Piece of old Melrose Avenue in Japan

If you believe interesting things happen to interesting people, you'll love this story. Mark Frauenfelder, the author, editor, do-it-yourselfer and co-founder of Boing Boing — and probably one of the most interesting people in Los Angeles — loved Melrose Avenue in the 1980s, before the chain stores came. He especially liked Off the Wall, which sold vintage commercial displays. He has sometimes wondered what happened to the pop-art sculpture of a Burgie Beer UFO that stood outside the store. Well...... Mark was checking out a shop in Japan last week when he saw the very same old UFO he used to play with on the Melrose sidewalk. And he almost didn't see it, the lucky moment only coming because his wife Carla (Sinclair, the journalist) intervened.

Like all cool scenes, Melrose Avenue eventually started to suck. As crass stores selling junky clothes and chain outlets started moving in, the orginal stores like Wacko, Soap Plant, and La Luz de Jesus moved out. By the early 1990s, Melrose was nearly unrecognizable. I stopped going. There's never been a place in LA as good as Melrose Avenue.

Over the years, I occasionally wondered what had happened to the Burgie UFO. I figured it was sitting in the living room of some middle-aged LA celebrity. But I was wrong. I stumbled upon it last week in the town of Takayama, Japan (population 94,000).

I almost missed it. My family and I were walking back to our ryokan after getting caught in a torrential downpour while hiking in the hills. We were all soaking wet, and we were tired and hungry for dinner. I saw an illuminated Reddy Kilowatt mascot in a storefront window across the street and snapped a photo. Carla said the place looked interesting, but I told her it was probably just a light bulb store. She said we should at least peek in the window....

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It's great to know that my mascot of the Golden Age of Melrose Avenue found a happy home in one of the most beautiful towns I've ever visited. My curiosity has been satisfied and my heart is lighter with the thought that a piece of Melrose is still alive.

Hat tip to Curbed LA.