After fifteen years at 214 N Larchmont, Pickett Fences is moving across the street to 219 N Larchmont, formerly Alternative Apparel. This will be the store’s third move on Larchmont; it started out at 111 N. Larchmont in 1994.
Owner Joane Hennenberger Pickett gave us a  sneak peak yesterday of her new, larger space where her husband, Wiley Pickett, is building out the new interior. The Picketts are planning to expand their offerings to include more men’s clothing, workout wear, and more gifts and housewares. The new space is 500 square feet larger than the current store, and Pickett will be hosting a pop up shop featuring a different brand each month in the front of the store, visible from the north side store window. She plans to vary the pop ups by season.
“It’s going to feel like an old fashioned general store,” said Joane Pickett. “We are keeping the barn doors from Alternative and bringing over all the antique shelves and wood trim Wiley built for the old store, including our ‘outhouses’ [dressing rooms built for their first store].”
All of the wood used to build the shelves and decor in the store was salvaged from homes in neighborhood, where materials were discarded to repair damage after the Northridge Earthquake. “It’s historic Hancock Park wood!” explained Pickett, who is the only certified Green Business owner on Larchmont.
The layout of the new store takes advantage of the building’s original floor plan, when it used to be a bank. Three posts remain from the elegant pillars of Security First National Bank of Los Angeles, which occupied the building in 1929 (as shown in the photo below from “Larchmont,” a pictorial history of the street). Pickett is turning the former bank vault at the back of the store into a generous dressing room to accommodate patrons with baby carriages or wheelchairs.
“We lost our lease, we didn’t want to move, but we are moving and it’s going to be great,” said Pickett, who spent the last several months trying to find new space before she settled at 219 N Larchmont. “We are excited to be next door to Burger Lounge, Larchmont Wine and Cheese and Vernetti. Â We’re going to offer a chalkboard lunch special everyday.”
Interior work is moving ahead of schedule. The Picketts hope to move into their new space in mid-March. In the meantime, the current store is open and there’s lots on sale.
