When couples are married for 25 years, the chosen anniversary gift is silver, and as Gift Garden Antiques celebrated its 25th year in 2006, silver still played a big role. The shop on Antioch, owned by Susan Carroll, specializes in old but not necessarily antique pieces for the home as well as accessories for personal use, including silver. ‘Technically, an antique is 100 years old,’ Carroll said. ‘The merchandise I carry is well constructed and well designed, so that if it isn’t an antique yet, it will become one.’ The silver in her store is 50 to 150 years old and the furniture is 75 to 100 years old. Growing up in Dayton, Ohio, Carroll developed an interest in antiques that was rooted to her parents, who had them throughout the house. ‘My dad would bring the furniture home,’ she said, ‘and my mom would peel off the layers of paint and refinish them.’ Carroll attended Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia, where she received a B.A. in economics. She met and married her first husband, Steve Carroll, on the East Coast before moving to California, where she got into the retail business. The Gift Garden has been in its present location (next to Noah’s Bagels) for 20 years, after five years in the patio courtyard on Swarthmore, across from CVS. Carroll originally worked for a friend in a gift shop at the first location and eventually bought her out. The store at that time carried more gift items, which is one reason she wanted to start her own store. ‘I had more of an interest in antiques. You could change merchandise more frequently,’ The Gift Garden carries pieces that were hand produced in their era and are some of the few left from that time period. Carroll receives her merchandise through a variety of methods: 1) people bring in items, 2) estate sales, 3) people moving and 4) tastes change. She has noticed that because families are smaller now than years ago, the vintage clothing and silver that have been handed down from generation to generation now often comes to just one or two children, and they frequently don’t have room for pieces from both sides of the family. ‘A lot of my stuff comes from those situations,’ Carroll said. Her store has outlasted many local businesses and she attributes her staying power to flexibility. ‘We have changed what we have based on what customers have in their home. I have to change as customers change,’ she said. Currently, Carroll believes that many people are in a pared down, simplified mode, and eager to clean out their cupboards. ‘They are trying to use the things they have and the items they’re never going to use again, they want to either give away or sell. There is also a move back towards a little more eloquence in the home than 20 years ago. People would like to have a few beautiful items and use them.’ ‘In this town people care about their homes and entertain in them and like having quality,’ Carroll said. ‘It’s what sets the Palisades apart.’ Another trend she has noticed is mix-and-match with linens and china. ‘It’s more creative, colorful and interesting,’ she said. For example, a hostess might use a red glass dessert plate, a gold dinner plate and a pink-flowered appetizer plate. The store’s merchandise is well priced, and most of the vintage jewelry comes via a woman in Missouri, who has had a relationship with Carroll for more than 20 years. Gift Garden carries precious stones and 14- and 18-carat gold, but also has some pieces in the $25 to $35 price range. ‘The big stone ring is in right now,’ Carroll said. The store has several to chose from, but be warned, many of the vintage rings were made for women in that era, which means the ring band is quite small. Carroll has a vintage clothing dealer who shops all over the country and has found some remarkable pieces, including a French beaded handbag, cashmere sweaters and gloves. Prices for the items are much less expensive than those in well-known vintage clothing stores. One of the advantages of owning an antiques store, Carroll said, is that if she finds something she really likes, it becomes hers. ‘I will use and enjoy it for a period of time, a year or two, and then I can bring it back.’ She tries not to collect any one thing, but she admits she loves the silver and the vintage jewelry. Carroll, used to live in the Palisades but now resides in West Los Angeles with her partner Tom Thorne, who once owned Just Us, a rib restaurant that was situated where Terri’s is now located. Her two children, Katy and Topher, graduated from Palisades High. Currently, Katy is a second assistant director in the film industry and Topher is working on his post doctorate at Stanford in molecular biology. When asked if Gift Garden Antiques held any appeal for her children, Carroll smiled and said, ‘I have always been in retail, but it is not their interest.’
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