A Guide to the Best of Southern California : SHOPTALK : The Recyclists

BLUE MERINGUE OWNER Martin Mackey characterizes the nature of his store’s merchandise as “a kind of folk art with a sense of humor.” Take the soapbox racer clad in Tide boxes--”I just couldn’t resist the pun,” he says--or the classic Eames chair painted in vivid serape colors--”People take the chair too seriously; they worship it. I decided to shake it up.”

Mackey and partner Nancy Sheehy recycle found objects and transform them--by paint, stencil and/or decoupage--into such objects as an occasional table covered with a 1937 Tom Mix comic strip ($125) and manikins, a male and a female, coated with personals ads ($300).

Blue Meringue, 4475 Sunset Drive, Los Angeles; (213) 666-8690.