Lynda's Antique Clothing Loft Reinvents Itself After 17 Years In A New Space In Adams

ADAMS — After more than 17 years in the Armory Block building on Park Street, Lynda's Antique Clothing Loft will begin its second act with a grand reopening elsewhere in town on Saturday.

Lynda Meyer's shop, along with about nine other tenants of the building, were kicked out in March because of a faulty furnace. Building owner David Laborde said Monday that the boiler would cost $125,000 to replace.

The grand reopening, in a new building at 126 Columbia St., will take place from noon to 4 p.M. On Saturday, and will include free food and drinks as well as private tours from Meyer of the shop's collection.

A look at some of Meyer's inventory.

COURTESY OF KATE COULEHAN

"It's meant to reinvite all my familiar customers, people who follow me and enjoy my store," Meyer said.

Meyer's move had inherent problems. For one, the building she is now in, owned by Art McConnell, had decades worth of electrician's equipment to clear out first.

"We had to redo the floors, and I had to redesign how I would set up the store that I had the same way for 17 years, in a month," Meyers said.

Meyer enlisted volunteers, and along with her associate Kate Coulehan, brought her new establishment to life after a short intermission.

A look at some of Meyer's inventory.

COURTESY OF KATE COULEHAN

Another problem with the move: Meyer is exceedingly particular with her collection. Her shop is a haven for collectors, selling hand-sewn dresses from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, as well as other clothing, jewelry, glassware and more.

"If I can't put a piece out, it's like a lost child," Meyer said. "That's what took so long, was redesigning the space. It has a more cottage-y feel, and the fact that it doesn't have two staircases to get up to it is very beneficial."

Meyer is now paying twice the rent she paid at the Armory Block building. But, she said, her current situation is as inexpensive as possible given the market. She said that she and others in downtown Adams are facing a sort of gentrification.

Armory Block building update

Laborde confirmed Monday that his long-term plan for the Armory Block building is to make it a mixed commercial-residential building through a public-private partnership. He envisions 14 market-rate apartments and three commercial spaces.

"Adams is not a commercial hub for industry, it's more of a residential town," Laborde said. "Replacing a $125,000 boiler, the return on investment is probably 50 years, so it's out of wack."

Laborde contemplated shutting down the entire building when he learned of the boiler problem. He's since installed baseboard heating for the remaining first-floor tenants: Smith Brothers-McAndrews Insurance, Bishop West Real Estate and Sam Caster Weavers.

"I'm trying to maintain the aesthetics of Park Street as I'm finishing the building next door," Laborde said. "I'm fighting for downtown. I didn't want another big empty building with empty commercial space as people drive by."

Laborde is also turning the adjoining Jones Block building into mixed residential-commercial space. Tenants could be moving in as early as June.

"For at least 10 years, downtown has been in the process of becoming something, but most of the landlords with those buildings either went bankrupt or sold to somebody else," Meyer said. "It's gentrification. They're trying to make a new vision to conform with whatever is happening right now."

"My old spot at the Armory Block, along with the rest of the spaces on the second floor of that building, will eventually be torn apart and modernized," Meyer said.

Meyer said her shop's place and reputation as part of the artistic backbone of Adams is another major reason why she decided to reopen.

Can LA's Fashion District Survive Downtown's Housing Boom?

© (Samanta Helou Hernandez / LAist) A worker sews an Ocean + Main garment in Downtown L.A.'s Fashion District. ((Samanta Helou Hernandez / LAist))

The Los Angeles city council recently passed a new plan for 100,000 new homes in Downtown L.A. Over the next two decades.

CONSTELLATION BRANDS, INC.

The new Downtown L.A. Community plan, which city planners worked on for years, doubles the areas where developers can build housing. The city will allow apartments and condos in areas previously reserved for manufacturing — areas like the Fashion District.

Garment workers and clothing brands in L.A.'s already fragile apparel industry now worry they could be pushed out by a new wave of downtown development.

After working for larger fashion companies for decades, Mary Price started a small brand called Ocean + Main that makes its clothing in downtown's Fashion District.

