L.A. Digs: Scavenger Hunt
Jared Frank and Sam Jacober love digging through shit. They’re vintage fiends. Antique hounds. The type of people who cause awe with an uncanny ability for turning literal junk into even more literal treasure.
And since moving to L.A. from Brooklyn a year ago, the antiques, curiosities and vintage clothes of their labor can be found in two places: One is their shared apartment, a breezy 1929 Spanish style dwelling tucked away in the Silver Lake hills. The other is their just-launched website, Topsydesign.com, where visitors can buy it all.
LET THERE BE LIGHT: Glowing vintage signage fills the Frank/Jacober apartment entryway. It was originally purchased for use at a planned retail space.
"When we first moved out here, we thought we were gonna open up a space," says Frank, sipping coffee in his living room. The couple, who met as NYU arts undergrads, planned on turning a Pasadena live/work loft into a retail showroom for their vast collection of goods, which they source and refurbish before selling. But they quickly ran into zoning issues.
"Turns out it wasn't a live-sell loft, which is how we support ourselves," Jacober adds. And so a web business was born.
The site, built using Google's free Blogger platform, feels modern with a clean, simple look that lacks the bells and whistles typical of budding e-commerce businesses. Frank uploads the merchandise, Jacober takes the photos. And together they scour the country for the Oddfellow ritual masks, 1930s bathing suits and old newspaper obituaries that are curiously awesome.
THE GOODS: The inside of a closet is part museum/part storeroom with a sampling of meticulously organized merchandise, including vintage men's boots, jewelry and fraternal organization medallions.
"We're not a costume shop," Frank asserts. He doesn't like his aesthetic to be pigeonholed into any particular time period, though the couple generally stays away from anything made after 1970, due to a lack of quality Frank says is found in older merchandise. But even the strangest of gear — the couple's coffee table is an old art room cutting square, while a hollowed-out elephant foot from an era when it was still legal to, well, own a hollowed out elephant foot, sits in their foyer — has to have simple lines. And it has to be decidedly them.
"There’s the cutesy, feminine, simple style. Then there’s the darker, Victorian gothic style. And I feel that if we’re ever purely in one of the two, it’s a no-go." says Frank.
Jacober and Frank recently returned from a cross-country jaunt on Route 66, where they hit up garage sales, flea markets and whatever other bazaars they could find. Frank’s iPhone served as a map.
"It gets frustrating," Jacober says, noting the 6 a.m. wake up calls to get to flea markets and Craigslist sales in time to unearth her next favorite thing. But her anxiety of missing out on items is usually for naught. "I very rarely see someone walking away with something I want."
FAMILY AFFAIR: In the bedroom, old photos of Jacober's family keeps watch.
At the moment, Jacober's favorite item in the shop is a 1930s rouched velvet and silk cape, which she meticulously restored to a near-original glory. It sells for $495. Near the museum-quality closet where the cape is kept lies a thick, long wool and leather coat that channels Missoni. At a mere $275, it's almost enough to make one want to move back east in time for fall.
On the next shelf over is a necklace from one of the fraternal organizations that Frank considers an area of interest. It is made from human hair.
"We have very specific taste," he says.
ALL MIXED UP: A smattering of styles and eras fills the couple's home, which was found — unsurprisingly — during an accidental stop at an estate sale.
SIEZE THE DAY: A fantastic mantra greets those who enter the office area.