When people visit our facility at 1316 Palmetto Street for the first time, they often comment on the building itself. The massive timber trusses, the sawtooth roof with its north-facing clerestory windows, the heavy plank floors — our building is a showcase of the very materials we sell.
The structure was built in 1947 as a furniture manufacturing plant. For four decades, it produced dining tables and chairs that were sold throughout Southern California. When the furniture company closed in 1989, the building sat vacant for nearly fifteen years.
I discovered it in 2003 while scouting demolition sites in the area. The building was slated for demolition, but the owner was having difficulty finding a contractor willing to handle the massive timber structure. I made him an offer: let me use the building instead of tearing it down.
The renovation was a labor of love. We replaced the roof, upgraded the electrical, poured a new concrete apron around the building for our lumber yard, and added the small retail area at the front. But the bones — those incredible old-growth Douglas fir trusses, the original plank walls, the floors worn smooth by decades of furniture workers — those we kept exactly as they were.
Today, the building serves as our processing facility, retail showroom, and office. It's approximately 22,000 square feet under roof, with another 15,000 square feet of covered yard space for lumber storage.
The irony isn't lost on us: a building that was destined for demolition is now the headquarters of a company dedicated to saving buildings from demolition. Every customer who walks through our doors gets to see reclaimed wood in its most authentic context — a working building that proves salvaged materials aren't just viable, they're extraordinary.