Commerce and Stuff

I have been feeling rather indolent and lazy lately. Although business has been quite good, I have been content to sit on my haunches and wait for it to come to me. I decided to get off my ass and pursue my quarry this week.

My plan was to get up at 3:30 a.m. on Sunday and go to the Long Beach Flea Market. Thank god it was raining and gave me an excuse to stay in my new comfy bed. Leslie and I left at eight o'clock, a more decent hour and headed up to Glendale instead.

Ted and Sandy from Roadside America were promoting a new antique show called Antiques, Objects and Art, L.A. at the Glendale Civic, a venue that we have sold our wares at for years. Many of our best buddies in the business were selling there and a few blog readers who introduced themselves, including my new friends from the Portola Valley. Thank you, thank you!

The show was a mix of spanish revival, mission, modern, found objects and deco. I hope that everyone did okay. It was pissing down rain on sunday, something that you can't blame on a promoter, unless he or she has an inordinate amount of pull. In any case it was a lovely show, lots of outstanding decorative objects.

John Favors was there and Steve Maras and some others that I neglected to get a picture of, just a whole bunch of our favorite people in the business. Bob Joyce. Dorrie Hall. Dennis Boses. I bought one or two things, nothing earth shattering. Los Angeles artist Larry Blagg was showing some very interesting assemblage pieces of his own at the show.

Afterwards Leslie and I went out to our favorite mexican restaurant in the world, La Cabanita in Montrose. We both had the pork chop chuletas in pasilla and sour crema. Phenomenal as always. Great coffee. Thick chewy homemade tortillas with just a little more lime taste. It is so outstanding.

The rest of the week has been zip. Hit Temecula, Lake Elsinore, San Marcos, Oceanside, Solana Beach, Ocean Beach, nothing. Zilch. Couldn't find a single decent thing to buy. Did manage to find some cool woodblock prints on ebay.

Tough to sort through the dregs of a dying culture. There just ain't much left worth a damn. I think I am heading back to my old plan b.