On Saturday, Eric and I spent the afternoon in an area of Long Beach called Bixby Knolls. It was a beautiful day and we wanted to get out and about. Our first stop was a resale shop that we’d been to once before called Furniture Consignment & More at 4129 Long Beach Blvd. We both love old, vintage things and finding a good deal on something that’s probably worth more than the asking price. This particular shop Is not huge—maybe one thousand square feet—and not particularly well organized, but sometimes that can be fun.
What was really fun, though, was the conversation we struck up with the owner, Sandra, a very friendly, 60-year-old (she told us this), African American woman. After welcoming us in, she told us everything was on sale because she’d be closing up the shop at the end of the month. Of course, we were sad to hear this, but then she told us why—she’d been at it for ten years and it had been a really good business, but the physical demands were getting to her, and it was time to move on to something new. We shared a little about ourselves, and she shared some more too—mostly just friendly, small-talk, but Eric’s been starved for social interactions since the start of the pandemic, so it kept going and was just nice.
While they were chatting, I stole myself away for a bit to look at stuff. Lately in shops like these I gravitate toward the clothing. I love finding beautiful, gently-used, vintage (or not), designer (or not) pieces that I can incorporate into my wardrobe. The whole process is a lot of fun and it can be really satisfying when I get a piece back from the dry cleaners looking like new—usually the cleaning costs more than the piece itself.
I found a few things I liked on Sandra’s racks, but purchased only one: a St. John’s knee-length knit skirt in a navy and off-white pattern with a solid navy fringe at the bottom. The skirt retailed for almost $500 (the original Saks price tag was still attached, which also meant the skirt had never been worn) but I got it for $10! When I brought it to the register to pay, Sandra said that she thought it had a matching top or jacket, which would have been amazing, and we proceeded to look everywhere for it, but some other lucky soul must have purchased it separately. Eric found something he liked, as well: an adorable, vintage elf-themed cookie jar ($22.50) that I am not even going to attempt to describe… pic below:
During a break from browsing, I asked Sandra if she felt like sharing what her new enterprise would be and she revealed that she’d been writing a screen-play for a movie for many years and wanted to focus on that full-time, and possibly even get it produced. Well, that certainly piqued my interest as a fellow writer and Eric’s interest as an actor. There’s something cosmic, I think, when artists get together and talk about their art. Sandra totally lit up when she was telling us about her screen play, a romance set here in Long Beach called “Matters of the Heart” (which, unfortunately, she may have some copyright issues with down the road as that is also the title of a Danielle Steel novel, but I did not tell her this). Her intention is to cast all new (unknown) actors in the film. What a wonderful woman and fantastic conversation—I wish her much happiness and success and I really hope to see her movie on the big (or even small) screen someday.
After we left Sandra’s shop we drove around the residential neighborhoods in Bixby Knolls for a bit, fantasizing about the possibility of settling there when we buy a house (hopefully within the coming year). It’s just such a cute area of Long Beach, and very “us.” Finally, we stopped in at Willmore Wine Bar for a drink, and what a cute, fun neighborhood place that was! We were greeted immediately by the owner, Ernie, who was behind the bar and introduced to the only other patron there at the time, a woman named Anna, a chiropractor whose practice is just down the street. We order wine and chat and before long the place fills up with other patrons, also presumably from the neighborhood. It’s all very “Mayberry,” and we’re loving it.
One of the new patrons, who bellies up to the bar right next to Eric, is an older gentleman named Tim, who engages us in conversation for the next half hour or so. Tim is 75, looking a little worse for wear, as he's spent the morning on his sailboat. He’s retired, he owns a Cadillac (which sends him monthly email diagnostics), and is a Viet Nam vet. Quite a character is our Tim, who not once but several times complements me on my hair and says over and over how cool we are and how much he really likes us.
It was a lovely Saturday afternoon, out and about with my husband, exploring new places and meeting new people... more of the "Folding In" I wrote about in a previous post, which is a beautiful thing. Today, I'll be baking some cookies for Eric's new cookie jar.
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