Sunday, December 17, 2006

Another Lenticular Postcard at Architectural Salvage

After posting the first 3D postcard last week (for which I was anointed with Fifth Day of Kitschmas best of, on Flickr's Merry Kitschmas Group) , I decided to go back to Architectural Salvage and buy some more of these images. I couldn't resist this odd card.
Lenticular Christmas Postcard

While I was at the store, I rummaged through a box of old Christmas cards and ended up buying several from the 40's (though no more lenticular ones). I will post soon. I absolutely love old cards. I think I have always been obsessed with paper.

If I could chose a dream job,
(well, my ultimate dream job would be to work for a magazine like Lucky, and come up with all those lists of goodies to buy, new goodies on the market, etc. I mean, SOMEBODY really has that job! God, that would be amazing...)

but as I was saying, my dream job would be to start an architectural salvage business. These are abundant, evidently, back east. Very few exist on the west coast, at least to my knowledge.

Architectural salvage enthusiasts (or I guess preservationists is a better term) go into old buildings that are being demolished or 'upgraded', and they salvage items that might otherwise go to the landfill. This includes lighting fixtures, wrought iron gates, windows, glass doorknobs, tiles (especially coveted ones like Roycroft), wood, etc.

Architectural Salvage
(how cute is that elephant in the bathtub? An old child's amusement park-type riding toy)

These businesses are especially wonderful for those people who live in older homes and aim to restore in keeping with the character and integrity of the structure. I respect those folks so much. I wish I had the income to join them. Or the income to start a business like this. The notion of using recycled materials is gaining in appreciation, though it is still quite expensive.

There is one business that deals with this idea in San Diego, and it is aptly named,
Architectural Salvage. It is on India Street in Little Italy downtown.
Here's the resident shop cat, lovingly resting on her favorite teddy bear-shaped bed.
Shop Cat

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7 Comments:

Blogger Petula Darling said...

Nice postcard!
I love going in those architectural salvage places - they're always so expensive though. Actually I should clarify: too expensive for my budget (I would imagine they're more reasonable than similar new things, if it's even possible to find them).

9:56 PM  
Blogger The Calico Cat said...

Is that a real cat? (I hope so - taxidermy creeps me out.)

5:29 AM  
Blogger beki said...

I love architectural salvage shops!

8:31 AM  
Blogger Diane said...

Being from Arizona there aren't architectural salvage stores here either. But when I lived in the Pacific NW (Portland), there where plenty. I loved going in those stores, just looking around and digging through stuff. It was great! Now "Restoration Hardware" catalogs are as close as I can get.

11:48 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Shabby chic without the 'chic', which can often be a condemnation. I love those bathtubs.

8:43 PM  
Blogger mary jane said...

Since the salvage places are too dear,we scour the little classified weeklies. Our local one is called Uncle Henry's, and we call our house "the house that Uncle Henry built".

4:36 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This looks like such a fun place.

Have a Merry Christmas.

Tripod has issues with my blog sometimes. :{

6:12 AM  

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