Furniture

The smooth curves of artist Cindy Vargas' wood furniture resemble the contours of the human body. "When I decided to pursue art, I started considering the human form," Vargas said. "It is great food for creatively expressing something." Vargas works meticulously at crafting both functional and decorative furniture pieces in her Glendale studio that bring out "gesture, rhythm and musicality," she said. Several of her furniture creations are inspired by mid-20th century designs, Vargas said.

The floor in Tim Hassemer’s Gallery H Custom Furniture and Woodwork shop in Burbank is sticky, and the walls smell of new paint. The gallery, at 2214B W. Magnolia Blvd. in Burbank, is slowly taking shape on the inside, still being filled with custom-made woodwork. Several pieces are still in the works for its grand opening. But this furniture is not your mother’s dresser — the works Hassemer creates have a heavy metal influence, as evidenced by the spiky, devil’s-ear designs he gives his work.

DOWNTOWN — The owner of a furniture store has been sued by comedian Adam Carolla for allegedly defaulting on three months’ worth of rent for using his warehouse at the Burbank Airport Commerce Center. In the lawsuit filed against Lounge 22 LLC Aug. 28 in Los Angeles Superior Court, Carolla is seeking nearly $45,000 in unpaid rent for the 12,368-square-foot warehouse from May through July, and about $500 for each day since Aug. 1. On July 2, Lounge 22 owner Armen Gharabegian was given three days to either settle the debt or return possession of the property at 7679 San Fernando Road, according to court records.

Buck Wargo CITY HALL -- Wanted: bulky items such as furniture and appliances. The cost: free. Glendale will be starting a new household collection program on July 3 to replace one in which residents paid a $27.75 fee for city workers to pick up items at a home. The city's Integrated Waste Management Department is dropping the fee to encourage residents to legally dispose of their furniture, appliances and other bulky items, instead of dumping them in the street.

Maurice Barnfather In "The Price," written in 1968 and set in post-World War II New York, Arthur Miller returns to one of his favorite themes: our need to accept responsibility for our own lives. This rarely performed masterpiece, intelligently revived by Glendale's A Noise Within, illustrates this when two brothers gather to dispose of their long-dead father's furniture. Victor Franz, who sacrificed his education to look after their Depression-ruined father and wound up a humble cop, wants redress.

I'm so sick of rental properties being built in Glendale (“Downtown luxury high-rise plan becomes lower,” Nov. 16). It seems as if 50% of Glendale's population are renters, who get to vote. They practically outweigh the primary homeowners that have a long-term, vested interest in this community. Is the City Council so lame that the only way they know how to generate income is taxes on new rental properties? Pathetic! We have enough renters that leave their useless furniture on the sidewalk as it is. Theo Fuller Glendale    

Karen S. Kim The Montrose Shopping Park Assn. is looking to offer community members a little something old to go along with the new. The merchants organization is considering bringing an antique market to the shopping park, to run once a month on the same day as the recently established Montrose Harvest Market on Sundays. "The notion of bringing people with money in their pockets significant enough to purchase antique furniture, that seems to me like a good idea," board member John Drayman said.

Karen S. Kim DOWNTOWN -- Kay Waltz was working as a manager for the city of Los Angeles six years ago when her friend, a shop owner in Carmel, invited her to go to Bali on a shopping trip. Waltz resisted at first because of her job, but then realized she wasn't meant to be tied down to a desk, she said. "I love to travel, and I love to shop, and I've always been interested in other cultures," Waltz said Friday. Waltz turned that love, with the help of her shop owner friend, into a business and opened Cat in the Lotus on Maryland Avenue.

Elizabethan costumes, fairy dresses and a hair dryer that any beauty school dropout would be proud to own were just a few of the items on sale Saturday at the A Noise Within theater garage sale. The ghosts of productions past filled the rooms full of items as resident artist Jill Hill and education director Samantha Starr picked up a costume, photo or prop and reminisced about the play it came from. ?This is a great beanie. I think this came from ?Waiting for Godot,?? Starr said.

