Collecting

This is our Wall of Icons. When we lived in Los Angeles, David and I started collecting them. We began going to the incredible flea markets around LA, and there was a different one every Sunday. Our first one was the Elk's Club, and in 1987, painted Monterey furniture was cheap, and just about knocked our socks off. We would go with our East Coast friends who were living in LA at the time, and we were all completely taken with Bauer pottery, vintage cowboy stuff & Western paintings, vintage fabrics, lamps from the 40s and 50s, and wonderful old, peeling furniture. It was a magical time, getting to Pasadena in the early morning when they were unloading trucks with primitive Mexican furniture that was painted in shades of green and turquoise. The winter sun was always shining and you were surrounded by mountains. Eventually, we started going to the Rose Bowl, Pasadena City College, and Long Beach...all filled with the stuff of Old California. We bought a big sturdy Mission armchair (now recovered using a Mexican blanket), dark green Adirondack chairs, vintage textiles and clothing, McCoy Pottery, sets of dishes, stunning oil paintings, and we hauled most of it back to the East Coast. Our house is filled with found objects have been refurbished, garage sale stuff, and lots of our old flea market purchases. Now of course, a painting that you bought in 1992 is worth ten times what you would have paid then. And the icons above are one of the things we went wild for in LA--where you would see a jeep with a Virgin of Guadelupe tire cover hanging off the back, driving around the Valley. I'm so nostalgic for our LA life lately...the boys were little, and we had a wonderful group of friends, many of them from New York, like us, who were there for a period of time. My sister Linda & her family lived around the corner, our wonderful friend Julie Von Zerneck had her lovely Portrait of a Bookstore (and still does), our dear pal Brett Brdas lived down the street, our neighbor Lilly Holden and her mom lived across from us. LA was an incredibly inspiring place for us---it's a city that has so much creative energy and such gorgeous terrain--mountains, desert, beach, and all that Old Hollywood history.
PS--the cool peace sign is made by David!