Penny Lane Antiques

Forgotten treasures of the past fill a maze of shelves, counters and tables. Walking through this museum of memories is like flipping through the crinkled yellowed pages of history books hidden somewhere in our great grandparent’s garage. Model trains, old records, and wind up toys spill off the wooden shelves and on to the aged furniture, as if they are pawning to catch the right person’s eye, the person who will re spark life into their bent metal and scratched paint, and take them home.

The Penny Lane Antique Mall is located along Holly Street in Old Town Bellingham. The shop is currently run by Matt Burgland, 26, and his sister. The two have been the owners for two years, but the shop itself has been around since 1990, Burgland said. Roughly 45 antique dealers contribute to the shop’s large collection, Matt said.

                       Matt got a love of antiques from his father, and has been collecting tin toys from the 1950’s since he was a child. To this day, he has almost 60 of them, Matt said.

“I’ve always enjoyed looking at the history of old things,” Matt said.

The shop has housed things ranging from the bizarre and unique to the rare and valuable.

“I once had an old antique wood block of an artist’s print-Gustave Baumann,” Matt said. The wooden block sold for $9000, Matt said.

“We get new stuff every day in here,” Matt said.

           “Treasure hunting,” Liz Dorgan, 29, said, when asked what her favorite thing about antique shopping was. Here, she shops for some vintage pieces to add to her closet. 

“It’s nice to have something different then everybody else,” Dorgan said.

Old vintage pipes are proudly displayed on the wooden shelf.

 Jason Dalziel, 28, shops with his father, Chris Dalziel, 60. The two are inspecting the sound quality of the record player, discussing needle sizes and types of records.

Jason has always loved antique shopping, he said.

    “I think it’s mainly for the history, and socially how it all fits in,” Jason said.

       Bellingham Highschool students Angela Bates, 18, and Brendan Francis, 17, laugh as they dare each other to try on the most outrageous pieces of clothing they can find.

“I just love the different eras,” Francis said. “I like being able to feel the eras.”