Round Top, Texas (Part Three)

Hitting the show pretty early, we immediately headed for Jimmy's tent in the Excess field, excited for the much-ballyhooed unveiling of the new container. Upon arrival, we immediately sensed we were completely outnumbered. Not only was the owner of this particular entire field poised at the parked truck's edge, hauling off leather club chairs and tufted sofas and silver leaf mirrors, claiming each piece he wanted as his hands touched it, but we were two women among a sea of men. Not ones to despair or become shrinking wallflowers, we did eventually manage to make our presence known, ending up with a gorgeous early 19th-century silver leaf mirror and a pair of spectacular brass table lamps (all of which just arrived at rumba this week!). Check out our Facebook page for previews of the goods.

We then dashed off to Brenham, hearing that there were some great vintage shops in the tiny town next door to Round Top (or, as the locals say, "just down the road a piece," which could be anywhere from five to thirty minutes' worth of driving). Also, we heard that The Pomegranate serves an outstanding salmon salad ("the salmon's flown in," we were assured). While the shopping was subpar, the salad was indeed delicious, accompanied by a well-balanced Arnold Palmer on ice - most vendors and restaurants only had sweetened tea and no idea what an Arnold Palmer could be. After lunch, we swung back into Round Top, finding a couple of fantastic chandeliers - one from a Texas dealer and another from Massachusetts - bringing them to Blue Hills to add them to our purchases, everything arranged to be delivered together to us in Santa Monica after the closing of Round Top, which lasts over two weeks and includes the infamous Marburger, a part of Round Top's show we would miss, as we were leaving Texas the following day. Pulling a few strings, we managed to get a dinner reservation for Royer's Round Top Cafe , a legendary (and tiny) restaurant owned by "Bud the Pieman" and whose maxim "Eat Mo Pie" can be found all over its interior. Maybe it wasn't the healthiest meal we'll ever come across, but it was dang good. And that apple pie? Something otherworldly. The ability to purchase Royer's pies online and have them shipped to us in California is a bit too tantalizing.

Ready to return to L.A. Wednesday night, but enjoying the kindness of these Southern folk and the beauty of Round Top's green pastures and bright blue skies.

Photos from the PS Modernism Show

At long last, and with some goading and requests from friends and rumba lovers, we're finally posting a handful of photos taken at the recent Palm Springs Modernism show! Many thanks to my friend Annie Pressman, who provided some serious comic relief, as well as being our resident photographer. Enjoy. Sculptures in front of the Palm Springs Convention Center. Miss Modernism 2012 makes an appearance.The rumba ladies (and all-around great gal and long-time friend, Annie Pressman, seated next to me on the Robsjohn Gibbings slipper chair).Takin' care of business. Wide shot of our rumba booth.

rumba's sneak peek picks for our February 9th One King's Lane sale.

We’re starting 2012 with a delightful bang of highly vetted design deals – our next One King’s Lane Tastemaker Tag Sale is imminent! Beginning on Thursday, January 9th, we’ll have hundreds of our best pieces from Robsjohn Gibbings, Monteverdi Young, Edward Wormley, contemporary lacquer trays, vintage textiles and pillows, pendants, floor lamps, coffee tables and so much more discounted up to 70%. Don’t miss out! As a teaser to whet your whistle, here are five of our top Tastemaker Tag Sale picks.

Call or email us if you’ve questions about the One King’s Lane sale – rumba@rumbastyle.com; 310.392.3103.


Super stylish painted metal 1960s bench provides incredible storage for magazines, newspapers, and even the occasional light blanket! New rattan upholstery is in a luscious pomegranate hue with a chevron texture.


Grand and gorgeous, this oversized silverleaf table lamp would be stupendous in a foyer, a living room corner, a regal reading room, or an Art Deco boudoir. Its oversized nature makes it truly spectacular.


Mary Ann Dill, Santa Monica-based artist and wife of the famous Guy Dill, creates colorful and captivating monoprints, all framed and matted in contemporary white and perfectly suited to modern dwellings.


A set of three nesting trays, circa 1950s, with chrome edges, the smallest of which has delicate chrome handles. Their distinction is especially apparent in the bone-white nature of the unfinished wood. Beautiful and practical – does it get any better than that?


What’s more timeless than an iconic Danish armchair? How about two? Newly upholstered in a slightly textured goldenrod Italian linen, this pair should stay together to make your space even more sophisticated and comfortable.

