It's not the first time, and i'm sure it won't be the last time that boss Corey Shapiro has been featured in The Gazette. Prestigious newspaper from Montreal has taken a liking to Vintage Frames Company and their wacky antics! A huge article was featured with Corey Shapiro and local Snowdon Deli! For those of you who didn't understand before, the article better explains our choice in this collaboration. Check out The Gazette article after the jump. As well as click on the link to purchase the Vintage Frames Shop x Ultra Goliath 2 "Snowdon Deli" Edition Sunglasses
MONTREAL - Who would have thought that the Snowdon Deli - that bastion of smoked meat and matzoh ball soup - could ever be considered ... cool?
With décor that can best be described as early Formica, the Décarie Blvd. restaurant known for its fusty party sandwiches has always played second fiddle to Schwartz's, its more famous rival on the Main.
But in a classic case of reality being stranger than fiction, hotter-than-hot hip hop artists and celebrities have been sporting an iconic pair of vintage frames that pay homage to the Montreal delicatessen.
Yes, the Ultra Goliath 2 Snowdon Deli Edition, reserved for the coolest of the cool, have been sweeping the celebrity world. And the stars wearing them probably don't have a clue how, well, unfashionable the glasses' namesake really is - the deli is frankly more Borscht Belt than Hollywood.
But then there was singersongwriter Cee Lo Green wearing a customized version of the frames on the hit NBC show The Voice this month. They've also been worn by Lady Gaga, Snoop Dogg and Perez Hilton.
"The stars are going to be asking to come here," said Corey Shapiro, sitting in one of the booths at the Snowdon Deli. He's the personal eyeware consultant to the stars and founder of the Vintage Frames Company that is behind the Snowdon Deli frames.
(It would certainly be a hoot to see Lady Gaga mingling at the deli that's probably never heard of Born This Way. Does she like knishes?)
Snowdon Deli owner Ian Morantz says the affiliation between his restaurant and these celebrities comes as no surprise.
"I always thought we were the coolest place in town," he said.
But most of us don't even know what cool is by these celebrity standards. When Cee Lo was in town this month for the Canadian Grand Prix, which was when he bought his customized crystal blue frames, he didn't shop for the glasses by looking in a mirror.
How ordinary.
Shapiro's clients study themselves in an iPad, which uses cameras to reflect their image.
Much cooler.
And there's a clip of Cee Lo on the Vintage Frames website looking at himself in the glasses and commenting: "This is my style."
These frames will set you back a lot more than a smoked meat sandwich. The starting price is $500. The customized ones go for $1,000 and up and, if you want them in 14-carat gold like one of Shapiro's customers, be prepared to spend $20,000.
As bizarre as the connection between the Snowdon Deli and Cee Lo Green may seem, Shapiro is really just trying to pay homage to the clothing manufacturers his grandfather hung out with at Snowdon Deli on Saturday mornings.
They would drive up in their oversized Cadillacs with thick gold chains around their necks and thicker I.D. bracelets around their wrists. Everything about them was larger than life, including their glasses.
Shapiro, tagging along with his grandfather as a kid, felt they oozed success - and he wanted to capture that feeling for his relaunch of one of the most recognizable frames ever.
The Ultra Goliath 2 was probably first noticed when Al Pacino wore a pair in Casino, but they were more recently distinguished when Elliott Gould wore them as Reuben Tishkoff in Ocean's Eleven.
And Shapiro plans to ship the glasses to his best customers with a genuine taste of the Snowdon Deli tucked inside the box:
A piece of karnatzel.
The frames can be purchased at vintageframesshop.com
kseidman@ montrealgazette.com
