In 1996, San Diego artist and historic preservationist Elizabeth Scalice had an idea for a store the likes of which San Diego had never seen. That idea became a reality in a place she called Architectural Salvage.
The tip-off that something quite out of the ordinary is happening at the corner of Kettner Boulevard and Kalmia Street comes from the building itself; the pea-green edifice conjures iconic structures of yore, like Hollywood’s Brown Derby Restaurant.
When you step inside, you quickly realize you’ve stepped into a menagerie of items rescued from a certain trip to the landfill, and that’s when the name of this place starts to make perfect sense.
“When I opened. I really didn’t know … it’s not like there was a tested market or anything like that ... I just knew that I loved finding these things and using them, and I thought other people would love that too," Scalice said.
This store proves the axiom that one person’s - er, junk - is another person’s treasure. It turns out it's provided treasures for a lot of people — just the thing they were looking for, perhaps before they even knew what they were looking for.
“I had people coming in to restore their old houses, and they needed these bits, so that became part of the process. And then I also had restaurants that wanted to use some cool materials, and people with their first apartment, and multi-million dollar houses, and the whole gamut," Scalice said.
The whole gamut is a good descriptor for the merchandise you find at Architectural Salvage.
There are things you might expect, like classic signage and door knobs. In fact, there are lots and lots of door knobs and the escutcheons that once surrounded them. There are old doors, windows — you get the idea.
After a look around, an obvious question comes to mind: How does Scalice decide what things belong here?
“I guess I have this little inner voice, and when I see something, and it speaks to me, I have the sense that it’s gonna speak to someone else," she said.
That little inner voice has served Scalice well over the years. Business was brisk when this story was shot on Thursday; the store filled with new customers and those who have been coming here for years.
One longtime customer talked to Scalice with great excitement about the finds she had made at Architectural Salvage over the years.
“It’s been great, and the pieces that we’ve purchased from here, just the accents it has made to our home, like where’d you get this, where’d you get this?" said the customer.
"What kinds of things did you get?" asked Scalice. "Well, like these windows …” and the conversation went on for several minutes after that.
As the customer shared her finds, you could see the excitement and the passion Elizabeth Scalice still has for what she does.
But, the time has come to move on, to free herself from the confines of running this place. So now is the time to sell as much of this merchandise as possible.
But not everything is going. At least one item is staying with Elizabeth. It’s an upside-down flower canopy light — from Egypt, as it turns out. She’ll be putting that above her garden at her home.
“It’s been just the ride of my life. It’s been so much fun, but I’ve got some other stuff in me, and I gotta get out there … And I’m gonna go out and do some more things while I have the chance," Scalice said.
But there’s still some time left. There’s a big celebration sale this weekend, and she may stay open for a few weeks after that.
But whatever happens, her time with Architectural Salvage is drawing to a close — the end of a funky, eclectic era.
Or is it?
Elizabeth said she’s open to having someone buy the business. A new venture in cool old stuff, anyone?
