Inspired for Spring: Elle Magazine

Daydreaming of florals, pastels, whites and denim this week. As the rain pours down, we find ourselves lost turning through the pages of our favorite magazines. This issue of Elle is full of Spring inspiration-flip through some of our personal highlights...how are you planning to de-Winterize your wardrobe?

This backpack and ring...yes please!

Denim on denim on denim! Get ready for blooms, florals, and pretties...

No more winter coats! Bring out the whites!

These light and airy dresses have us drooling over these last pages...let the changing of the seasons commence.

Ruby Rose's Favorite Fleas

Everyone always wants to know, "where do you find your stuff?"...and truthfully, there is no simple answer to that simple question. We hit the road far and wide: from swamp meets and thrift stores to yard sales and secret spots - but our absolute favorite place to score goods is at the flea market. We've compiled a list of our favorites, put these fleas on your radar:

Alameda Flea Market 

aka Alameda Point Antiques Faire

When: 1st Sunday of every month
Where: 2900 Navy Way Alameda CA 94501
Prices: 6 a.m. - 7:30 a.m. ($15), 7:30 a.m. - 9 a.m. ($10), 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. ($5)
Details: More than 10,000 visitors visit per month. PER MONTH! 10K! We clearly aren't the only ones that are head over heels for this fabulous flea market. The Alameda Point Antiques Faire is the largest antiques show in Northern California with over 800 dealer booths, each selling items that are 20+ years old! It is an antique/junker paradise.Alameda by far is our favorite for the overall experience!The variety of merchandise and the displays are so creative. The food vendors and food trucks are amazing and delicious. Plus, for the loading the truck (my least favorite part) this market provides carts to get the large loads to your car and has an area to pull into to load.

Rose Bowl Flea Market

When: 2nd Sunday of every month

Where: 1001 Rose Bowl Drive Pasadena CA 91103

Prices: 5 a.m. - 7 a.m. ($20), 7 a.m, - 8 a.m. ($15), 8 a.m. - 9 a.m. ($10), 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. ($8)

Details:A whopping 2,500 vendors and 20,000 buyers flock to the Rose Bowl each month. This famous flea has been happening for the past 45 years and is still going strong. The Rose Bowl Flea has highs and lows for us. It is by far the best for vintage clothing, leather goods and accessories for us, and we can find what we need and what we cannot live without. The front area has some wonderful offerings, if we were shopping as consumers, this would be great, although when trying to buy for a store, we find the loading too great a challenge. The aisles are way too crowded, and loading zones are not friendly and lastly, there are not many food options, so we pack our own. Oh, and lastly, this is a great place for people watching and star sightings! This is a photo of Ty Pennington shot with one of our favorite vendors, uber chic!

Long Beach Flea Market

aka Long Beach Antique Market

When: 3rd Sunday of every month

Where:4901 E Conant Street Long Beach CA 90808

Prices: 5:30 a.m. - 6:30 a.m. ($12), 6:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. ($6)

Details: "chic, cheap, unique, vintage" is their motto. This is the flea market that started it all for me back in the 80's so it feels so familiar and easy! We love this market for all things vintage, retro, and industrial; and we love our vendors that we have worked hard to build a relationship with here. There are a few clothing vendors, but not as much as other fleas. The loading and navigating the aisles are good; but for food, there aren't a lot of options. 

Melrose Flea Market

aka Melrose Trading Post

When: every Sunday at Fairfax (and starting March 15th every Saturday at Taft)

Where:7850 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90046

Prices: 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. ($2)

Details: Melrose flea is easy and fun. We come here for clothing and accessories. They have great vintage, art, and trends. It is a small market, but there is great shopping and food all around. And it is only 2 bucks to get in! There is a parking lot and also parking on the street surrounding the market, watch carefully for signs and meters,...we have first hand experience with expensive tickets.

Ruby Around Town Vo. 2

We had a lot of fun documenting a few weeks ago that we decided to bring you another installment of Ruby Around Town! 

