With all the comings and goings on Larchmont Blvd. these days, it’s nice to celebrate the longevity of A Silver Lining frame shop at 115 N. Larchmont Blvd.
“We opened February 5, 1996,” owner Gary Fuss told the Buzz this week. Unfortunately, he can’t do much to celebrate because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but he’s happy to be serving customers from the front door of his small shop.
Fuss studied printmaking at the Brooklyn School of Visual Arts, but says he hasn’t had much time for his own work over the 40+ years he’s been framing everyone else’s artwork. When he graduated from college, he started working at Sam Flax art store in New York. In 1987, he moved to Los Angeles and started working at Grey Goose framing, where he served as the manger for five years.
Fuss decided to try going out on his own and began looking around for a location to open his own shop. He told us he felt he was destined to come to Larchmont. Â When he found Larchmont Blvd. back in 1987, Â he says he really loved it because the shops were quaint and it seemed like a family-oriented street.
He first opened at 121 N. Larchmont, where he operated the shop for 13 years. Â In 2007, the building was sold and the new owner was threatening to double his rent. Fuss started asking around and talking to his customers about finding a new space. One day, a customer gave him a penny that had been blessed by Pope John Paul, saying it would bring him good fortune. Six days later, Joane Pickett called and asked Fuzz if he wanted to lease her space, then known as Petticoats, a lingerie shop she’d opened and was closing to move into a new, larger space up the street. Fuss is convinced it was the penny that helped him stay on Larchmont.
Fuss and his associate, Jorge Rodriquez, still do all the work at the shop, just as they’ve done for the past 25 years.
Recently, we learned that when Chevalier’s Books took former store manager Liz Newstat’s famous black t-shirt to him for framing, Fuss donated the framing as a tribute to Liz and the book store. Fuss’s generous gesture is what makes Larchmont a special place.
We wish him well and congratulations on 25 years!
