Antique Sale! Day 6: A Little Inspiration Goes a Long Way

Good morning from Paris!

Today’s the last day of my antiques sale. I have been working on my “smalls” shop and will debut that soon. I can’t even tell you how much I love accessories so it has been a blast curating a petite selection for all of you.

Before I show you the last of my “bigs” selection, I thought we would talk about something… Let’s talk about a little something called inspiration. I received a really boring (and ignorant) email from a woman named Rachel Cummings last week who said the following…

“Hi. 
After reading your blog for a few months and following the antiques sale this week, I would just like to state the following.
Clearly these are nice pieces and one can understand your marketing strategy that includes their history and your relationship with the piece.
However......it is a bit disturbing to have you explain every detail of why the piece should be appreciated and how one might be educated, through your eye, as to how it can be incorporated in to a room.
You are not one of a select group that has ever purchased great pieces or has a creative nature. 
Granted, there are plenty of clueless people that would have no idea why a one armed urn is special and desireable.  But there are plenty of individuals who do "get it", and not because you told them so.  These people will probably be among those that make you an offer for the pieces.
You are not the first or the last to have an eye for design and detail.
Give your readers a little credit.  
Rachel C.”

As you all know, I am not one to back down from a disagreement and I highly disagree with Rachel. Even though I have been in the design field for my entire life, I never ever feel like I don’t need more inspiration. I draw inspiration from everywhere… Museums, travel, shelter magazines, Pinterest, blogs, antique shops, retail shops, flea markets, exhibits, books, films, nature… The list goes on and on. I even have an inspiration board plastered to my closet door that I stare at every day (I am manifesting Provence). First of all let me state that I hate Rachel because she’s a moron (and rude). Secondly, even if people do “get it” as she says, there is always room for inspiration. Architectural Digest, World of Interiors, Elle Decor, the fucking Louvre and every Gagosian gallery would be out of business if people did not seek inspiration. I would be lost without my interior design coffee table books. Lost! Both professionals and nonprofessionals seek inspiration… It’s what makes the world go around, for God sakes. I told Rachel that it was not a “marketing strategy” to include the history and relationship of the piece… quite the contrary… It’s called basic human interaction. I would never, as Rachel stated, consider any of my blog readers “clueless.” Don’t worry, I defended all of us and wrote Rachel a super rude reply letter. You’re welcome. Hopefully the Pinterest Police will revoke Rachel’s membership because obviously she doesn’t need inspiration except maybe in the manners department.

Okay so, moving on… The last two pieces for my antiques sale are chandeliers. Let’s take a look at the first…

French Chandelier with Crystals

French bronze chandelier made in France 1930s with crystals. Eight lights.

 

Price: $550

Place of Origin: France

Materials: bronze, crystals

Period: 1930s

Condition: Current Wiring. Good to fair. Sold as is.

Number of Items: 1

Location of Item: Los Angeles, California USA

 

And the second…

Portuguese Monastery Chandelier

Unusual and rare iron monastery chandelier

 

Price: $595

Place of Origin: Portugal

Materials: bronze iron

Period: 20th century, possibly earlier

Condition: Fair, not wired yet. Could be wired or used with a candle.

Wear: Wear consistent with age and use. Showing some signs of rust. Beautiful golden patina.

Height of base: 1’ 10 7/8 inches

Width: 1’ 2 5/8 inch

extra extra long chain

Number of Items: 1

Location of Item: Los Angeles, California USA

So, these two chandeliers are the last items for the sale. If you have any questions, just email me at havesomedecorum@gmail.com. If you would like to purchase either of these chandeliers, just email me at the same email address, havesomedecorum@gmail.com, and put the title of the piece in the subject line. This is a first come first serve basis and I promise I will not play favorites (unless it’s Princess Caroline of Monaco… Obviously). You can pay with either PayPal or Wells Fargo Bank deposit. You can pick it up or arrange transport for it. If you need to ship it long-distance, I use a company called Vintage Transport.

Voilà! That’s the end of the antiques sale for the big items. There are a few pieces left so email me if there is something that you are still interested in.

And just to bug Rachel, I thought I would give you all a list of my favorite Pinterest people that I follow whom I think have a great eye for design and would never ever think that they don’t need more inspiration.

Lauren Santo Domingo

Quintessence

Pam O’Connell (no relation)

Brooke Giannetti

Carolina Irving

FIG and Salt

Kelly Rutherford

Penelope Bianchi

...these and 291 others that you can find through my Pinterest board… HERE.

