San Francisco's own king of cheap Broke-Ass Stuart is movin' on up, it seems, and starting tonight the whole nation will be able to discover this local lad on his new IFC program Young, Broke & Beautiful, which kicks off at 11 p.m. The new program shows the blogger (real name Stuart Schuffman) hitting six off-the-beaten-path tourist destinations (Memphis, Boston, New Orleans, San Diego, Detroit, Baltimore) and unearthing oddball adventures while doing so. Look out for Stuart learning about the booty bounce club culture in New Orleans, getting fake vampire teeth to funk up his look, and other crazy stuff. To celebrate the debut of the show, as well as Stuart's new book, Broke-Ass Stuart's Guide To Living Cheaply, we asked him to compile a list of his favorite shops for his fellow broke-ass San Franciscans. See what he came up with, below.
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Mission Thrift—"This is a really solid thrift store. I've kinda become synonymous with this old brown fedora that I bought there for $14. One of my best scores ever."
H&M—"I can't own nice things without fucking them up. And H&M's clothes look nice, but fall apart before I get to ruin them myself. That way I don't feel as guilty."
Thrift Town—"It can be fairly picked through and there's no rhyme or reason to anything that's there, but if you devote an afternoon to it, you can find some decent stuff here. Although your fingers will smell like Thrift Town for the rest of the day. And that kinda sucks."
Zara—"Zara is for when I want to dress like an actual grown-up. The clothes are funkier and more stylish than a lot of American labels at the same price point. I guess it because they're European or something."
The Indie Mart—"I love shopping at Indie Mart. Not only am I getting awesome one-of-a-kind or short-run stuff, but I'm also supporting local independent artists and designers. Once I got a solid brass belt buckle from the '70s that says 'Stu' on it. This was like very slow-working karma since, when I was a kid, the shops at Disneyland never had my name on those tiny license plates."
Sui Generis—"I can't actually afford to shop here at all, but if I could...holy shit! All I have to say is that I saw a crush velvet purple suit in there. Damn I would look fly in that."
Photo: Sam Erickson