1. Breakfast with 3 lovely girls! 

2. Another well loaded truck headed back to the shop, come check out the goods.

3. Doesn't this van make you happy?!

4. One of my favorite things - an outdoor flower stand! 

5. A photo shoot with Michelle Roller Photography. We will share her amazing snaps here soon, stay tuned!

6. My dream car (well one of them).

What's new with you? We'd love to hear in the comment section :)

Sisterhood of the traveling bag: Bets

After oo-ing and awe-ing over this bag for weeks, we knew it was no ordinary purse. And in a stroke of inspiration, we found its purpose (rather, its purse-pose): to accompany us in our daily lives. It's a hand-stitched, black and tan leather bag, with a simple design and easy function...it complements any outfit, day or night, and is hearty enough to go just about anywhere. For this year, we are passing it around through the Ruby crew, and documenting what adventures ensue. It is our version of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. So, without further adieu, we bring you The Sisterhood of the Traveling Bag!

Either I was chosen because of my enthusiastic response to the endeavor, my presence at the point of conception, or just because of my impatience. Regardless, I, Betsi Clark, have the honor of being the first carrier; though I doubt I was the first, and probably not even the second. That is the beauty of a vintage item: it has a history. This bag, when it is old, will sit back and tell all the other bags in the closet just what its seen over the years-oh, how I would long to be one of those lucky purses, hanging on a hook to listen.

Well, at least I can tell you a few snippets of its story: the traveling bag's time with me.

One of my most favorite pastimes in San Luis Obispo is going to the Palm Theatre. I crave it when I live elsewhere. Whether it be a lazy afternoon, a weekend evening, or a $5 Monday movie night, there really is no bad time to catch a flick here. A group of us had been monitoring the release of the new Cohen Brothers film, Inside Llewyn Davis, and took up 3/4 of a row this particular Monday night. Though the Palm makes excellent movie popcorn, I decided to include the bag in the fun, using it to smuggle in some homemade kettle corn (totally worth it). The purse behaved beautifully, kept its cool, and didn't even bulge carrying two big brown bags of popcorn for me and my date! Mission accomplished. And for those of you who missed it on the big screen, Inside Llewyn Davis is a must-rent. It led to a discussion afterward in the lobby, and us getting kicked out after a lengthy chat over the parallels of Ulysses and the symbolism of Llewyn being stuck in his own record, or was he the cat? (If you want a more thorough movie analysis, comment below)


Even the West Coast takes advantage of sunny days in Winter. With a case of the seasonal sniffles, reading in the park was about all I had the energy for. So, me and my boy took a stroll with a blanket and a book each packed inside my tote, grabbing drinks from Sally Loos along the way. That's him and the bag reflected on my RayBans, the apples of my eye that Wednesday afternoon.A week later, I took a trip to my hometown, San Diego, carrying small gifts for friends and family. To celebrate a buddy's birthday, a group of us rented a cabin in Big Bear, CA, and elatedly found a small layer of fresh snow waiting for us. A day of snowboarding and another spent exploring old ruins, my bag fared the snow, keeping beanies and dreamcatchers all dry inside. With nights spent cooking and playing games together, it was just what the doctor ordered. I drove back with a smile and full of great memories to reflect upon.

My friend, Sabrina Klomp, is an amazing photographer, and asked us to model for her growing portfolio. I outfitted myself in all Ruby Rose purchases, including the bag stuffed with props. It even sneaked into a couple photos-it's so photogenic, don't you think?







Also not pictured are lunches and dinners with dear friends, gaining constant compliments about my trusty companion, this beautiful, hearty traveling bag of ours.

And now I must sadly, yet expectantly, pass the tote onto the next lucky Ruby Rose crew. Stay tuned...

xoxo,
bets

Slocal Biz: The Mercantile

"I am ridiculous with gift giving, I think that's all why this happened. I mean, it's fun. It makes everybody happy. You know what I mean? We have no idea how long we're here for, so, make people happy and give them gifts."

-Katelyn Kaney, owner The Mercantile

Some of us have a rich history here in San Luis Obispo. Small business has such a history here. This particular one began on 1019 Chorro Street, just below where Luna Red sits now, in 1899. George Deiss and John Berkemeyer opened a butcher shop at this location, hiring Italian brothers Bill and Pino Cattaneo. Taking what they learned, and only $200, the two launched their own sausage and jerky biz on Caudill Street in the seventies, becoming famously known as Cattaneo Bros.

There is another history which began one block down and across the street at 950 Chorro, where a Cal Poly grad, Jayne Kaney, opened an antique store in 1976. Her mother had bought the building and she curated a storefront, running The Backdoor for more than ten years. It was then in 1988, she took her business savvy and joined with her husband, Mike Kaney, to purchase Cattaneo Bros. It is here were our two histories collide into one: Katelyn Kaney.

