In 1996, San Diego artist and historic preservationist Elizabeth Scalise had an idea for a store unlike anything San Diego had ever seen before. That idea became reality in a place she called “Architectural Salvage.”
Information that something very unusual is happening at the corner of Kettner Boulevard and Kalmia Street comes from the building itself. The pea green building is reminiscent of iconic buildings of the past, like the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood.
Stepping inside, you quickly realize you’ve stepped into a zoo of items rescued from trips to the landfill, and that’s when the name of this place starts to make perfect sense.
“When I opened, I didn’t really know… there wasn’t a tested market or anything like that… I just knew that I loved finding and using these things. , I thought other people would like it too,” Scalise said.
This store proves the axiom that one person’s junk is another person’s treasure. It turns out that it has provided treasure to many people, perhaps without even knowing what they were looking for. Exactly what they were looking for.
“We had people coming in to restore old houses and they needed these parts, so that became part of the process. And we also had restaurants that wanted to use cool materials. There were people with their first apartments, multi-million dollar homes, there were people from all walks of life,” Scalise said.
The whole range is a good way to describe the products you’ll find at Architectural Salvage.
There are things you might expect, such as classic signs and doorknobs. In fact, there are a lot of doorknobs and the escutcheons that once surrounded them. There are old doors and windows. You get the idea.
After looking around, an obvious question comes to mind. How does Scalice decide what belongs here?
“I think I have a little inner voice, and when I see something and it speaks to me, I feel like it speaks to someone else,” she said. Ta.
That little inner voice has served Scalice well over the years. When this article was taken on Thursday, business was booming. The store was filled with new customers and long-time customers.
One longtime customer excitedly told Scalice about the discoveries he’s made over the years at Architectural Salvage.
“It’s great! The pieces I bought from here are accents in my home. Where did you get this? Where did you get this?” the customer said.
“What did you get?” Scalise asked. “Well, like this window…” and the conversation continued for the next few minutes.
When customers share what they find, you can see the excitement and passion Elizabeth Scalise still has for her work.
But the time has come to move forward and be freed from the constraints of running this place. So now is the time to sell as much of this product as possible.
But not everything goes well. At least one item remains with Elizabeth. This turned out to be an inverted flower canopy light that came from Egypt. She plans to put it above her home garden.
“It was just the journey of my life. It was a lot of fun, but there was something else in me that I wanted to do, and I needed to get out…and while I had the chance, I wanted to get out and do more. “I’m going to do that,” Scalise said.
But there’s still some time left. There’s a big celebratory sale this weekend, and it’s likely to stay open for several weeks afterward.
But whatever happens, her time at Architectural Salvage is coming to an end. It’s the end of a funky, eclectic era.
Or is it?
Elizabeth said she would be open to having someone buy the business. New business using cool old stuff, anyone?