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Jadis
$40 for $100 Certificate
Joyhan S. said: "Love the owner's accent. He's also very friendly and knowledgeable. His prices are reasonable and recommendations, which I took him up on, are…" read more »
6 reviews for Jadis
6 reviews in English
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Review from Max M.
Culver City, CA
7/2/2007
Jadis is an idiomatic French phrase that loosely means "sit, here's a story". Jadis is a primarily a prop rental store, and the owner is a self-taught engineer and builder. He was the Eames' chief fabricator, a master of softening and bending wood. A collector, he began buying gauges, meters, and odds and ends at garage sales and selling them to other collectors decades before eBay.
Jadis is stuffed full of original Bausch microscopes, Tesla coils, medical mirror arrays, and antiques of every imaginable sort. It is a magical place to bring a child, even adults will wander around mouths agape. There's more that a little whackjobbery to be found, for you can't collect these sorts of things without being more than a little crazy yourself. Terry Gilliam loved the front window gears and toys so much he replicated them in his flying airships in Baron Munchausen. Fritz Lang's Metropolis robot, functioning Van de Graaf generators, posters, spectacles, and curiosities abound. Very much a curiosity cabinet, like The Museum of Jurassic Technology, but much more bric-a-brac.
Jadis is rarely open to the public - the shop is by appointment only, often just for prop rentals. But on the days the door is open it's well worth the dollar contribution to step inside and look around. -
Review from Min T.
Los Angeles, CA
4/28/2008
OMG! The store is open!! Well, no, there was the usual "be back in 10 minutes" sign that I have always seen on the door but then we actually saw someone go in yesterday afternoon.
It's a $1 donation which is completely cheap to get your own personal storyteller who had random facts about every little thing in the store. I especially adored the story about the 1920s French mannequin which has turned into a rockin' robot sporting a svelte silver body.
They have a working Tesla coil but it's illegal to actually turn it on. Everything in the store could be rented for props but some items were marked for sale including ooky bugs, books and what seemed like the world's largest collection of beakers, microscopes and other old-fashioned laboratory stuff.
This place is definitely one of my favorite things about Main Street. I love watching all the mechanical stuff in the window and the carved archway (hand carved by the owner) is amazing.
So many stories, so little time.Listed in: Local Flavor, Weird and Delightful
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Review from Tessa C.
1/25/2009 1 photo
Finally after passing by this place 12 times, it's open. The key to visiting this place is to come on a Sunday after 1PM before 5PM. Geek heaven.
This is a history museum of vastly different machines, scientific equipment, and academic oddities. Most of the stuff has been rented out to movies and used as non working props. There is a working Tesla coil - the machine that generates electricity at science museums.
I was surprised to see lots of things for sale - scientific instruments, books, optometry lenses and vision measuring equipment, globes, old typewriters.
The guy who gives the tour will give you an entertaining talk about the owner, the objects in the space, and lots of references to geniuses of the past.
Be nice, and ask before taking pics. I was able to take one "souvenir" photo of an obscure corner of the store. -
Review from e d.
Santa Monica, CA
Updated - 10/7/2010
The owner, Parke mekk passed away in January...
BUT the place and his collection live on!
Still the coolest shoppe on any main Street in USA
Still operated by his friends and his partner...
Still renting/selling cool props and gadgets
Still the best buck you can spend in L.A.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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6/10/2008
Easily the smartest, coolest store in all of Santa Monica & L.A.
Things you will not believe are in… Read more »
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Review from heather v.
Los Angeles, CA
6/8/2009
Good luck catching this prop master's gone awry storefront. If you are one of the lucky ones, look through the beakers and pseudo-mad science props to find the crazy steam-punkesque headpiece from the film "City of Lost Children." That big metal looking woman in the window is from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis". I heard the old curmudgeon looking uncomfortable smoking is the owner/prop maker.
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Review from Joan S.
11/11/2004 6 photos
You will see this corner-location store and say, "Whaaaaaaat?" It is movie props rental, right in the middle of a trendy retail shopping district. Their window displays are beyond unusual.......more like bizarre. This place gets 5 stars for jaw-dropping shock value.
