A Day in the Artists Alley

here you can even buy an exquisite flying machine

By Katherine Relf-Canas

(I sell a line called “PH,” Preeti’s Handmades, playful felt hair clips & bands for girls with an emphasis on things that dwell in the garden and a nod to Preeti’s East Indian-origins. Some of the bows are upcycled from vintage saris!  I thought TVM would be a good place to test out the SoCal market so I signed up for a spot.

In the Artists Alley as a first-time seller, I had the chance to take a few lessons from seasoned seller Jim Mangiaracina, owner of “Regatta,” whose space was next to mine.  Jim and I chat throughout the day. A comment here, a question there, I learn he’s sold here a few times before. Not only that, he has lived in Woodland Hills since the early ‘60s.

Jim’s display is a collection of PVC and metal poles that rise eight feet atop a home-built wooden brace system. He has just the one product and no signage. His product speaks for itself. The horizontal cross poles gyrate, as four small wooden sailboats bolted to them catch the wind. The boats go round and round, like kinetic sculptures and Calderesque stabiles meeting the open seas, and like that song by Joni Mitchell.

 On his card, it just says: Regatta. “People say ‘you could create a generator.’ But this is not a business,” he says. “I don’t want a business. This is a hobby.” He likes to keep it simple. He’s 92.

Jim worked in aerospace engineering at Northrop where he focused on instrumentation for inertial guidance systems.  That’s why he moved to Woodland Hills in 1961.  It was a great place to raise his kids. He still lives in the house he purchased for $19,000 that year. It was a key year in the space race.

He also sailed California waters for 40 years on a boat he co-owned with a friend. The boat, called the Libertine, was moored in Marina del Rey. Over the course of our conversation I learn about his 50 trips to Catalina and back and the other ports up and down the California coast he visited. A bit of unique history to this boat, he and his partner purchased it in the ‘70s from Dean Martin when the Rat Pack entertainer got divorced.

With years as a sailing man and decades at Northrop as an aerospace engineer, the things this fellow knows about aerodynamics!

So back to his invention, the “Regatta.”  He describes how the contraptions work. “Sailing is tacking. These are gybing.” All this expertise piques my interest, but I barely know any sailing or aerodynamics terms, although I have heard pitch, yaw and roll.  All this knowledge and craft are contained in the mast-like garden ornaments that spin incessantly in the wind.  To me, they seem less like toys than feats of engineering, but they’re also poetic. They celebrate motion, and as simple yet complex machines showcase the wonder of taming the natural elements.

He, in his quiet way, and they in their kinetic way, capture the attention of many passers by. You might even say the movement of the market is entrained with the sailboats’ gyrations.

We talk about how he usually sells most of his pieces in the afternoon, past 1:00 p.m. “I’ll sell three or four in 20 minutes,” he tells me.

This is exactly what happens. I listen to him explain to each buyer the care and assembly of the units, as he hands them an instruction sheet and a card with his contact information. They’ll need his contact information to order replacement sails. “When the wind gets too high, you tie the bars together,” he tells them.

I mention that I live near Oracle, the tech company founded by now former CEO Larry Ellison. Ellison’s distinguished sailing career includes winning five Maxi World Championships and two America’s Cup competitions, and he has sailed since 1966.  I quip that maybe I should get one of his sailboat marvels and bring it to Ellison as a gift. Then, I’m wondering if maybe I should just get one for our yard. We’re in a wind belt for sure, up high in the Belmont Hills of Silicon Valley.

At the end of the day, it’s our last huddle, and Jimmy makes me an end-of-the-day offer. For $10 I can have one. (He’s already bought me a cup of coffee. He’s being too generous, I think.) I offer him $20, the regular price.  He refuses. I give him the ten bucks.

He hands over the goods and says “Now, if you do give it to Larry Ellison and he contacts me, then…”  Well, I won’t disclose my incentive reward. Perhaps this will be what they call in the industry an ‘after sale.’

As I sit and write this, I’m still undecided. The sailboat garden mobile is my memento of a day spent in Jim’s company. Those little sail boats are eager to feel the wind, I imagine. Wherever they ultimately end up, they’ll be an apt reminder of the kinetic place called The Topanga Vintage Market.

Regatta returns to the Artists Alley at Topanga Vintage Market on October 25!

the end