"New York used to have a very robust fashion district, just like L.A.," Price said. "But unfortunately, because of real estate development there, that has completely gone away."

L.A.'s garment industry won some major protections in downtown's new community plan, such as requirements for manufacturing space in future Fashion District housing developments. But some downtown business advocates say those provisions could stifle housing growth.

"Everybody wants housing, but it's got to make sense," said Mark Chatoff, owner of the California Flower Mall, a Fashion District property he hopes to redevelop.

An industry visitors don't see

A few floors above the streets of Downtown L.A., sewing machines hum as workers stitch together Ocean + Main dresses.

Price points out the French seams carefully sewn into a silk caftan.

"You don't see any raw edge. It's really clean," Price said. "It's a highly skilled move, especially on a fabric that's as delicate and as expensive as silk."

If you buy clothing made in the U.S. There's a good chance it comes from a factory just like this. L.A. Accounts for an estimated 83% of all sales of clothing cut and sewn in America, and downtown's Fashion District is the epicenter of that activity.

Price wants the Fashion District's 20,000 garment workers to make sustainable clothes for a living wage.

She said her goal is "to make apparel in a way that moves the industry forward, and is more forward-thinking about how we treat people and the planet."

This economic activity all takes place in a world many Angelenos never get to see. But Price can look out the window and spot garment manufacturing in all directions.

"That's an apparel building. That's an apparel building," she said. "On the other side, there's three more apparel buildings. It's floor to ceiling of people doing exactly what we're doing."

Why leaders want a downtown housing boom 

The new downtown community plan aims to place 20% of L.A.'s new housing growth on just 1% of the city's land.

Elected leaders hope to continue Downtown L.A.'s transformation from a troubled urban core full of vacant storefronts and empty apartments to a bustling residential community.

Lawmakers say concentrating new housing in dense areas helps achieve the city's climate change goals by encouraging residents to use public transit instead of cars. Politicians are also skittish about densifying single-family neighborhoods, which make up 74% of the city's residential land.

And city planners want to allow developers to turn under-used commercial buildings into housing. The L.A. Fashion District Business Improvement District estimates the neighborhood has an 18% vacancy rate in buildings dedicated to manufacturing.

Looking at one nearby garment building, Price said, "People look at that and go, 'Oh, that'd be a cool loft space.' Well, you're displacing a whole industry by looking at it as an expensive, high-end loft."

'Los Angeles is in a housing crisis'

Roberto Vazquez thinks the Fashion District's future can accommodate both clothing and housing. He's an architect with Omgivning, a firm that specializes in repurposing old downtown commercial buildings into housing.

"We just haven't created enough housing" over the past 60 years, Vazquez said. "The city of Los Angeles is in a housing crisis."

Under state law, the city of L.A. Has to plan for 456,000 new homes by 2029. Vazquez said the downtown community plan presents an opportunity to create much of that badly needed housing.

He envisions a Fashion District where renters live on the top floors of buildings, while garment workers continue to make clothes on the ground floor. Such mixed-use developments could be challenging to design, Vazquez said — will residents really want to live above the noise and bustle of an apparel factory? But he thinks it's possible to create harmonious buildings that cater to different uses.

"There's plenty of opportunity to satisfy everyone's needs," Vazquez said. "Let's not displace the garment workers. Let's build new housing."

Some downtown property owners say city council members ended up putting too many restrictions on new housing in the Fashion District.

The family of Chatoff ran the California Flower Mall property as a textile factory for decades. In 2008, he repurposed the building, trading fabric for flowers.

"I had to switch from textile to floral because there was no textile business," Chatoff said. "That business has been dying, unfortunately, for a long time."

Now, Chatoff wants to build 323 units of housing in a 15-story tower above the flower market. But he said height restrictions and requirements to include manufacturing space in future Fashion District housing developments, as well as freight elevators and loading zones in some areas, could kill those plans.

"I've watched the plan evolve and then completely be decimated, for I believe possibly political reasons," Chatoff said, referring to lobbying by garment workers.

Garment workers also need more affordable housing

From his Westlake apartment overlooking the downtown skyline, Francisco Mancilla — who has worked in the Fashion District for 20 years — said he's glad workers won those concessions.

