Neat

Los Angeles is a strange place. Not just in the sense that there are a lot of free thinking individuals out here, Like the kind of people who name their kids "Rainbow" and grow their food on communes (Don't get me wrong there's plenty of people like that). I mean strange in a way that the movie industry effects this town in a huge way. I think if it were decided tomorrow that all the movie studios would move to Omaha this place would turn into a ghost town.

When a new movie comes out there are XL billboards for it everywhere; at parking garages, plastered on buses, in hundreds on handbills on abandoned buildings etc. On an average day I see Johnny Depp and Zach Galifianakis' faces twenty times. One of the byproducts of this being where movies are made is that businesses pop up to cater to the studio's needs. There are stores that resell clothes that have been used in movies and television and There are prop houses for furniture and miscellany that are used on film. The latter is what I visited this weekend. 

Right near my grocery store is a place called "Nick Metropolis The King of Collectible Furniture". The outside of this place at any given time has giant Greek statues, Life size plastic horses with the Louis Vuitton logo painted on them,  giant neon signs...I had to check it out.

This place is huge and filled with treasure. It is all available for rent or to purchase. They've been there for 19 years and they can usually tell you what movie or show any item has been in.

There's something really awesome in this picture I wanted. No, not the giant Colonel Sanders. Next to him is a vintage chart of the digestive system. I want that for my kitchen. Sadly it was out of my price range.

There was furniture as far as you could see, every kind and style. Need a giant model of the Simpson family? They have two. Need some bowling pins with the Beatles painted on them? They've got you covered.

See? Louis Vuitton horse. I don't lie.

So with all this amazing stuff what did I come home with? Something entirely pedestrian. Five years ago when Bob and I moved from New York to California we were moving from a two bedroom to a studio. We had to get rid of a lot of non-essentials and I ended up giving up this huge vase from Ikea. As soon as I dropped it off at Goodwill I regretted it. Since then I'd been checking every glass aisle whenever I was in a thrift store for the same one. Well, this treasure trove of the weird had two! I was happy.

It's a really awesome place and if you're here for a visit you should take a look. The guys there are super friendly, I even got a Dentist recommendation.