FASHION : Secondhand Fantasy : Past-Life Experiences for Sale--or Rent--at Vintage Clothing Stores
It used to be that anyone who loved ‘40s-era beaded sweater sets or ‘50s poodle skirts or Hawaiian shirts could rummage through the merchandise at one of several stores in Los Angeles and emerge victorious. And there was little doubt about where to go: a thrift store or, if you were willing to pay more, a resale shop, which traditionally carried the best merchandise culled from thrift shops.
But these days, it’s not so easy for ordinary shoppers to find vintage treasures. Competition for such merchandise is at an all-time high. And, of course, the competition has raised prices.
A new breed of wholesaler has emerged in the last few years, people who compete with store owners to get the best garments from estate sales, thrift stores and auctions nationwide. The wholesalers may sell to store owners but increasingly, they are doing business with international buyers working for European and Japanese stores.
What’s more, there’s a widening array of stores. Today, customers might go to a thrift store, where much of the clothing may be stained or torn--or they might search the racks at a vintage clothing store, where the garments are usually in better condition. Or, if they are looking for a good price on a used designer garment, they can head for consignment stores.
So how do proprietors of used clothing stores stand out from the crowd? The vintage shops are specializing.
Some store owners stock clothes from a certain era. Others have incorporated new items into their mix, some sell both wholesale and retail, while still others have expanded with costume rentals. Not surprisingly, October is the red-letter month that puts most of these stores in the black.
Nine out of 10 customers who come through the door this month are looking for Halloween costumes, says Patrick O’Hara of Ragtime Cowboy in North Hollywood. “We can do a quarter’s business during this one month.”
Vintage clothing stores are scattered across Southern California, but in Los Angeles many of them have found it profitable to snuggle up next to the television and film studios in the San Fernando Valley. Costume designers flock to vintage stores for period clothing. Says Pamela Holdridge, owner of Re Runs, a vintage store in Sherman Oaks: “When the television or film trucks back up to the door, then it is worth it to be in business.”
What follows is a guide to selected vintage stores near the studios that do a big business in costumes.
* BABS, 11626 Ventura Blvd., Studio City. Owner Barbara Anderson is stuck mid-century. She would rather handle garments from the ‘40s and ‘50s than deal with the recent past--and she is possessive about her stock. “I’d rather rent something than sell it. Especially if it’s only going to be worn once,” she says.
One of her most popular Halloween rentals is a $55 wedding gown from the ‘20s. The once beautiful dress is now bedraggled and comes with a sad tattered veil, a bouquet of dried roses and broken pearls. Anderson says her “waiting at the alter” dress appeals to young, under-30, single women who find it humorous.
* JUNK FOR JOY, 3314 W. Magnolia, Burbank. Junk For Joy, a retail and wholesale shop, is one of the area’s largest vintage stores. It is stocked with new costumes and costume accessories--fright wigs, fake scars, makeup and hats in addition to the racks of vintage clothes.
Ron and Seabrook Ede relocated their vintage clothing store from a historic site in Hollywood to Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank three years ago to be closer to the studios. One of the Edes’ specialties are “new / old” items, garments that are old in years but have never been worn. Some of the hot new / old items in Junk For Joy include early-’70s mint green corduroy platform shoes for $45, rhinestone-studded black platform pumps for $125, and $45 saddle shoes from the ‘50s.
* LA RUE, 5320 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. The bad fabrics and poor workmanship of disco-era clothes drove Joan Lussier to open a vintage store in the mid ‘70s. She hated the current fashions so she retreated to the past.
Lussier is horrified that those same clothes she sought to escape are now considered vintage. Rather than incorporate them into her racks of clothes from earlier decades, she is expanding her business with costume rentals. La Rue has over 1,000 complete costumes, ranging from replicas of gowns from the Renaissance to reproductions of character costumes from recent movies such as “Batman” and “Batman Returns.” Many of her costumes are authentic period clothes.
About five years ago she started pre-packaging Halloween costumes for her customers who would come in at the last minute. The costume racks kept growing, and now she says half of her business is renting costumes.
* RAGTIME COWBOY, 5332 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. With two sites, in Hollywood and North Hollywood, Ragtime Cowboy does a steady business in secondhand Levi’s, pile-lined denim jackets, ‘40s house dresses and vintage Hawaiian shirts, but this time of year the stock drastically changes to make way for new Dracula capes, rubber fright masks and Freddy Krueger hands. Vampire costumes are a big money-maker, says O’Hara. They are especially popular among the last-minute shoppers, “Anyone thinks they can do Dracula or Elvira. We’ll sell a lot of those on Saturday.”
* RE RUNS, 4625 Van Nuys Blvd., Sherman Oaks. When Pamela Holdridge opened her shop in 1987, she stocked it with ‘50s garments. She started with poodle skirts, but recently her teen-age customers have been asking for bell-bottoms and disco shirts, so her racks are filling with late ‘60s and early ‘70s gear.
Holdridge also has Halloween costumes for rent or sale, outfits she has pieced together from vintage clothing. There is a rack devoted to television shows. Costumes fit for Mr. Howell ($25) and Mrs. Howell ($35) (of “Gilligan’s Island” fame) hang next outfits that shriek Sonny ($45) and Cher ($35). On the greatest hits rack are the unrequited high school fantasy costumes--short-skirted cheerleader costumes ($35) and black leather born-to-be-wild jackets ($35), perennial favorites says Holdridge.
* SCREAMING RAGS, 5041 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. Owner Joanne Ortiz caters to teens looking for ‘60s rock ‘n’ roll clothes. She sells fringed leather pants, leather hats, embroidered vests and handkerchief-hem long dresses to Woodstock wanna-bes.
She whips up disco drama for her Halloween costume rental rack with silver lame jumpsuits ($20) and three-piece bell-bottom polyester suits that come with polyester shirts ($25). Her ‘60s flower children outfits rent for $30 to $60.
