SO SOCAL: The Best...The Beautiful...And The Bizarre : KITSCH, INC : Charmed to Meet You

“We couldn’t very well just call people to come over and buy the jewelry,” says Craig Roose, art director and co-visionary behind retro-hip jewelry designers Eldorado Club International. So Roose and his partner, jeweler Joe de Blois, concocted a cool cocktail of casino gambling parties at Craig’s funky former Echo Park domicile. Friends smoked and drank freely ‘til dawn while for-real greenbacks changed hands in the living room and the jewelry--handcrafted by De Blois in sterling from a set of long-buried vintage molds he’d discovered in a dusty studio in downtown L.A.--changed hands in the back. “We thought we’d give ‘em the ol’ bait ‘n’ switch--ply ‘em with liquor, then show ‘em the jewelry,” Roose says.

From images of local landmarks (the Farmers Market clock tower, LAX theme building, Chinese Theatre forecourt, complete with tiny handprints) to the casinos of ‘50s-era Vegas (Stardust, Sands, Dunes, Desert Inn, El Rancho), the Eldorado collection has grown to include original designs by De Blois, who works for a firm that has created jewelry for films such as “Titanic” and “Wild Wild West.” You don’t have to be under the influence to covet his “Cocktail Hour,” “ ‘50s Hot Rods” and “Rat Pack” charm bracelets, the martini glass cuff links and tiki key chains, the hula girl hair clip and roll o’ the dice money clips. Pieces from the line are currently visible on songbird/poet Jewel, actress Ann Magnuson and X’s John Doe and Exene.

Now cast for the masses in inexpensive silver-plate, Eldorado jewelry sells locally for $5 to $20 at NaNa Trading, Buffalo Exchange and Yellowstone Clothing. “It’s traditional souvenir jewelry,” says De Blois, “very Americana. We used to find stuff like this in thrift stores, but kids can’t do that anymore.”

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Eldorado Club International, (323) 912-9112.