Bar collectibles

An accordion? Well, not really. However, the barware case does double as a music box, playing “How Dry I Am.”  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

A few of the vintage bar signs at the Silver Lake shop. Bar Keeper’s owner, Joe Keeper, stocks his shelves with more than 2,700 bar-related items, about 60% vintage, primarily midcentury.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Among the items in the shop are a martini glass full of fishy lighters, and a fully stocked travel bar. Bar Keeper has proved popular with cocktail professionals, plus the “hip, metrosexual father and the alternative mom with tattoos and piercings,” Keeper says.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Recent finds include a set of “Indians of Ohio” glasses, originally given to gas station customers filling up their cars. Keeper primarily sources vintage barware at sprawling antique centers in small Midwestern towns.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Glass absinthe fountains line a counter at the Silver Lake shop. “In my heart of hearts, I realize I’m a gift shop,” owner Joe Keeper says, “but really, what I feel like I sell is ritual, the art of drinking.”  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

Vintage beer signs decorate a wall of the shop. That’s owner Joe Keeper down in the corner, wiping glasses. Because American barware dates only to the late 1800s, he is planning to travel abroad to expand his scope. “I’ve been told that one place to go is India, when the British occupied and left,” says Keeper, who hopes to find pewter ice buckets, martini shakers and Pimm’s cups.  (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)