"Not only for me, but for a new generation of workers, that is what makes me happy," said Mancilla, speaking in Spanish.

L.A.'s apparel industry already faces stiff competition from a torrent of cheap fast fashion made overseas by companies like Shein. Mancilla said lately he's been losing hours and seeing opportunities dry up.

"I feel sad because it has been part of my source of income for many years, and the heart of this district," Mancilla said. "It's sad to look at something that you once saw flower slowly fading."

On a good day, Mancilla can earn more than $150 putting buttons and buttonholes on garments. But often he earns far less, because many employers still pay workers for each piece of clothing they finish, no matter how long that work takes.

Some Southern California garment workers have been paid as little as $1.58 per hour, according to a recent U.S. Labor Department report.

"It is very difficult for me, because I'm the breadwinner," Mancilla said. "We have to have a certain amount of income each month to cover the bills, the rent and other necessities."

Mancilla said he knows the city needs more housing, especially affordable housing. But he doubts his family will be able to afford any of the new housing coming to downtown.

This story originally appeared on LAist.Com.

SIMPLE STUFF: Why I Love The Thrifts

I take a look at what I am wearing today: jeans from Loft, a soft, comfy mauve long-sleeved lacy shirt by Knox Rose (one of my favorite labels), and ankle suede boots by Bear Paw.

All of the items came from nonprofit thrift stores here in the Finger Lakes. The boots were a splurge at $10; the shirt and the jeans $5 each. Nearly everything in my closet has come from either Goodwill, Thrifty Shopper, the Salvation Army, or the Center or House of Concern.

Every once in a while, I come across a rare find at the Linden Shop; and I have moseyed into the Once Again Shoppe in Penn Yan a few times. ReStore, which is run by Habitat for Humanity in Canandaigua, is another stop on my thrifty route.

The best part about shopping this way is that nearly all the money spent goes to either feed or house people locally, or provide other services, including job training or employment itself. Goodwill also funds the 211 Center for the Finger Lakes. Most of these places spend only a small percentage of what comes in for operational costs. They try to pay their employees decently and keep the lights on. Some are run mostly by volunteer labor.

The bargains I get for myself, my friends, and my family are a bonus. When I find something I know someone will love, I snap it up for cheap. I feel good knowing that I am getting a quality item for pennies on the dollar that will make someone happy — and, in the process, providing funds that truly make a difference.

Recently, my 9-year-old grandboy discovered a huge can of TinkerToys in my car. It was so heavy, he had to put it down when he opened the door to bring it inside. I paid $9 for it; a quick check online shows that the same set sells anywhere from $50 to $100. He also asked, "Mimi, did you bring me any books?" He's a reader for sure, both fiction and non-fiction, and I am happy to accommodate his thirst for knowledge.

The books? He likes the "Ripley's Believe It or Not" series, "Wimpy Kid," and picture search and finds. I have purchased nearly all of them for less than a dollar each. His 4-year-old brother loves everything about "Paw Patrol." Ditto on the price for those readers.

Thrifting also feeds our collections: Little Golden Books, Fisher Price toys made in East Aurora, N.Y., Stanley thermoses, McCoy pottery, vintage kitchen klutter, odd bottles, duck decoys, rag dolls, and the like. Most of our furniture — couches, chairs, tables, lamps — has come from these non-profit thrifts. It's a good thing my husband has a truck.

We also donate. Clothing that either we've grown tired of or turned out not to be for us, dishes that seem to multiply in our cupboards, knickknacks that we've had too long ... We always seem to have a bag of something that we send to live another life somewhere else.

I know there are a lot of you who share my passion. When Thrifty Shopper in Seneca Falls reopened after it was closed for nearly a month so its roof could be repaired, people rejoiced. They came from near and far, including a woman and her daughter from Auburn who purchased a lavender music stand (where else would you expect to find something like that?).

Happy (thrift) shopping.

Louise Hoffman Broach is the Sunday editor and a reporter at the Times. Contact her at [email protected] or 315-789-3333, ext. 253.

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