A Little House by the Sea, for You and Me - Carmel Doll Shop

My expertly designed, but leaky hip roof.
2
where to begin? With the buying! After all, it is
widely known antique dealers only sell stuff so
they can buy more and most would agree that
the fun of buying is what keeps them in the
business. So in between coats of paint, Michael
and David made time to hit some favorite
antiquing spots and one of those was just a short
drive around the bay…
Moss Landing is just a wide spot on coastal
California’s scenic Highway One. There is a
harbor chock-full of fishing boats and pleasure
craft, a mammoth plant for generating electricity
– complete with two huge, towering, smoke
stacks whose wispy curls of steam can be seen for
miles, a post office, plus a handful of restaurants
and lots and lots of antique shops.
Nearly twenty years ago, Moss landing was a
very funky, but always interesting village where
on both sides of its one main road, antique shops
filled a wide assortment of antique structures
including a wonderful mid-nineteenth century,
mansard – roofed mini-mansion known as the
Captain’s House. One of Moss Landing’s more
notable “buildings” was referred to as the
“Victorian Trailer”, a single-wide mobile home
that had been gussied up with ornate railings and
fancy wooden gingerbread scavenged from longdemolished
Victorians. Even a perpetually
parked old yellow school bus housed a shop! But,
there was not a funky structure, an historic
building, an amusing monstrosity or a vehicleturned-boutique,
that garnered more attention
than I. A visit to Moss Landing was not complete
without nearly everyone venturing near me, a
derelict, old children’s playhouse. All would take
their turns to stand upon my tiny porch, or to
peer through my miniature,
paned windows. One exception
was one of my front windows,
blocked because it bore a
cardboard sign that seemed to
scream its hand-lettered message
– NOT FOR SALE – DON’T
EVEN ASK!
Some would ignore the
warning and slide business cards
or notes under my front door, to
join the countless others, faded
and dirty, that littered my
painted plank floor—all with
similar messages, some asking
and some demanding to buy me
– a humble playhouse. I noticed
Here I am at home in front of
the shop-a lovely garden setting.