Stay tuned for my smalls shop...

Circa: Troisième Partie. Antique Sale

Bonjour! Bonjour! Bonjour!

 

Ring the bells! It’s finally warm and sunny in Paris!

I am so happy!

I have a little bit of good news/fun news for everyone. Remember when I told you a few blogs back that I had a little “surprise” for all of you regarding my former antique shop, Circa? If you missed those blogs click HERE and HERE. Well, I do have a surprise!

I have been working on it for the past few weeks getting it all organized. Organized for what, you ask?

I am having a Circa Sale via the blog!!!!

I will be selling (over the next days) a total of 8 items from my former antique shop, Circa. 8 very special items.

The sale will start Thursday at 10 AM, Los Angeles time. I will notify everyone of the start of the sale via Instagram and then it will be live on the blog. Follow me on Instagram for the announcement: @ellieod

These are all very special pieces that I think you will all love. Why am I selling these pieces? A couple of reasons… First of all, unfortunately, my caregivers don’t work for free and I have to pay them. Secondly, the pieces are in Los Angeles and I live in France. They have been in storage for the past two years and I do not have any plans to bring them over to France so why not share them with all of you!!!

Starting Thursday, I will put one piece on the blog every two days (so it has time to marinate and you all have time to view it) with all of its details. Each piece will have the following:

Description

Photos

Price

Place of Origin

Materials

Period

Condition

Size

I thought it would also be a good idea to also show you (each day with each of the items) some inspiration. Even though these are antiques, they can find their place in any type of house or apartment … Parisian Apartment, Seaside Cottage, Spanish Villa, Modern Townhouse, Victorian House, Palm Springs Desert House, Traditional House, Tudor House, Provençal Mas House, English Country House, Brooklyn Brownstone, New York Upper East Side Hoity-Toity Apartment, Downtown West Village Townhouse, Texan French Inspired Manor House, Big ‘ol house in Missouri, Classic Pasadena House, Malibu Beach House, Hamptons Beach House, Aspen Chalet, Midcentury Modern House, or your little château in Normandy.

These pieces could also go other places… A restaurant, a retail space, a gallery, an office, your summerhouse, guesthouse, or winterhouse. My, oh my, so many choices!

For each piece, I have put together a Pinterest board so you can see how the pieces can work in different environments. You can follow me on Pinterest HERE. Oh my God, so fun.

Don’t forget, decorating is about the juxtaposition. Just because a piece is a 19th century French rococo style giltwood mirror doesn’t mean that it has to stay in that environment. It’s all about the way your eyes travels through a room and you don’t want the eye to get bored. Throw in a pop. Throw in something unusual.

And don’t forget about scale! Big pieces in a small room work.

And don’t forget about placement! You don’t have to hang a mirror, it can rest on the floor leaning against a wall. Super chic. You don’t have to keep that fancy chair in the living room… Put it in the bathroom! Garden pots don’t have to stay in the garden. Put that big garden urn on the entry table and fill it with seashells. Think outside of the box! That’s what makes a house interesting and unique.

I’m going to be honest with you and forewarn you… None of these pieces are inexpensive. These are not crappy bric-a-brac, tchotchke garage sale items. These are the real deal. These are your investment pieces. You can layer later with the cheap stuff, like I do. However, all of the pieces are extremely well priced. I cross-referenced all the prices with the foremost authority of antiques, 1stdibs.com. My prices are a fraction of their real value. What I’m trying to say is… You will be getting a great deal. Not cheap, but a great deal. There’s a difference.

All of these pieces are antiques, so with that, some of the pieces have a little bump or bruise. That’s the nature of an antique, sister. It’s called character. I have documented each flaw, if any. All of the pieces are in very good condition.

I sourced all of the pieces with my mother in France. We were very selective about our choices. We did our research and our homework and relied on our personal taste to decide. We consulted with dealers, negotiated the prices, curated the whole collection and shipped everything at our expense back to the United States. These are all very special pieces.

Please feel free to ask me any questions. You can ask me 400 questions if you want to, I am happy to help.

All of the pieces are in Los Angeles at my best friend’s house (Jenny). (For the record, Yolanda is my other best friend. They like to fight about it.) I will help coordinate the pickup between you and Jenny. You have to be really nice to her and tell her how pretty she is and give her a big hug for me. That’s the rule. :-)

You can organize your own transport if you would like but I usually use a company called Vintage Transport. They also ship long distance and are very reasonably priced. I have used them for years.

