Antiques Shop Gets Down to Nuts, Bolts
For several months, various bargain shoppers have mentioned Liz’s Antique Hardware to me, but it was just last week that I finally got around to visiting the store. Now I can understand their enthusiasm.
This is one of the most unusual stores I have seen anywhere in the Los Angeles area. Where else can you find more than 350,000 pieces of original hardware circa 1850 to 1950? Or at what other source can you see Victorian, Eastlake, Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles of doorplates, strike plates, slide bolts, hinges, latches, knockers, bells, mail slots and numbers--all arranged chronologically? That’s just the beginning. The window hardware is extensive, as are the shelf brackets, lighting and plumbing fixtures, andirons, heat registers and trunk, furniture and bed hardware.
Allow yourself plenty of time here, and if there is a particular piece of hardware or plumbing accessory you are trying to match, bring what you have with you.
Some of these very-hard-to-find items are not cheap, but when you can restore a valued antique to its original state, that’s a bargain in itself. It’s quite difficult to comparison shop these items. Another shopper assured me that the prices are very good and proceeded to point out some Arts and Crafts brass door handles for only $8. I can tell you the prices on some of the lighting fixtures are excellent when you compare them to the new stuff on the market. A stunning six-light French chandelier from the 1920s was a very reasonable $425.
Owner Liz Gordon--an authority on superior salvage--shops swap meets, flea markets and antique malls across the nation and in Europe. You’ll be amazed at the inventory here.
Liz’s Antique Hardware, 453 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles; (213) 939-4403; open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily, Thursday evenings until 9 p.m.
*
WEEKEND SUPER SALE: Home furnishings from television pilots that never made it to the tube will be on sale from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m Saturday and Sunday. Garage-sale prices should prevail.
The sale will be behind Eastern Costume at 7243 Coldwater Canyon Blvd., Sherman Oaks.