Shelly’s parties are notorious in Venice. The overwhelming consensus usually supports an exasperating infatuation with the indulgent amount of male eye candy, the magnificent human spill into the parking lot behind the building, and the fact that no one ever gets arrested. Most commonly overheard are statements like: “Damn, the boys here are next level!” and “We need more beer!”. By midnight the well-intended shopping events at The Pistol Club have inadvertently turned into funny dance parties, most graciously attributed by a giant disco ball that has become the store’s 24-hour attraction.

My first Pistol Club experience occurred last August, when I introduced myself to the illustrious host at her “Dirty Thirty” birthday party. She has a vague recollection of the moment: “Ummm, well let’s just say I was having a reeeeally good time!!” she roars in her boisterous Southern drawl. “You were trying on clothes and I have no idea how I helped you with your purchases in the state I was in but we hit it off nevertheless.” And the latter would turn out to be quite an understatement, considering we’d be co-hosting The Pistol Club’s 1-year anniversary party just seven months later and announcing my pop-up shop in her space.

Needless to say, Shelly Glascock and I share a passion for vintage (and blonde hair!) that goes far beyond a love of fashion. “I’ve always been fascinated with all things vintage,” she tells me at her bungalow in Venice. “I used to love any adult’s closet I got to play around in as a child. I’ve always been collecting and thus attaching myself emotionally to things that I felt had a story longer than mine. It makes you use your imagination and being an only child I had a big one of those.” Shelly grew up in Chattanooga, TN but moved to Los Angeles five years ago. She adapted quickly: “I had to relearn how to drive, dress in layers and with versatility because LA is an adventure – you never know where you’ll end up – and that juicing is GOD!” When her friend Nick Fouquet left his space on Abbot Kinney, Shelly pulled the trigger and moved her mobile vintage business from a camper to a brick and mortar.

“My dad’s nickname was ‘The Crystal Pistol’ in high school because of my last name… get it…?” she winks when I ask her about the name of her store. “And a Pistol is also what my grandmother and people in the South call a girl who’s a fire cracker. So it has a double meaning.” And she makes that point on a daily basis. She’s one of the boys, “the kinda girl you wanna go drinking with” and she’s busier than a moth in a mitten, styling for Playboy magazine and playing host at a popular restaurant twice a week, “just to keep things fresh”. Her style is “fun, easy and unpredictable” and her uniform predominantly 80s, a fearless combination of a sassy rodeo girl and Christina Applegate in ‘Don’t tell mom the baby sitter’s dead‘: “vintage denim (cut-offs or high-waisted) paired with a vintage tee (I have hundreds) and a satin bomber (again hundreds) and booties of some kind. Lots of gold rings, in my ears and on my fingers.”

My pop-up shop is well into its second month now, and I couldn’t have wished for a kinder, more welcoming introduction to Los Angeles. Shelly’s the worst at answering texts but she’s been a consistent happy presence in my West Coast life, and I thank her. Please come by The Pistol Club on Abbot Kinney, daily between 12 – 6 PM. We are nestled behind the Tasting Kitchen and The Piece Collective. And to all the single ladies, you must come to our next party! ; – )

PS. if you’re wondering why it’s taken me so long to feature a new Muse, it’s because I am working on my book. I have been shooting vintage-loving women and men solely and exclusively for the Tales of Endearment printed publication. The book will be published with Powerhouse and distributed by Random and released in the Fall of 2017. It’s an arduous but exciting project that has left me with very little time to shoot anything else… So I can’t wait for you all to read/see the fruits of my labor!