All of the pieces will be sold on a first-come first-serve basis. If you like the piece, email me and it will be yours. Email me at: havesomedecorum@gmail.com and put the name of the piece in the subject line.

Please feel free to tell all of your friends, your family, your interior designer or anyone that you like about the sale. :-)

You will be able to make payments by the following:

PayPal

Bank Deposit at Wells Fargo

 

So, get ready for Thursday!

 

*Something you don’t know? Even if none of the pieces that I am selling on Thursday work for you, I have good news.

For the past five years, I have sort of been out of it. ALS is fun like that. I had to put everything on hold… My job at 1stdibs.com , my interior design career, my interior design TV show that I was working on with my friend, Diandra, the antique shop I was planning on opening, everything… Including my future. I didn’t know that I had a future. Suddenly though, in January, I thought to myself, “You know what, Ellie? After five years, you are still here so you need to trust yourself and believe in yourself and think that you do have a future, for fucks sake.”

So, I have been quietly pondering my future. I have asked myself what makes me happy? I think it’s quite obvious that decorating/antiquing makes me happy. I decided that, through my blog, I will start (on a very small scale) my antique shop again. I want to start fresh so I’m going to call it something new… Not sure what the name will be yet.

I don’t know much but what I do know is that it’s going to be fun. I’m just going to put my ALS on the back burner because it’s totally boring me and I’m going to get back to “The Ellie Before.” That girl liked to work.

Don’t worry, I’m still going to work on healing my ALS. I’m still going to take all of my medicine, drink all of my green juices, eat fattening foods like beef bourguignon and my favorite meringue cakes, get plenty of rest, do my kinesiology, meditate and stay stress-free.

So, with this new little online shop, I’m going to sell “smalls.” Pieces that are not too expensive and are easy to ship yet will be full of charm and character. I will try to bring a bit of my style and my France to you.

So, stay tuned as I get this all up and running. Let me know what you think. In the meantime, get ready for Thursday for the big stuff!

Circa: Deuxième Partie

*This is Part Two of my blogs about my former antique shop, Circa, in Santa Barbara, California. If you have not read part one, click HERE.… You need the back story…

Shopping for merchandise for our antique store, Circa, was very very difficult… mainly because I loved it all so much I didn’t want to sell it. My mother and I had a pact, like I mentioned in a previous blog, we would only buy that which we loved. Maybe that wasn’t such a good idea.

We sourced our merchandise from all over the world… France, Spain, Italy, New York, Morocco, Atlanta, Los Angeles… You name it, we were there. With absolute pride, every piece (almost) went into our shop.

My mother had to tell me that I had too many NFS (not for sale) tags on too many things. But how could I sell that 18^th-century statue of the woman in that dress! How could I sell that? How could I sell that plaster frieze? How could I sell that painting of the man with the easel ( I didn’t, I’m looking at it right now in my living room in Paris.). It was torture watching some of my favorites leave the shop. I have a little secret… Sometimes I was very naughty. Sometimes, if someone asked me the price of my very favorite piece I would either tell them that it wasn’t for sale or that it was $5 million dollars. That ought to deter them.

 

One of my favorite things to do at our shop was to find a great piece that needed a little help. For example, I found a beautiful Napoleon III chaise in Paris that needed a little love. My mother and I decided that we would give it a lot of love. First things first, we marched our little selves to one of my favorite fabric shops, Silk Trading Company. (I only go to Diamond Fabric and Foam for the free bread.) Silk Trading Company has some of the best fabrics, the best textures, the best prints and the best colors and you can have a cut that day… You don’t have to order it. I don’t have that kind of patience, I am an Aries. Silk Trading Company knows what upholstery silk should feel like and look like and it is not super expensive… Only kind of expensive. Their velvets are the creamiest and Silk Trading Company knows what a pop of blue should look like and how the warmth of beige should look. We chose three different fabrics for the chaise… A print, a silk and a velvet… All in a warm golden beige. And for the grand finale, we chose a pop of velvet peacock blue with golden trim for a pillow. I mean, c’mon!

