There is no outward sign of Miranda in the middle of the century in the center of Azusa, but it is easy to detect the old furniture store recently inaugurated from the street. You can see a gleaming patio game of Jordan Brown of orange and white through the windows long before entering. Enter and find a turquoise blue sofa from the middle of the century on a platform, a curved tree in the style of Dr. Seuss in a vintage pot and a transparent glass ice cube of the 60s in the shape of a cowboy hat.
Due to the appearance of the 1,400 square feet store, it is clear that Tony Miranda, who opened the Azusa store in March with his son Anthony, is attracted to bright and unusual pieces of the middle of the century. What is perhaps less obvious is that the 58 -year -old smiling explaining the Australian origin of an easy and easy chair is a retired police chief who served in Bell, Irwindale and, more recently, Vernon.
Tony Miranda worked in the application of the law for 30 years before opening in the middle of the Miranda century.
“I was very blessed to be in the application of the law for 30 years,” said a recent Friday, relaxing in a Virgin Italian section of the 1970s located in the front of the store. “But this is refreshing.”
It is certainly a rhythm change. In his former career as a police officer, Miranda was responsible for administering a budget of $ 13 to $ 15 million, helping departments badly catch up, supervising internal investigations and providing public security in the middle of COVID-19 and increase civil disturbances. The most difficult moment in his career was when he was commissioned by the rehabilitation of the Bell Police Department, where he had served as a captain, after a local government scandal that involved the undue appropriation of funds shook the city.
And yet, he said that, as a merchant of old furniture, he is more busy than he has been in a decade, crossing the city and the state to collect rooms and sofas, dining tables and patio, which restored them and delivers them to the clients.
“I will tell you that it is more work than ever in recent memory because it is like being the boss, everything starts and ends with me, but I don't have lieutenants, I don't have a secretary, I have to handle my own schedule,” he said. “But I'm really enjoying it.”
Tony Miranda, among some of the furniture he restored in his store in Azusa, California.
Miranda's love story with ancient furniture began in 2015, six years before leaving strength. He and his wife, who also worked in the application of the law, had just bought a condominium in Palm Springs and began to decorate in what they thought it was style of mid -century, most of which came from Target.
But as they spent more time in the desert, they began to covet what he calls “good things”, buying and accumulating more authentic pieces.
“It's like a virus,” Miranda said. “I was a little. We kept changing things and changing things and the next thing I know is that I have a garage full of things.”
Some old pieces are sold in the Tony Miranda store.
By whim, he decided to see if he could sell some of the glassware, plates, chairs and vintage tables he had collected. He asked a friend a truck to help him transport what they could fit in the vintage market of Palm Springs, and in one afternoon he won $ 3,000. That was in 2016 and has been selling monthly in the vintage market of Palm Springs and other places since then. When he opened the store in Azusa, his hobby of the middle of the century officially became a second race.
“It really moves away from the hobby when you buy commercial insurance and insurance for your truck,” he said. “It became real, very fast.”
Mid-Siglo Miranda is a family issue. Miranda's wife, who still works at the district prosecutor's office, helps him get articles when she can. His sister -in -law, niece, nephew and two daughters participate in the markets. And his youngest son, Anthony, 28, who went to FIDM after high school before working for a few years as a police officer at Palm Springs, is now working for the business in full time.
Father and son do not always see the eyes. Tony likes to make organically decisions; Anthony is more strategic. But they say their perspectives complement each other.
Some of the Tony Miranda furniture restored in their store.
You will find a range of items and price points in the new store. In a recent visit, he admired an unpleasant piece of glazed ceramics of the 70s that was sold for $ 25 and a Papa Hans Wegner and Standing chair freshly replicated in leather that was sold for $ 22,500. The Italian section in which Tony was sitting when we talked had seating on molded plastic, and was marked in around $ 9,000. The hat -shaped glass cube cost $ 90.
The patio furniture, especially Brown Jordan's aluminum pieces with vinyl straps, are a special passion. Although there is only one set on display in the store, Miranda said she has dozens of stacked pieces in her backyard ready to be herd, folded and restricted so that they look good as new.
“You tell me what you are looking for and I probably have it,” he said.
Father and son say they are still discovering exactly what will work better in their store. It has not always been easy until now: the overload of a brick and mortar store is new, and they have not yet developed the clientele of the same size in Palm Springs. But old man Miranda said that with many of his former colleagues who work in executive security, he is happy to have found another way.
“It's a completely different lens,” he said. “No one is going to die if I drop a vase.”
Tony Miranda with her son, Anthony Miranda.
