Hey it’s me! I’m back from two weeks in sunny beautiful Southern California. I had a lovely vacation with my husband’s family. We stayed for a week right next to the ocean in Solana Beach, and then drove across the Nevada desert to Las Vegas. For a Canadian girl, the palm trees and tropical gardens of California seemed very glamorous. I was also happy to see I could eat my weight in fresh local avocados. California is really just a great place to relax, shop, and get those omega 3 levels up.
Anyway, while travelling around the area I kept an eye out for antiques. I found a charming store, House Vintage, one day with my mother in law. Unfortunately I didn’t have much time to look around with family in tow, and the next time I got to that part of town it was Easter and the shop was closed. Nonetheless, I enjoyed my brief look inside and the outside of the shop was fantastic. Here’s a photo:
House Vintage is Solana Beach, California
Check out the purple sign. This is a message every antique shop owner can appreciate:
If you’re here to just pick up random stuff and say “I threw out of dozen of these when I cleaned out the attic” then keep walking looky-loo! I wasn’t able to meet the owner, but I tracked down her blog The Mermaid’s Mercantile and I would definitely recommend a visit to her shop if you’re in the Solana Beach area.
Along the same street (known as the Cedros Design District) you can find lots of great group shops including SoLo where new funky stuff is mixed with mid-century vintage smalls and furniture:
The Cedros Design district also has a large Antique Warehouse, and a huge marketplace called Leaping Lotus. If you’re in that part of California and you like shopping, I would give the whole Cedros Avenue a visit.
So do you like vacation pics? Sure you do! Here’s some other cool stuff I saw:
The mermaid door at House Vintage
Hippy transportation in Venice Beach
Building in LA
Grauman's Chinese Theatre
He was great in Rocky, but for me he'll always be the Penguin.
Balboa Park, San Diego
And in case you thought the cool vintage stopped in California, check out this window display I found in the heart of Las Vegas for the All Saints Spitalfields store :
Can you see what's in the window?
How bout now?
Sewing machines!
Antique sewing machines are perfect for a trendy clothing boutique. They’re graphically interesting (especially all lined up) and they give a strong industrial vibe that is also very au courant in vintage. If I’m judging this store by its cover, I would have found plenty to buy inside. Alas, sometimes on vacation you get distracted, and in this case the family wanted to keep moving to dinner. So much to look at and so little time. Next time Vegas and California! Next time!
The New Collector 
Great fun Cassandra. I thoroughly enjoyed the travelog.and loved seeing those hippy vans. I liked the “this is not a museum sign” but I think the approach of the old dealers along the north shore of the St Lawrence river was better. They used to advertise their places as “museums” and would charge $2 to get in. Then although everything was more or less presented in logical groupings which would suggest a museum display, everything was for sale.
That’s hilarious! I love it. I think $2 is just enough to weed out those people who have absolutely no intention of even *considering* a purchase, but still affordable to those who are genuinely interested in seeing antiques. Great idea!
Hi- so glad you enjoyed San Diego! it’s a beautiful place & full of wonderful little shops 🙂 I just wanted to let you know the info for the owner of that shop. The actual owner is Debi, she’s got a YouTube channel as well that she films the videos in the back of her shop if you wanna check um out, she’s gala riots! Here is the link to her website/blog http://debisdesigndiary.com/about/house-vintage-in-solana-beach/
Thanks for the link Jessica! I’ve started watching Debi’s videos. I really like her attitude and honesty about being camera shy. I’m shy that way too, but she makes it look easy (and educational)! I look forward to seeing more from her, and I hope one day to see inside that gorgeous shop!