 

My mother was the one who was obsessed with lamps and lampshades. While we were in Paris collecting for our store, my mother always made a point to find usual objects to be used as bases for lamps. We would bring them back to the states, have them wired, and then the fun would begin. My mother would go to a little atelier in Montecito and work with a woman who was a master at lampshades. They would look at the base and decide what its characteristics were, its attributes and then they would decide the best shape of the lampshade, the best color for fabric, the best texture and most importantly the best trim. The love and care that my mother put in the lampshades was evident because the lamps would never be in the store for more than a couple of days… Sold!

 

One of our most favorite pieces to buy were mirrors. My mother and I absolutely adore mirrors… Mainly 19^th and 18^th century gilt mirrors. Honestly, a mirror is one of the most important pieces of a room. It’s your focal point, it’s the reflection and it is the highlight of any room. One of the main reasons that I rented this apartment in Paris is because of the two monumental 18^th-century gilt mantle mirrors. My mother and I brought back at least 15 mirrors from Europe for our shop. Only four of them made it to the store and the rest only made it as far as my mother’s house.

We both were obsessed with accessories. Sconces, chinoiserie boxes, tole trays, coffee table books, vases, candlesticks, blue-and-white anything, picture frames, Anichini hand towels, paintings, sculptures, busts, garden urns, tablecloths, Faberge boxes, jardinières… Total obsession. There were so many different types of accessories in our shop but somehow they all went together perfectly. When you buy what you love, it all works.

 

We did have one little accessory that was extra extra special. A woman in Paris was offering her entire collection of gold hearts. Why is that so special, you ask? The hearts are called ex voto which means in Latin “from the vow made.” These little hearts /sacre coeurs were used as religious offerings to a saint or deity as gratitude on little hand written notes inside. The ones that I bought have a little French prayer on the front,

“Lisez, O Notre Dame

Dans le coeur que voici

L'espoir de mon âme

Son amour aussi.”

I bought all of the hearts… And kept most of them… Giving them as gifts to my friends. Yolanda still keeps hers on her bedside table.

 

There are a few things that I wish I never sold… My white taxidermy peacock named Ursula, the set of four black leather chairs with gold detailing from the 1920s, a Jacques Garcia black lacquered clover table, a marble and iron industrial table, every lamp we’ve ever had, every Fortuny pillow, every statue… I basically wish I never sold one thing.

Do you want to know something interesting? My best sales were before 10 o’clock in the morning before the store opened. I would go to the shop after I dropped little Gracie off at school at about 8:30 in the morning. Our shop was on a street that was great for early morning walking with a Starbucks latte after the farmer's market. My mother and I made sure that our windows stopped the early morning walkers in their tracks. Our windows were huge so you could see the entire first level of the store from the outside. Without fail, the people who had their faces pressed to our windows could see that I was inside at my desk… Tap tap tap. Something you might not know about me? I’m actually overly polite and I would never ever just sit at my desk and not open the doors early for customers. (Some shop owners do that and I think it’s so rude.) The good news is that these early morning openings resulted in some of my best sales. My favorite early-morning sale was to an older gentleman (he told me he was 82 years old), very refined, who bought my beloved 18^th-century statue of a woman draped in a beautiful gown/robe. It was a gift for his wife for Valentine’s Day. How sweet!

 

 

Our shop combined antiques with new items as well. My mother and I traveled to the famous Maison et Objet show in Paris twice a year. For furniture and accessories, this is the show of all shows. You want to know something funny? The first time we went to the show, my internal biological clock was off and I wasn’t thinking clearly and I accidentally took too many birth-control pills and I basically threw up the entire first day of the Maison et Objet show and I was completely delirious. Day 2 of the show was much better and I was so glad because this is not a show to miss. I wrote a blog about it back in 2009 that is kind of funny. If you want to read it click HERE. We placed our biggest order with a company based out of France. Everything that they have is a reproduction based on the original… Let me tell you, these are the best I’ve ever seen. They are masters of getting the gold gilt just right and can make the piece look exactly like it was handed down to you by your rich great aunt who lived in Paris. We bought lamps, chinoiserie boxes, lanterns, small tables and these great skinny rectangular mirrors.

 

We also designed our own line of sofas and headboards. For the bedding, we chose the best…Anichini. We could barely keep the Anichini throws in stock with their great patterns and colors. While we were in Paris, we found an artisan who made the chicest Moroccan tea sets you’ve ever seen with vibrant colors of purple, blue, pink and green with little chains. We were offered the chance to design the tea sets with our own shapes, colors and accoutrements to make it very special for our shop. My other favorite “new” product was our line of Faberge. Can you believe Faberge still makes stuff? They do! We purchased for our shop their line of picture frames, enamel boxes etched with love notes inside, and a fabulous set of champagne glasses and caviar bowls. Amazeballs!

