Wednesday, August 15, 2018

Sparrow Mart at the Standard Hotel DTLA

     When I was in middle school, one of the elective classes I took was a sewing class.  Yes, kids, there used to be classes like sewing in school!  This is where I learned to stitch, and use a sewing machine.  One of the projects we made were these pillows.  I still remember mine - it was a brown guitar with felt embellishments.  I'm pretty sure I embroidered my name onto it, and til this day, I still wonder what in the world happened to that pillow!  So when one of my friends told me there was this place called Sparrow Mart showcasing an entire grocery store filled with products made of felt, I was all in!

     Here's my first tip for anyone interested in visiting this exhibit at The Standard Hotel in downtown LA.  You do not need to all get in the line together.  So if you're going in a group, you can just have one person line up.  I had some friends that were running late, and when I made it to the check-in area in the lobby, she just asked me how many were in my party.  As long as you know how many people you want admitted with you, you can basically tell them any number.  Then you are assigned a time to enter the store.  I don't think you can even pick the time.  I had asked if we could have a later time to accommodate our lunch plans, and was told that it's first come, first serve.  After changing our lunch reservations, we were good to go with just about an hour wait.  


     The decor at The Standard is interesting.  You will either love it or hate it.  My favorite part was the old school photo booth by the bathrooms - definitely check that out!





     When your entry time is up, you will be allowed to go up this escalator to Sparrow Mart.




     From far away, you will barely notice that things are made of felt!


     Pretty impressive.  From what I had read, there were about 31,000 items in this store.  The crazy part?  Everything is for SALE!  That's right, you can buy yourself a $60 felt bottle of Jager LOL!




     There was even an ATM machine!  The detail was pretty amazing.




     The artist is from the UK, so I was not surprised to find a lot of English products.  You know I love my Digestives! 😋









     In one of the articles I read, these Campbell's soup cans were one of the popular items.  They were close to selling out.  Someone even came over the intercom in a British accent to announce that they had been restocked.  Nice touch.



     Not gonna lie - I wanted one of these!





     One of my friends pointed out the artist to me, and luckily, I was able to snap this photo of her restocking the shelves.  Her name is Lucy Sparrow - ah, makes sense now.





     I pretty much squealed when I saw this Dirty Dancing DVD.  This lady nearby heard me, and she grabbed two of them.  She shared with us that this was her third visit to Sparrow Mart, and that she'd already spent about $4,000 on products.  She was banking on these items being worth more once they sold out.  After all, these are not just felt products, they are art!



     This is about $180 worth of felt alcohol right here, folks. 





     Did I mention the attention to detail is just amazing?!  This really put my middle school guitar pillow to shame!



     I will never complain about the cost of meat again.



     I'm not sure how many of the people with baskets were actually buying stuff.  Many people were just letting their kids have some fun with the products, and some were there just to pose with the products for their Instagram photos.  No matter what your motive is, Sparrow Mart is definitely worth a visit if you're in the downtown LA area!  This exhibit is open until August 31, 2018 from 11am to 9pm Tuesdays to Sundays.  

     I have some felt and embroidery floss in my office.  I might be inspired to stitch up something for myself!

No comments:

Post a Comment