Posted
Thursday April 24, 2007; 1:18 p.m.
The Least Likely Spot To Shop For Souveniers...And Body Bags?
How one of Los Angeles' longstanding myths manages to pull in a pretty penny each year peddling novelties that appeal to the macabe in us all
By Jessica Jardine
Haunted Hollywood
LOS ANGELES -- It might sound logical to find all sorts of novelties in Los Angeles that celebrate the notorious culture of celebrity life and death. Yet, the attention paid to the famous deaths of some of Hollywood's most famous residents can be, at times, surprising. Take for example the case of the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office and its gift shop, Skeletons In The Closet.
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Toe tags and death certificates are more commonly associated with a trip to the coroner's office than, say, novelty gifts. |
A simple trip down the 101 freeway will lead you to a relatively uninteresting brick building with a massive sign that reads: Los Angeles County Coroner's Office. After finding parking -- with some difficulty -- it takes only a few moments to wander into the main building where coroner's office employees whisk past hurriedly with important-looking clipboards under their arms or, yes, plastic baggies with watches and gold rings dangling from their hands. You have to wander into the main reception building and approach an information kiosk before receiving the pastic "VISITOR" badge that allows you into the main building. Once inside, there are buzzers to be rung, an elevator to take and plenty of walking down long, neon-lit hallways. And yet, after some walking there is a tiny black sign jutting out from the wall that read "Skeletons In The Closet."
Sensory Overload Begins
Suddenly, one turns a sharp corner into the gift shop and there it is: music blaring from the radio behind the cashier/receptionist's desk, customers holding up t-shirts with body bag images emblazoned on the front, the sound of a register dinging with each new purchase and the gleeful excitement of first-time visitor's stumbling into one of LA County's oddities.
There are gifts of all kinds to boggle the eyes: pens, keychains, boxers, coffee mugs, duffel bags, sweatshirts, aprons and plenty more. Meanwhile, they're stacked as high as the ceiling, some wrapped as display gifts with shiny bows and body outline wrapping paper to cheer them up.
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Here is the patented chalk outlined body that is featured on gifts, including this door mat. |
After some research it turns out this gift shop exists not only for the sheer purpose of delighting visitors who can't seem to get enough of LA's famous death stories -- the proceeds from the gift shop actually go towards funding anti-drunk driving programs for youths put on by the LA County Coroner's Office. This of course creates an even bigger reason to plunk down some cash in the name of novelty goods. And it seems plenty of people are interested in what Skeletons In The Closet have to sell as the gift shop spokesman notes they take in a hefty chunk of change each year to put to good use within the department.
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Again, the popular body outline is featured, here, on a cotton pillowcase. |
Who Do You Find?
On this particular day, there are EMT workers who have a few minutes between shifts and decided to pick up some birthday gifts; there is a group of middle-aged women from the Antelope Valley who've come specifically to stock up on their favorite pens and cups from the gift shop before having lunch at the LA Police Department restaurant. Essentially, it's like any other souvenier gift shop except one has to keep an eye out for teary-eyed family members sitting with a coroner's office employee as they dutifully sign death certificates just down the hall.
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Above is a dry-cleaning zip-up bag made to look like a coroner's office body bag. |
According to the gift shop spokesman, this is much of the reason they look forward to moving across the way to the more "visitor-friendly" brick building that now houses the information kiosk. But in the meantime, plenty of curious visitors seem ready and willing to trek through buzzers, elevators and long hallways in order to get their hands on some of the truly unique goods for sale inside.
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