accessories, like an eighties Alexis Kirk Egyptian revival necklace ($200) or a Gucci snakeskin hobo bag ($500); it celebrated its one-year anniversary last month with an in-store burlesque performance. Order a pint of Albany-brewed C.H. Evans Ale ($4) at the Spotty Dog Books & Ale, a hybrid bookstore, coffee shop, brew pub, and art-supply store set in a former firehouse that launched a weekly concert series last year. Keep an eye out for Club Helsinki Hudson, two blocks away—enter through the unmarked door beside the disco ball and tuba sculpture. The music venue, restaurant, and recording studio took over this 1846 factory in May, decking the space with salvaged miscellany like old elevator doors and portholes. After the show, gorge on hearty Northern European specialties like Finnish meatballs and “Mad Russian” potato latkes with blueberry compote ($18 to $23) in the adjoining restaurant.

Published on Jun 3, 2010 as a web exclusive.