The Real Deal

Last week I made a pilgrimage.

My big brother and I went to Rejuvenation Hardware in downtown Portland, Oregon. Rejuvenation Hardware (not to be confused with Restoration Hardware) carries all things old and historic, and is housed in exactly the sort of building you'd expect: an old brick structure that looks like it was a warehouse.

The front of the store mimics their catalog. It's new/old reproduction light fixtures, furniture, and plumbing. Clawfoot tubs, shower fixtures, door knobs, miscellaneous hardware--that kind of stuff. Like Pottery Barn for the old-house set. We spent a good half-hour browsing through all their wares.

Then we found the back of the store.

The back of Rejuvenation's HQ is an Aladdin's cave of awesomeness. Whereas the front is all shiny reproductions, the back is the real thing. Old doors reclaimed from local houses; iron heater grates with the paint still on them; thousands of doorknobs, locks, strike plates, jambs, hinges, skeleton keys, latches... and on and on. Stained glass panels hung safely out of reach while we fingered and fondled old pushbutton electrical switches, tin mailboxes, crystal cabinet knobs, and one huge and scary-looking proto-circuit breaker from Dr. Frankenstein's lab. Too much good stuff.

In the end, I bought only what I could carry home on the airplane: four genuine brass light-switch cover plates. I've already put them up, but I'll take them down later and polish 'em up a bit. My fingers smell like brass and my head is full of dreams of the next trip.