The rumba girls do the Santa Monica Flea

While the Santa Monica Flea Market doesn’t always have the most outstanding finds, it’s truly bountiful in its offering of fascinating characters like Lui Antal Deak (showing an abstract oil painting below), a loquacious, lovely Frenchman who deals in fine art and who also happens to be a nudist, which is, we suppose, unrelated. This early Sunday morning, he informed us he’s met perfect ten “bleached out” supermodels, their passion and sensuality gone cold. “It isn’t about what kind of car you have, it’s about how you drive your vehicle,” he euphemistically and sagely stated.


From there, we moved onto Dalia Litvak’s booth to check out her inimitable jewelry. She began producing her creations a decade ago, when her collection of jewels, pearls, and chains, dating from the Victorian to the modern Italian and everywhere in between, began evolving into one-of-a-kind pieces, merging old and new in innovative, unexpected ways. We then dropped by our friend Cecilio’s booth (pictured below with one of a pair of 1930s ceramic lamps he’d sold just seconds before). Cecilio is a regular Santa Monica flea vendor and his shop on La Brea, Things Antiques, is a secret hotspot for stellar vintage finds. And you can head right next door after shopping with Cecilio for a Pink’s dog.


This particular Sunday was good for vintage clothing scouting and we were hunting for some tailored vintage dresses (with no success, unfortunately). Rococo Vintage (vintage clothing for tyrannical aesthetes) gave us a super tip concerning vintage clothing, which confounds most women in terms of sizing: take the waist of any vintage (or unsized) dress to your neck and wrap it around – if it reaches all the way around and overlaps a bit, it’s likely to fit your waist. Incredibly helpful for future vintage clothing shopping! Thanks, Rebecca Darling.



At Cindy Ciskowski’s booth, we nabbed a collection of new linen drumshades and a pair of graphic yellow and white pillows (shown off by Cindy herself in the photo) as we’re truly nuts about the color yellow right now. We also fell in love with a single pillow in a beautiful, subtly tea-stained, antiqued pattern. This trend is huge right now in New York. ABC Carpet is loving it in a major way. And so are we. Expect more of this in the months to come for textiles across the board – rugs, pillows, windows, upholstery, and more.








Go to the Santa Monica Flea Market and experience it for yourself! It’s on the first and fourth Sunday of every month and if the antique art, furniture, lamps, and jewelry don’t charm you, we’re willing to bet the people will.

LONG BEACH PART TWO: Where to Go and What to Do in Long Beach

If we have any spare room in the rumba vehicle after the Long Beach Flea Market, we promptly head over to4th street in Long Beach for further finds and fun. In between shopping ventures, however, we refuel at Number Nine, an outstanding little Vietnamese noodle spot at 2118 4th Street.



Try the lychee iced tea – it’s nothing short of scrumptious and someone is always at the ready to refill your glass! And the chicken pho is out of this world, as well. After our delicious, fast, and incredibly fresh lunch, we’re off again and we head directly next door to TreborNevets, a grand and gorgeous shop featuring new and vintage goods, interior design services, and fine art. It also happens to feature really great people, like its dapper co-owner, Robert Murphy, shown below.



There are at least a handful of vintage shops on 4th Street, Xcape and Deja Vu for furniture, and others offering brightly-colored ‘60s and ‘70s clothes and bric-a-brac and what seems like countless sunglasses. We dashed over to the newly opened Long Beach Antique Mall II on Freeman Avenue, which offers 12,500 square feet of antiques and vintage pieces – a strange and wonderful mixture of antique and mid-century furniture, costume jewelry, architectural salvage pieces, vintage surf and Hawaiian ephemera, and much, much more.



With such an eclectic collection, you can find some truly unusual pieces, like this pair of gas pumps that greet you upon entry like a pair of antiquated Texaco sphinxes.



Despite such a panoply of great finds at the antique malls (the original mall is located at 3100 Pacific Coast Highway), on this particular day we had little to no room left in the car (or on top of it, for that matter), so purchases were hindered. We did, however, completely fall in love with this vintage orange and off-white bench, originally from a bowling alley. Can’t you see this great piece in a spacious loft, along a wall with a magnificent piece of abstract art above it?



Long Beach is just a forty-minute drive down the 405 from Los Angeles - and definitely worth the trek if you’re in search of unusual vintage pieces, wonderful little stores, and delicious restaurants outside of L.A.! You may not find exactly what you’re looking for, but you’ll likely find something rare and compelling nonetheless. Keep your eyes and options open and you’ll be delighted at what you’ll discover.

Stay tuned for upcoming posts of other hotspots for vintage shopping – where to go, what to do, and how to have the most fun!