Laura D.
Yelp
Walking into this store felt like walking into a 1930s Peter Lorre movie. It was a fascinating quest that I hadn't expected. There are several huge spaces with immense ceilings filled with a jumble of all types of antiques and a sort of foggy interior, dust everywhere, murky lighting. You have to weave through the closely packed furniture, lamps, paintings, chandaliers, desks, chairs, Buddhas, animals. There are fascinating, one-of-a-kind precious items next to broken down chairs and stumps.
They have a lot of Asian furniture, and also a lot of mid-century 1950s stuff. Actually, if you're talking antiques, they have pretty much of EVERYTHING at J.F. Chen. All you need is a lot of patience to sort through it, and a lot of money. They sell to the trade so if you have a designer it makes it all a lot easier.
We found several items we liked: a 1950s desk, a 1930s buffet, and a beautiful Asian chest. The women there are very friendly (and so are their dogs! who run all around the store). They emailed me photos of the items I liked, with the dimensions. They'll put a hold on items you might be interested in. Unfortunately, the desk I liked the most was already sold.
Although the address is on Highland, the entrance is on the side street, Romaine. There's a nondescript funky metal door with a buzzer. I thought it was closed but Diane pushed the button, a buzzer sounded immediately and in we went. If you just look at the storefront on Highland, you would think it's some kind of industrial space with no one home.
Once inside, you walk up 3 flights of stairs (there's an elevator somewhere but it's so scary -- old style tiny elevator that gets pulled up on cables -- you'd better just take the stairs.)
Fairly good street parking. This was a great adventure.