 

I wish I had better and more pictures to show you but they are all packed away in my storage in Los Angeles. Let’s take a look at what I do have…
 

 

Voilà! Circa!

I have a little surprise for all of you regarding Circa as well! Stay tuned for the next blog…

Circa: Première partie.

*I was actually saving my story about my shop, Circa, for my book but I decided, what the hell, I’ll share it now with all of you. So this is an actual excerpt from my book titled, And So It Is.

Circa

I used to have a shop. A chic little antique shop named Circa in Santa Barbara, California. My father ponied up all the money for it as hush money. Apparently, unbeknownst to our entire family, yet known to the rest of the world, my father was in the midst of an eight year long affair with a woman named Laura. So gross. My father thought it would be a good idea (a brilliant idea) if he handed over copious amounts of cash so that my mother would go to France for weeks at a time on buying trips and then dive wholeheartedly into opening a shop, thus distracting her from her deteriorating marriage. It worked… For a while.
 

My mother and I had always wanted to open a shop. We had the exact same taste, same style and same aesthetic. We were both great buyers and she was great at merchandising that which we bought and then in turn, I was a great salesperson. We decided, first things first, we needed to go on a buying trip in France. Paris was the first stop. We decided that our modus operandi would be to only buy that which we would have in our own homes and not just buy something that we knew would sell. Not speaking a word of French yet years of experience bargaining, off to the Marche aux Puces we went. The Puces is the mecca of flea markets in France. Armed with our vision for the shop, we spent two weeks curating our inventory. We did not do this alone… No, no, no. We had little Gracie to help. Still in elementary school, Gracie followed us to every booth, every stall and documented every item that we bought, its provenance, and the price. She did all of this in skinny jeans and Ugg boots. My mother, never without a chocolate croissant in hand, and I swept through the flea market with precision and a definitive mission. By the end of the two weeks we had acquired 19^th-century leather Italian dining chairs, Moroccan side chairs, monastery chandeliers, plaster friezes, plaster busts, 19^th-century green faience, altar sticks, candlesticks, gilt 19^th-century mirrors, statues, Napoleon III chaise longes, rock crystal chandeliers, paintings, desks, chest of drawers, settees, banquettes, and every little accessory that we could get our overly excited paws on.

After Paris, we proceeded to politely pillage our way through the flea markets of L'isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France, asking my father for an increase in our budget as we had already blown our allotted wad in Paris. My philandering father agreed, not surprisingly. What we discovered about the flea markets in this little town was that it was better than Paris! It was as if we had cut out the middleman. The items were more unique and the prices were even better. Gracie continued her services not begrudgingly because she knew there was a prize at the end.… A new dress from Bonpoint. My child can be bought. During some of our more lengthy negotiations with some of the vendors, Gracie would use this opportunity to do her homework and I could not have been more proud of her. Gracie, to this day, still reminds me of how I “forced her to work full-time and continue her schoolwork at the tender age of 12.” My retort? “It’s called experience, look it up.”
 

This is me trolling through the Marche aux Puces. Jesus Christ, I look fat!

After everything was bought, paid for and organized on the shipping container, all we could do was… Wait. The shipping estimated time was two months. This was fine with us because we had one slight problem. We had no shop yet. After months of searching for a suitable shop, we were continually left with disappointment. Nothing spoke to us. It was either the wrong building, too big, too small or too ugly. Until one day. One day the antique gods smiled upon us and we were notified that our favorite little building in Santa Barbara/Montecito was up for rent. We jumped on it immediately. It was ridiculously expensive and on top of that needed some remodeling. Who cares? I guess that’s the price my father had to pay to have a dual life. My mother and I set to work the very first day making the shop our own. The first floor we decided would be our Parisian salon with black lacquered walls, a fireplace, black and white hardwood floors, bookcases trimmed with gold leaf, gilt mirrors, paintings and all of our trés chic Parisian findings. My mother and I know how to roll up our sleeves and get dirty. The entire neighborhood hated us from day one because the overwhelming scent of lacquer wafting from our shop for an entire week is not exactly pleasant especially with a bustling restaurant next door. Then came the paint fumes from the hand-painted black and white floors. I could remember being down on my hands and knees with a teeny tiny paintbrush touching up the floors on the eve of our opening party nearly fainting from the fumes. The second floor was dedicated to our Italian finds. We hired our brilliant painter, Enrique, to paint the walls an ocre teint to complement our Italian leather chairs, colorful paisley fabrics, Anichini hand towels with 12 inch fringe, and antique Tuscan furniture. We decided that the awnings for the exterior windows should mimic those of our beloved Palais-Royale in Paris. Mission accomplished. After a month of interior work, the shop was ready. Perfect timing because we received a notification that our container would be in my mother’s driveway the following week with an allotted time of two hours to empty the entire container!