Growing up in the family biz, Katelyn learned much from her parents and grew familiar with the business of Cattaneo Bros. She watched them expand their line to turkey jerky to fruits and nuts, introduce a catalog, rebrand and repackage to encourage these items not only for snacks, but as gifts. So, when her parents passed in 2008, Katelyn took the reigns as owner. And, for the past five years, has continued building what her parents began. Last November, she returned to the street where it all started, to the same storefront her mother once owned on 950 Chorro. It is an offshoot of her already established business, as well as a space for her to showcase other local products. It is, truly, The Mercantile.

The manufacturing side of things for Cattaneo Bros. is challenging and can be stressful. And since it is Katelyn's passion to have a gift shop and interacting with the people, this storefront serves as a breath of fresh air. The Mercantile launched in November, displaying an array of Cattaneo Bros. products-including their new line of Range grass-fed, nitrate free jerky (Ruby Rose approved, it comes in four flavors, equally delicious)-as well as loads of other locally sourced items. Katelyn wants to promote products made in SLO from small producers and hobbyists who may not have the platform to get into big businesses. And then put them all together in one basket, and give it away.


One of the most unique things about The Mercantile is its appeal to locals and passers through alike. While you can buy items separately, Katelyn provides another brilliant service: build your own gift basket: "My goal is for someone to walk into the store and be able to create some kind of gift, whether it's a natural food basket...whether it's a sweet tooth basket or whether it's an all meat basket...whatever they need, they can find some things here." There is a space in the back of the shop with everything you need to create a beautiful gift basket full of local products. Choose from jerkies, dried fruits, nuts, Therabee honey, San Luis Soap Company, Templeton Toffee, local linens and locally made jewelry. You can even add in your own local wine! The Mercantile is dedicated to keeping the price point on all in-store items affordable.

She recognizes her own business' tiny beginnings in a basement meat market, and wants to continue to tell the history of shopping small in San Luis Obispo. The Mercantile is open Monday through Saturday 10a-6p and Sunday 11a-5p. So be sure to stop in, grab a gift-or basketful-and enjoy a little taste of our county. Oh, and don't forget to follow The Mercantile on Instagram (@themercslo) and on Facebook.

Happy Valentine's Day

We just love you! From our hearts to yours, will you be our Valentine?

Love, love, love,...

Love is in the air! In the spirit of Valentine's Day, we'd like to share our favorite love quotes as well as our favorites lovelies at the shop right now...

"If you live to be a hundred, I want to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you." 

- A.A. Milne

"For it is not into my ear you whispered, but into my heart. It was not my lips you kissed, but my soul." 

- Judy Garland

"The giving of love is an education in itself." 

- Eleanor Roosevelt

"Where there is love, there is life." - Mahatma Gandhi

xoxo,

Ruby Rose

Ruby Around Town

Welcome to the first installment of Ruby Around Town where we document exceptionally wonderful weeks! Here are some fun things that we did:

• Pop tarts at Sally Loo's - there is always a new and delicious flavor every Wednesday. They fly off the shelf fast, so get there bright and early. 
• It was a good mail day: the Anthology Magazine & the Free People Catalog arrived, talk about a snail mail score!
• Still pinching ourselves that we get to hang with Mary Emmerling and Ann Lawrence at High Noon, Mary has written 20+ books and edited at House Beautiful magazine, Country home to name a few...Ann is a designer in Santa Fe, New Mexico and has worked with some amazing people. The dinner conversation was epic!! Did you read about our trip to Arizona?
• Romp Shoes did a photoshoot at the shop with some props - we love helping out local businesses whatever way we can!

 How was your week? We hope it was a good one!

Journal: High Noon in AZ

My Love Affair with the West

For a few days,  
I get to rub elbows with the cowboys, 
talk with the traders,

and consume things from days past, 
when the West was a bit younger...

The High Noon Western Americana show

The people that come here range anywhere from the high rollers to industry folks to designers and back to average folk, who like to play make-believe for just a few hours. They come dressed to the nines in period costume, western wear or classic jeans and tennies.

Some of our favorites are Barry Friedmans-Indian trade blankets, Mark Winters-historic trading post rugs, amazing jewelry, boots, leathers and baskets...

I could talk forever about these peoples' passions and what I learned. I won't at this time, just ask me sometime when you have a few, I'd love to share!