Love Canal

"Giddyup", Sheena shouted at her NYC cabbie this afternoon. Only had an hour between meeting and airport and my OSB mentor and I needed one more stop. "To the mother ship", we whispered and he dropped us exactly where we asked. Canal & Broadway, in Chinatown, the spiritual home of unspoken dirty little secrets.

Now, there are some theories out there alleging that buying a fake Prada gives Osama a new pair of wings, but really now.. you have to admit... the visual of al-Zarqawi carrying a panty-pink fake Chloe bag is one worth the $25US.

Pre 9-11 knockoffs were pretty blatant and open. Gucci, Prada and Louis Vuitton the preferred brands. Bloomberg has gone to lengths to clean up the hawker stalls in recent years to the point where routine "lock downs" occur confiscating the mimicked booty and scaring away the tourists.

So one must be little more discreet, and creative, and willing to rummage through the bottom layers. The preferred brands have shifted too. Dolce & Gabbanna, Hermes in bright spring colours are the hot movers right now.

Quality, of course, is very hit and miss. Cash only, no refunds. In fact, don't expect your vendor to be there tomorrow. Had grand success in recent years with the $20 fake Kate Spade cowprint purse. (My unfortunate victim in last fall's gunpoint robbery in Glock Vegas). Less pleasing was the 30 buck faux Fendi tote bag, which broke a seam after a couple of uses. Da bling bling glow in the dark turn your arm green Rolexes less obvious, but out there for the determined shopper.

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