As promised, before dawn on a foggy Saturday morning in Santa Barbara, our container arrived. Unbeknownst to me, containers do not arrive with 12 men with white glove service. Quite the opposite. We were on our own to unload, unpack, cross reference the purchases, and organize everything by ourselves! Not five minutes later did my mother give the gardeners new job descriptions. They were now antique movers. After a lot of screaming, yelling, threatening, and bossy behavior, the container was unloaded and was now in the middle of the driveway. Gracie, in her pajamas, continued her work and expertly checked in every piece of furniture. To our amazement, nothing was lost and nothing was broken. Shipping miracle.

When it comes to decorating, my mother is like an idiot savant. When she is in this mode, the best thing to do is just leave her alone. She had a vision for the shop and I knew that it would be brilliant when she had finished. She single-handedly with one worker, moved furniture, laid rugs, hung mirrors, chandeliers, paintings and drapes, designed vignettes, and overnight… Voilà! Circa was born.

Our next project was to design our ad for Santa Barbara Magazine. This ad needed to set the tone for our shop. After weeks of failure, I told my mother I needed to be alone to figure this out. As usual, a stroke of genius came to me. Keep it simple, stupid. Keep it simple, stupid. Yes! This is what I needed to do so I decided to use a completely unplanned, esoteric, organic photo of Gracie that I had taken on a whim in the Palais-Royale in Paris. If I do say so myself, I thought it was rather brilliant. It looked French, exciting and fun. Doors would open October 1, 2008.
 

 

 Our ads and article for my favorite Santa Barbara Magazine.

 

 With respects to our friends and family, we decided to have a private opening party so they could see the shop and have first dibs on the merchandise. We decided on an evening soirée, French style. I hired waiters and waitresses and dressed them in historical French costumes. French music played as guests sipped champagne from coupe glasses. Baby lamb chops were served with miniature French onion soup and tomatoes/mozzarella/basil salad. For dessert, authentic French macaroons, of course. The party was a success and during the party we managed one sale… $11,000 worth of dishes. Champagne combined with shopping is always a good idea.

 

 My mother and I. Look! I can walk!

 

 

 

 Isn't my mother pretty?

 

 The amazing flowers were half the party budget.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I can spot lots of friends, a couple of douche bags and a couple of famous musicians, can you?

 

 

 

 My handsome husband, David.

 

 Gracie ( with braces in her awkward phase ) and I. Don't tell Gracie that I put this picture up. I think she looks adorable.

 

 My friend, Jean... one of the chicest women in Santa Barbara.

 

 Yolanda Foster, David Foster and I.

 

 I painted these floors.

 

 Our white peacock, Ursula.

 

 

C'est moi.

After working into the wee hours of the night, cleaning up after the party and getting ready for our grand opening the very next morning, I realized that I had fulfilled a dream. A dream to have my own shop, with my own merchandise, with my own aesthetic and on my own terms. I felt lucky, privileged, grateful and excited for the future. Circa was a dream realized. Sales were stellar and I could hardly keep up with inventory as it was flying out of the doors. I sold my little heart out. I think my success lied in the fact that I loved each and every object at our shop and conveyed that love to the customers. My enthusiasm paid off. Circa was extremely successful. However, over the next two years the economy crashed and the highfalutin customers were no longer. Everyone was on a budget. Gross. There was no way I was going to just give away our merchandise so we decided to close the shop and take everything home. This decision was compounded by the fact my father was involved in some shady business dealings and the shop was threatened with lawsuits. Thanks, Dad. Circa was closed in 2009 but not without great memories and a lifetime of experience.

So that is the history of Circa. Tomorrow, in Part 2, let’s take a stroll down Circa memory lane and take a look at the actual merchandise in the shop! So fun, so fun!

Photos by Wendy Jenson and Santa Barbara Magazine and me.