The route to the Place Upstairs is a little creepy in the dark. From the doorway on Main Street in Midtown, a tall and dimly lit stairwell leads up to a second floor space that sits above mid-Main businesses such as Tacos A Go-Go and the Continental Club. The glowing "open" sign that hangs in a window facing Double Trouble bar looks like the title credit to a horror movie, and it's already been suggested that the space might have a bit of a ghost problem.

It's not the typical shopping experience, but it's perfect for the bizarre and fascinating collection of objects assembled by owners Laura Levine and Michael Hildebrand, the couple behind Replay vintage store on 19th Street in the Heights.

Instead of the kitschy clothing and accessories from the 1950s, '60s and '70s that populate Replay, Hildebrand and Levine filled the space with their own personal collections, a phantasmagorical gathering of Victorian fashions and accessories and early 20th-century medical relics. There's also boudoir dolls, rosaries, clowns, vintage toys, taxidermy and other dead creatures (and more than one skeleton), African art, and shelves full of buttons, brooches and other beads, with nothing made more recently than the 1950s in the entire shop.

"Anything that sparkles I have issues with, and anything that shocks Mike, that's what he wants," said Levine of their life-long collections. "Some people that walk in here are like 'Oh my god, I'm leaving,' and some people are like, 'Oooh, I'm going to stay for awhile.' "

Like a curiosity shop that's been around for decades, the odds and ends at the Place Upstairs often defy categorization, and with interesting objects densely packed over every surface, it's possible to wander around the small two-room space for hours and never stop finding new goodies: A row of perfume bottles with atomizers over here, a 1920s Ouija board there. A metal-frame dress bustle hangs from the ceiling in one corner, while a large taxidermy crow holds court in between racks of bracelets. You know, the usual.

The front room of the store is mostly devoted to the pretty stuff. A rack of clothing includes a dozen examples of off-white Victorian dresses, some of which still are wearable, as well as a genuine Prince's Hamburgers carhop uniform from the 1950s.

"The clothes here are definitely for people who are collectors," said Hildebrand. "This is for more serious people who want to put things on a dress form and put it in their bedroom."

Beaded and embroidered purses fill display cases, antique lace covers the walls and some of the furniture, and there's a world of old-fashioned boots, hats and fascinators.

In the back, Hildebrand's collection of turn-of-the-century medical equipment is displayed along with a crib full of mannequins, several clowns and a row of handmade masks from a local dance studio's productions in the 1950s.

Designed as a pop-up store, the Place Upstairs is mostly open at night, with a somewhat sporadic schedule. Regular hours are every Thursday and Saturday night from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m., as well as the second Tuesday of the month, when neighboring Natachee's Supper N Punch holds Troubadour Tuesdays, and the first Friday of the month, when Levine and Hildebrand's favorite band plays downstairs at the Continental Club. It also will be open certain Saturdays during the day and any other night when they happen to be in the store. Like food trucks, Levine and Hildebrand are using social media, specifically Facebook, to let customers and fans know when to stop by.

"It's a bunch of older, weirder stuff, so we definitely wanted it to be not the normal 9 to 5," said Levine. "Our favorite question has been 'Is this a museum or can you buy this stuff?' That makes my day."

Sarah Rufca