City Beat: It's a jumble at Nick Metropolis

City Beat: It’s a jumble at Nick Metropolis

Nick Metropolis inside a tent containing letters of the alphabet for sale at his store on La Brea Avenue. The letters were originally located on buildings and storefronts.

Aug. 5, 2014 4:44 PM PT

It's hard not to be just a little bit curious when you drive by the cacophony of clutter on the corner of La Brea and 1st.

What's the deal with the Ronald McDonald figure? The bow-tied wooden butler smiling at cars? The sign that says Virgil's Autobody?

For 22 years, Nick Metropolis has been selling collectibles from this indoor-outdoor maze, full of dead ends and blind corners. He can't resist a treasure. He buys them faster than he can move them out the door.

In my latest City Beat, I take a look at this colorful Los Angeles character. Keep reading to see my quick Twitter tour of Nick Metropolis.

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Email ideas for future City Beats to nita.lelyveld@latimes.com

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Nita Lelyveld

Former Los Angeles Times columnist Nita Lelyveld wrote City Beat stories about moments in the life of Los Angeles. She was born in New York and grew up around the world, but lived in L.A. longer than she lived anywhere else. Before joining The Times in 2001, she wrote for the Tuscaloosa News, the Associated Press and the Philadelphia Inquirer, which sent her to L.A. as a national writer in 1997.

City Beat: It’s a jumble at Nick Metropolis

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