This story hurts to write.
It all started on Saturday morning when I received a text from a close buddy. It was a Craigslist posting for FOUR WITCO TIKI BARSTOOLS in great condition for only $200!!
Whaaa??!
I was losing my mind, trying to email as quickly as possible while at the same time remain calm in the tone of my email. I didn't want to appear too eager.
I had recently scored a vintage Witco bar; these stools were absolute fate, reigning down upon me. And the price?? Unreal.
My girlfriend and I leave for breakfast at Memphis, a local diner-ey place that we dig, waiting for a reply. Every time my phone buzzed, she looked up, "Is it them??"
Then the email came.
They DO still have the stools!!!
Oh wait. What? They're promised to someone else? And what?! There is a bar and lamps too??
BUT! They still have lamps, carved statues, ceramic glasses (tiki mugs?!) and random art and photos!!
I was picturing their basement looking like a Witco showroom. Salivating, I quickly emailed back. No need for photos, just shoot me your address and I'll be there in an hour!
Then.... nothing.
I checked my email over and over and over and over and over.... seriously. No reply.
That night, The Hula Girls played a fun show at Don the Beachcomber. But all night, in the back of my mind, those stools and all of that other stuff was just haunting me.
The next morning, Ashlyn and I decided to get a late brunch at the amazing mid-century time-capsule, Pann's in Los Angeles. If I DID finally receive that email, at least we would be in the vicinity and able to pounce on the opportunity.
Side note, I highly recommend dining at Pann's. Great food, original atomic decor, and during the course of our meal, we heard everyone from Sonny Burgess to Gene Vincent, played over the radio in there. Not just some 'oldies' station. The good stuff! Perfect.
And yet I was still consumed by this cache of Witco, just waiting for me to come grab it up.
I emailed them a couple of more times and after a drive to Santa Monica, we finally just went home to Costa Mesa around 4pm.
At about 5:45, they wrote back!!!
The people who had claimed the bar and lamps and stools DIDN'T pick them up! They were still for sale!! She said that I could come by. I hurriedly emailed back asking for their address!
And then, nothing....
I emailed and emailed and emailed. Desperation had set in. Why are you screwing with me like this?? I have cash. I can be there in 40 mins. JUST GIVE ME YOUR ADDRESS!! (for the record, I didn't write any of that).
On Monday morning, I had every intention of leaving work early or taking a half day or whatever it took to get to that house in LA, once they checked their email again...
Then the Craigslist ad was replaced with this.
Witco is SO rare in Southern California and I had landed on the potential mother-load! I'm so perplexed as to why someone wouldn't just send me their phone number or address when I had told them multiple times that I had 'cash in hand'. Was it just some old couple who didn't 'get' the concept of Craigslist? That you have to send an address or phone number to a potential buyer? Was this some elaborate hoax? It seems super specific to be targeting fans of tiki... I just don't get it.
Ugh. Writing this gets me pissed off all over again. But I thought the story was worth sharing.
To non vintage collectors, I probably seem like some kind of obsessive maniac, but to those of us who are always on the hunt for those long lost treasures, you get it... Right?
-Spike-
---- UPDATE 2:00pm on Tuesday ----
I finally received an email back. To paraphrase, they said that they received so much interested in the stools that they are going to hang on to them until they can do more research on them. They know that they have something.
---- UPDATE 9:00am Wednesday ----
This popped up Tuesday afternoon... not exactly the incredible deal that I was on the verge of getting. $600 for TWO with $150 for shipping. Get real.
