Saving Grace : Salvage Yards Treasure-Troves of Architectural Antiques and Accessories
When John Frayer sets foot in a salvage yard, he feels like a kid in a candy store.
“Seeing those stained glass windows, antique doors and decorative hardware makes me want to buy it all,” said Frayer, whose passion for architectural antiques makes him roam local salvage yards every weekend. “It’s like a treasure hunt,” he said.
Frayer’s richest treasure chest is Scavenger’s Paradise, a fancy salvage yard in North Hollywood. Stepping into the tile-roofed church turned salvage yard on Satsuma Avenue means taking a tour through Los Angeles’ architectural past.
Hundreds of panel doors, a choir loft full of antique lighting fixtures, fireplace mantels in brass or wood, claw-foot bathtubs, chandeliers and architectural gems such as a majestic pair of walnut columns fill almost 6,000 square feet.
Scavenger’s Paradise is one of about a dozen salvage yards in the greater Los Angeles area that specializes in some form of architectural antiques. Scattered from Malibu to downtown Los Angeles to East L.A., they serve a diverse clientele ranging from homeowners to interior decorators and restaurant owners. While some look for old pieces to keep the style of a renovated building intact, others want to add a dose of nostalgia to a new home or commercial establishment.
The inventory of local salvage yards consist of just about everything from used sinks and hardware to highly decorative items such as ornate doors and antique fountains. The majority of raw materials come from about-to-be-demolished commercial and residential buildings such as hotels, offices, schools and private homes. Prices range from $2 for plumbing odds and ends to $10,000 for a pair of 4-foot-tall Art Deco lamps.
According to salvage yard owners, the market for architectural remnants has skyrocketed over the last 10 years. Rooted in the preservationist movement of the 1970s, the demand for those rare reminders of times long gone was boosted by the recycling wave that started in the 1980s.
In recent years, tight economic times and the trend to individualize homes have sent even more people to salvage yards in search for one-of-a-kind architectural antiques. “A house is like a mirror of your personality,” Frayer said. “It reflects your likes and dislikes and gives you a chance to show creativity and imagination.”
The 60-year-old former dancer has been a regular at salvage yards for many years. Among Frayer’s most treasured finds are a gracious pair of Art Nouveau lamps and a dozen French-made terra-cotta tiles from the 1990s.
Frayer’s love for antique remnants has forced him to add on to his 1918 Laurel Canyon home over the years. Just a few months ago he finished a deck as the perfect stage for two salvaged turn-of-the-century lamp posts. Frayer’s current project--a sleeping house on top of a 28-foot-high waterfall in his back yard--is a charming hodgepodge of Victorian wooden ornaments, cast-iron railings and corrugated tin from the 1940s. “Since I gave up dancing, I’ve made architectural salvage my creative outlet,” said Frayer. “I’m the choreographer who puts castoffs in the spotlight again.”
As a third-generation Hollywood resident, he feels the need to preserve history. “Within 15 minutes a wrecking ball can demolish an old building worth 80 years of beauty,” said Frayer, who always keeps tools and pickup truck ready for a short-notice rescue mission. “You don’t find the same kind of magic in new things.”
Inspired by salvage-decorated nightclubs such as the Magic Castle and Dan Akroyd’s House of Blues, imaginative buyers like Frayer find news uses for recycled architectural items.
In Frayer’s home, parts of a bowling alley came to new life as a kitchen countertop, and old-fashioned doors serve as wall paneling. A solid nickel curtain rod from murdered lawyer Stanford White’s apartment was revived as door hardware. “Detailing is what excites me,” Frayer said. “But it can take years to get the right hardware.” Finding the correct hardware for antique doors and light fixtures has become less time consuming since Liz’s Antique Hardware opened on south La Brea Avenue last year. Liz’s specializes in mass-produced hardware for doors, windows, lightning and plumbing from the 1850s to 1950s.
“Paint and hardware are the most inexpensive ways to change the look of your house,” said owner Liz Gordon, 37. “People come in here and are inspired just by the presentation of the hardware.”
Most of the some 350,000 pieces that adorn the store’s 50-foot-long wall are chronologically organized from Victorian, Eastlake, Art Nouveau to Arts & Crafts and Art Deco styles. The counters below hold milk crates overflowing with knob spindles, porcelain cabinet knobs, keyhole covers, keys and casters.
Period bathroom fixtures such as wall sconces, towel bars, faucets, toilets and purple or white sinks with or without trimmings have a section of their own. Stacked on a shelf in the back, some 100 metal claw feet, once stable support for weighty bathtubs, wait for a second, third or even fourth life.
A set of hardware for an inner door sells for $35, a pedestal sink is priced at $500.
“In the old days, a lot of time and effort went into making hardware,” Gordon said. “If you want to buy that quality new today, it’s much more expensive than an antique piece. And it doesn’t have the look and the patina of old metal.”
Besides looks and quality, the recession has sent more people to salvage yards. “When the economy gets tight, people start emphasizing do-it-yourself renovations,” said Gordon, whose customers are equally split between private clients and professionals such as architects or set designers.
To stock her 3,500-square-foot store, Gordon roams flea markets and salvage yards from Los Angeles to Chicago.
