Home Tour: In San Pedro, collectors turn an old Montgomery Ward into a loft filled with their finds

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On the first Thursday of every month in San Pedro, art lovers wander the streets of L.A.’s port town hunting for discoveries. If they stop by Gallery 741, proprietors George Woytovich and Patti Kraakevik will gladly show their art, but more treasures reside upstairs in the couple’s stunning two-story loft, a former ’30s Montgomery Ward.

Inside their self-described “cabinet of curiosities,” maple floors and natural light streaming through loft windows provide the stage for their vintage gems. A brass spotlight from a Japanese cargo ship faces the Pacific. A blue bumper car from the ’20s flanks a green car from Pacific Ocean Park, the Santa Monica amusement park, circa 1953.

Every turn of the head reveals a different find: a glass case with programs from the opening days of the Empire State and Chrysler buildings. A wall-mounted operating panel and floor dial from the elevator of the original Los Angeles Stock Exchange.

For more on the San Pedro loft, check out our 19-picture PHOTO GALLERY.

-- Joshua Lurie

Photo credits: Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times

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