Mid Century Shop

I have lived for 22 years and had never walked into an antique shop. When I hear the word antique, I think of Disney Channel Original Movies where some outcasted child innocently yet predictably finds a strange book or item that they rummaged for and realized the item in question would bring about some kind of greatness. You’re half witch, a Merman, or perhaps your father is reincarnated into a robot. After eating at Miss Peaches a few doors down, The Beau and I had decided to check out this shop. The outside had been littered with old, used, vintage furniture. I should have brought Gramma. She would appreciate this stuff. I turn my nose up. I cautiously enter to my right. Purple and oranges ’80’s mod chairs that missed their mark in a Prince music video.Shuucks. I had found an antique hand mirror that I have wanted for years but I had to pass it up because well, my wallet is light as feathers. What I (believe it or not) was intrigued by the most was the Trojan War helmet. Yes. With the red feathered mohawk and made of faux gold maybe even brass. I was warming up to this place. We make our way over to the other side and I am easily amused by the guitars just laid out for me to smudge and touch. Too bad there are already 3 in our apartment and we really don’t have room for more. I browse. There is the occasional multi coloured vase, file cabinets and shelves. Another guitar, a First Act. I stop in my tracks again. There she is. The Beaut. A stuffed deer head. Glazed empty eyeballs and a hallow-​ness to match. I take a picture. I like this place. Bad-​da ba-​ba-​baaa, I’m lovin’ it! My last tear drop of envy. Envious because I can’t have it is the extremely old Kodak Camera, as big as Shaqs shoe boxes. With some original sheet of instructions inside. I was amazed. Something like that. Okay it wasn’t that old, it was from the 1950’s with the original, decayed leather carrying case. Just sitting there. Looking at me. I’m coming back for more. I like antiquing now.

I agree — this is a unknown mecca of weird stuff. Seen old ‘50s Louis Vuitton luggage up stashed in one loft here, Musical instruments, junk, 60s op art, all kinds of crazy statues and décor. I recommend Santiago’s #1 and #2 above all, but it varies. If you’re hitting one on this street, might as well hit them all!

Antique Row on Lankershim Blvd? In the Valley?
Yup.
I think I might have just stumbled upon some hidden gems here in North Hollywood… yeah, that North Hollywood, home of the North Hollywood Boyz and gentrification at an alarming pace. Anyways, you know how when you drive by a certain spot in «your» neighborhood a million times, you tend to tune things out? That’s definitely what happened here. On Lankershim between Burbank Blvd and Oxnard Street, which in all honesty is a very uninspiring part of Lankershim Blvd. I had driven by a few, well 6 actually, antique shops over and over again but never really paid much attention to what kind of stuff they had out on the street…
Until I was in the market for a dresser…
Last week, I drove down to «antique row» looking for a mid-​century modern dresser. I knew what I was looking for as I had an idea of what I wanted in my mind’s eye — one of those situations of you’ll know you’ve found what you’re looking for once you see it. Anyways, I first went in to some place called Cruz Antiques and was pretty surprised at all the different furniture, lighting fixtures, art and salvage pieces they had. I walked across the street, went into the next place and pickings were even better. I soon realized that there were a total of six different antique shops… all within walking distance.
In no particular order, they are:
Santiago’s Antique’s #1
Santiago’s Antique’s #2
Frank’s Antiques
Tzarax’s Antiques
North Hollywood Antiques
Cruz’s Antiques
They all specialize in Antique Furniture, Mid Century Modern, Architectural Salvage and Vintage Collectibles. After talking to Roberta, who was the proprietor of Santiago’s # 1, I learned that all the shops were owned by brothers from the same family. All six shops were essentially a family operation.
One of the last shops I went into was North Hollywood Antiques. They had all sorts of furniture, art, fixtures, mirrors, etc. The place was a goldmine, but unlike some antique places in the city, where pieces are a little more organized, cleaned up and less cluttered, you kind of have to know what you’re looking for, in addition to having some patience in looking around. There is soooo much stuff in this place, that it is easy to get overwhelmed. So, after looking around for about 15 minutes I bought a dresser in the back of the place. They wanted 150 bucks and I got them down to 120… so they do bargain. All in all a great experience and a great buy on a dresser that was more than 40 years old.
Oh yeah, I dealt with Enrique Cruz who was easy to work with and extremely helpful in helping me get the piece out to my buddies truck.