I'm so sick of rental properties being built in Glendale (“Downtown luxury high-rise plan becomes lower,” Nov. 16). It seems as if 50% of Glendale's population are renters, who get to vote. They practically outweigh the primary homeowners that have a long-term, vested interest in this community. Is the City Council so lame that the only way they know how to generate income is taxes on new rental properties? Pathetic! We have enough renters that leave their useless furniture on the sidewalk as it is. Theo Fuller Glendale    

DOWNTOWN — Versailles Gallery on Brand Boulevard will close this month, putting an end to furniture sales in the city’s transforming commercial core. Versailles Gallery, which sells reproductions of antique and designer furniture, is next to the Alex Theatre and will shut its doors after a year of operations there, owner Joseph Hashemian said. “It’s heartbreaking,” said Hashemian, who previously sold his furniture out of the Glendale Galleria and a store in Pasadena.

DOWNTOWN — The owner of a furniture store has been sued by comedian Adam Carolla for allegedly defaulting on three months’ worth of rent for using his warehouse at the Burbank Airport Commerce Center. In the lawsuit filed against Lounge 22 LLC Aug. 28 in Los Angeles Superior Court, Carolla is seeking nearly $45,000 in unpaid rent for the 12,368-square-foot warehouse from May through July, and about $500 for each day since Aug. 1. On July 2, Lounge 22 owner Armen Gharabegian was given three days to either settle the debt or return possession of the property at 7679 San Fernando Road, according to court records.

Elizabethan costumes, fairy dresses and a hair dryer that any beauty school dropout would be proud to own were just a few of the items on sale Saturday at the A Noise Within theater garage sale. The ghosts of productions past filled the rooms full of items as resident artist Jill Hill and education director Samantha Starr picked up a costume, photo or prop and reminisced about the play it came from. ?This is a great beanie. I think this came from ?Waiting for Godot,?? Starr said.

The floor in Tim Hassemer’s Gallery H Custom Furniture and Woodwork shop in Burbank is sticky, and the walls smell of new paint. The gallery, at 2214B W. Magnolia Blvd. in Burbank, is slowly taking shape on the inside, still being filled with custom-made woodwork. Several pieces are still in the works for its grand opening. But this furniture is not your mother’s dresser — the works Hassemer creates have a heavy metal influence, as evidenced by the spiky, devil’s-ear designs he gives his work.

Ken Goldman was only 13 the first time he picked up a 2-by-4 rasp, a very coarse type of wood, and filed it until it resembled an airplane. “I’ve been hooked since then,” said the 61-year-old La Crescenta resident, who is showing his wood sculptures and photography this month at Whites Art Framing & Restoration in Montrose. All of his sculptures are unique, and every single one tells a different story, store owner Miguel Perez said. “It’s best for people to come and see them and enjoy,” he said.

Though the front door to the recently closed Swanson Furniture in Montrose is locked and its dozen showrooms inside are all but empty, longtime patrons of this threegeneration family business are still trickling by to say farewell to Bob and Donald Swanson. The brothers, who took over the business from their parents 35 years ago, closed up shop on June 30. And though they're moving on to other ventures now, the imprint they left in the community is built to last, said Judy Kelly, a La Cañada Flintridge resident.

The smooth curves of artist Cindy Vargas' wood furniture resemble the contours of the human body. "When I decided to pursue art, I started considering the human form," Vargas said. "It is great food for creatively expressing something." Vargas works meticulously at crafting both functional and decorative furniture pieces in her Glendale studio that bring out "gesture, rhythm and musicality," she said. Several of her furniture creations are inspired by mid-20th century designs, Vargas said.

Wine and Food Pair in Marriage When I heard from Clyde Hemphill that his son was a catering cook and his daughter-in-law worked as a sommelier, I thought to myself, "What a perfect pairing." Clyde's son Jeff was introduced to his future wife Leslie Burns by wine shop owner Bill Drury at a birthday party for Jeff. In their cozy Sierra Madre apartment, the couple proudly displays an empty three-liter bottle of wine converted into a very pretty lamp. "Bill saved the bottle from the party where we met, had it made into a lamp and gave it to us for a wedding present."