About Us

When I launched this website over 5 years ago, I had no idea where it would end up or if it would even last. The obstacles were certainly stacked against me. I had very little capital, it was the start of pandemic, and I was starting this new business venture relatively alone.

I know most of my friends and family considered it to be another crazy idea I had and assumed that I would eventually get bored or become uninterested and just like everything else, it would shortly fade away.

The idea of having a store of my own really stems from when I was child.  The first spark happened when I was in the 5^th or 6th grade.  It was the final days of the school year, and I couldn’t wait for the summer break to start.  The school lessons were all but over and our days were spent cleaning out our desks, sanding the side pages of our textbooks, and getting the classroom ready for next year students. 

To complete the day, our teacher would pop-in a tape into the VCR to take up the remaining few hours of the day.   The scene was this kid named Bastian and he was running away from his bullies and in a rush to get-away, he ran into an old bookstore.  It was that moment, in an instant, he was in another world, and I was in awe.  I watched that movie, along with the Karate Kid, for the rest of the summer.

The other moment stems from me spending time with my mother out in our garden.  I think I was the only teenager that enjoyed getting up at 7am to start cutting our lawn.  There was something about the calmness of those summer mornings, the mist from the marine layer that I just enjoyed.   “June-gloom”, what we call it in Southern California, was my interpretation of the day sleeping-in or having a lazy morning. A slow-start to what I know end up being another day of sun.   

As the morning continued, the energy would pick up, and by midday, everyone was up and out, and a lot was happening around the house.  The dogs were running around, barking and trying to cite the lawn mower, my mom pulling the weeds in the garden, my dad in the garage and my siblings playing music on the stereo or watching MTV.  The best part of it all, was sitting outside, the scent of fresh cut grass in the air, while my parents enjoyed a nice cold beer.

The remainder of the weekend would go by quite fast.  Sundays were spent by going to the swap meet, where we would seek out more terra-cotta pots or plants for the garden. Maybe stop by a thrift or antiques store if we had the time and energy.  To escape the heat of the day, I typically spent my Sunday afternoons washing the cars.  Not that I typically enjoyed it, but I did it because I was able to take each of the cars to fill-up the gas tanks for the week.  It was my little escape.  And as the day/weekend was coming to an end, I remember driving to the gas station and looking up at the sky, just mesmerized by this hue of sunset orange that can only be found during those California summers.    

It's these 50 years of memories and moments that has led to this next chapter.  It’s with the most humble and sincere gratitude that I introduce, Bloom & Finial.