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Turn a vintage bicycle into a hanging lamp? How the restaurant MB Post pulled off the look

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When architect Stephen Jones shared his design for the Manhattan beach restaurant M.B. Post a few weeks ago, several readers wanted to know the story behind the playful bike-turned-lamp, above.

So we asked.

“It was a wonderful mistake,” Stephen Jones says with a laugh.

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The architect had purchased the 1954 bike on EBay for $100, thinking it could somehow relate to the theme of M.B. Post, formerly an old post office. When the team couldn’t find the right sculpture for a slot in the wall, a light bulb went off in Jones’ head. He ran home, grabbed a bike hook from his garage, and sure enough, back at the restaurant, the bike fit the space perfectly.

An electrician ran low-voltage wire inside the frame of the bicycle, then popped in sockets in the handlebars and wheels. Initially the bulbs stuck out perpendicular to the wheels, so Jones simply bent the upper ones toward the ceiling and the lower ones toward the floor.

The final touch, in keeping with the vintage vibe: six antique-style Edison light bulbs with an exaggerated filament spiral.

— Lisa Boone

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Pro Portfolio: The design story behind M.B. Post

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