737 Main
The store
Named for the pub — the address it stood at, and the name on the gold sign under the awning. Everything here is something they made, something that was actually on the wall, or the room itself.
First run
What we’re making
The Bad Book
Her actual joke book — thirty-odd pages of material, transcribed off the tapes. Vi and Darby sold it at the show for five dollars.
$18The anchor product
The Good Book
The companion volume: thirty pages of inspirational sayings, songs and poems. Sold as a boxed pair with The Bad Book.
$18Boxed pair $32
Twenty-Four Faces
The composite Vi used as her own promo sheet. One woman, two dozen characters, in one frame.
$28Poster · 18×24
The 737 Main Sign
The gold sign under the awning, cropped tight. Where it stood, and what it said.
$28Poster · 18×24
SH*T HAPPENS
Her wall said it first — the placard is on the tape. “If you have a sense of humor you can get through it.”
$5Bumper sticker
Joke Cards
Tear-out packs of five single jokes from The Bad Book. The cheapest thing we make and the easiest to give away.
$85-pack
Coasters
A set of four carrying the hand-lettered beer poem off the wall of Vi’s Place.
$16Set of 4
Vi’s Place Shot Glass
The venue name in signpainter script. Because it was a bar.
$121.5 oz
Hat Pin
One tiny hat, gold on black. She collected hats and the ceiling was covered in them — so we made the idea instead of the hat.
$10Enamel pin
You Get Religion Here
Coasters, joke cards and a sticker, boxed. Named for the line about the midnight sing-along.
$32Gift box
The marks
The identity
Six marks, all drawn from things that were actually in the room — the sign, the address, the wall, the ceiling, and one line she used on the crowd. Every one is a vector, so it prints at any size and embroiders clean.
Why these
Two tests
Every product has to pass two questions. Did it exist in the bar, or is it the bar? And would Vi have pitched it on the wall?
The joke books pass both, because they are literally the thing they sold at the show for five dollars. The bumper sticker passes because the placard is on the tape. The twenty-four-faces poster passes because she made it herself.
Nothing here is invented branding. It is all stuff out of the room.
A note on the books
The Bad Book is real
It was thirty-odd pages of her actual material, sold alongside The Good Book at the 737 Main Pub. Both survive in the family archive.
The jokes are already transcribed off the tapes, which means reprinting it is a typesetting job rather than a research project. It is the first thing being made.
737 Main · Buckley, Washington