In addition to selling fragments of yesterday, Gordon rents architectural highlights to studios for movies and commercials. Set designers come to her for authentic period bathtubs complete with original fixtures. A cast-iron roll-top bathtub with a brass faucet has already made numerous appearances on screen.
Gordon also acts as matchmaker for large quantities or missing pieces. For a $10 handling fee and a photograph of the desired item, Gordon can locate almost any piece of hardware.
Sales jumped even higher after the Northridge earthquake. Some customers flocked to Liz’s in search for lampshades to replace shattered ones. Others were on the lookout for stylish latches to prepare old cabinets for the next temblor.
“Crisis or no crisis, people nowadays have a strong sense of reusing,” said Gordon. “Recycling is not only a fashionable trend but the way of the future.”
For self-declared salvage junkie Susan Mazer, recycling is only one facet of architectural salvage. “Shopping for antique items is a combination of reusing building materials, salvaging heritage and, in my case, bargain hunting,” she said.
When the 48-year-old massage therapist started remodeling her Hollywood Hills cottage last year, she wanted to keep renovation costs low without sacrificing the charm of her 1955 home. Friends recommended a trip to MRM Building Materials, a salvage yard in East Los Angeles. For $65 a piece, Mazer bought four ash doors from the 1920s. “They would cost about $250 each if you buy them new,” said Mazer. “And the new ones don’t even have the old Craftsman feel, the heavy wood and the nice look.”
MRM actually seems to belong in a different time and a different world. With old-fashioned grace, owner Gloria Sperry guides customers through the corridors between piles of used bricks and old lumber on the one-acre lot. “I like the people who come in here,” Sperry said. “I help out those who are poor and come by bus to get a used toilet for $30. And I consult those with a Rolls-Royce who look for an extravagant antique accent for their Beverly Hills villa.”
Customers can find just about everything at MRM. Doors, the most numerous item at local salvage yards, occupy half a warehouse. Next to them, hundreds of wood-framed windows from an old school in El Monte are stocked by size. Stained glass, mostly shipped to California from England in the 1950s and 1960s, is carefully stored in dusty corners.
Used bricks, wrought iron and all kinds of oddball things like a 60-year-old iron press on shaky legs await their revival in the fenced-in yard. Parliament hinges from the 1920s for $3 each and rusty items that defy immediate identification overflow milk crates. Fifty-year-old Spanish Mission tiles, MRM’s bestsellers for 75 cents a piece, pile up in the back. All of these great architectural leftovers are sold as-is to keep costs and prices down.
To keep track of the almost opaque mass of things, Sperry relies on a computer. “Without the machine it would be impossible to know what we have and where it is,” said Sperry. “It is a godsend for us and for our customers who quickly find what they want. They only have to find us first.”
For many architectural antique buyers that has been a problem. Like most salvage yard owners, Sperry does little advertising and relies on word of mouth and the off-the-street crowd. “Advertisement is expensive and the profit margin is slim as it is,” said Sperry. “But when people have finally found us, I always see happy faces when they carry home their piece of history.”
Kessing is a Santa Monica free - lance writer.
Salvage Yards
Architectural Salvage
726 Anacapa St.
Santa Barbara
(805) 965-2446
Open Tues. to Sat. noon-5 p.m.
Big Ten
757 W. Woodbury Road
Altadena
(818) 791-7947
Open Mon. to Sat. 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
Cleveland Wrecking
3170 E. Washington Blvd.
Los Angeles
(213) 269-0633
Open Mon. to Fri. 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat. 8 a.m.-1 p.m.
Freeway Building Materials
1124 S. Boyle Ave.
Los Angeles
(213) 261-8904
Open by appointment only
L.A. Wrecking
1600 S. Santa Fe Ave.
Los Angeles
(213) 622-5135
Open Mon. to Fri. 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Sat. 8 a.m.-3 p.m.
Liz’s Antique Hardware
453 S. La Brea Ave.
Los Angeles
(213) 939-4403
Open Mon. to Sat. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thurs. till 9 p.m.
Manchester Sash & Lock
1228 W. Manchester Ave.
Los Angeles
(213) 759-0344
Open Mon. to Fri. 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat. by appointment only
MRM Building Materials
5277 Valley Blvd.
Los Angeles
(213) 222-9191
Open Mon. to Fri. 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat. 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
Perez
2118 S. Central Ave.
Los Angeles
(213) 747-8039
Open Mon. to Sat. 8 a.m.-6 p.m.
Scavenger’s Paradise
5453 Satsuma Ave.
North Hollywood
(213) 877-7945
Open Mon. to Sat. noon to 5 p.m. or by appointment
Sinaloa Yard
4165 S. Central Ave.
Los Angeles
(213) 233-4277
Open Mon. to Sat. 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Where to Find Used Bricks
Bourget Bros. Building Materials
1636 11th St.
Santa Monica
(310) 450-6556
Open Mon. to Fri. 7 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat. 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Malibu Masonry Supply
3730 Cross Creek Road
Malibu
(310) 456-2203
Open Mon. to Fri. 7 a.m.-5 p.m., Sat. 8 a.m.-3 p.m.
West Jefferson Building Materials
5001 W. Jefferson Blvd.
Los Angeles
(213) 731-9494
Open Mon. to Fri. 6 a.m.-4 p.m., Sat. 7 a.m.-3 p.m.
