ECHO PARK ADVENTURE - PART ONE

FRENCH GENERAL

Every so often I see advertisements for this crafty store in Los Angles called French General,

but I've never been,

so it's been on my bucket list for quite some time now.

And for my birthday my son and his fiance' invited me up for the weekend

and asked what I'd like to do.

Since they live above L.A. in the valley,

 I thought maybe we could we could kill two birds with one stone and visit French General 

then look around the little part of L.A. that's called Echo Park.

It was recently written up in my AAA auto club magazine and seemed fascinating.

So off we went.

From Canoga Park it took about a 1/2 hour to reach in Saturday traffic.

Our first stop was to French General.

It was housed in an isolated and scary part of town,

was painted a bright pink,

 and had bars on all the doors and windows.

When we parked and  got out we weren't real sure if we wanted to go in.

Ha ha

To get in we had to ring a bell,

were examined behind the barred door, 

and eventually deemed worthy to be let in.

But it was so worth it because it was a magical place inside.

Mostly antique craft supplies from France.

Buttons, pins, spools of thread,

needles,

quilts, furniture, dishes, tools, scissors,

oh my,

 and so many handmade knick-knacks.

I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

My son not so much,

but he is used to going with me to places like this and has the patience of a saint.

His fiance' really enjoyed the store.  

Her mother is a quilter and she was able to pick up several treasures for her for Xmas.

The best treasure I found was this antique & handcrafted spool rack below.

The price was pretty hefty so I asked if all the spools of thread came with it,

and the gal said sure.

take them.

YES!!

We must have spent a good hour there,

and I really recommend a visit.

I'll be back for sure.

Thanks Zach & Nicole for making my wish come true.