The Little Branch vintage store brings antique artifacts to Westwood

On the shelves in a Westwood vintage shop, a cowboy boot-shaped pillow is propped up next to a light brown, miniature piano set on spindly legs. After years of being out of use, vintage items can be given a second home in Westwood.

The Little Branch, a new vintage store that opened on Gayley Avenue last month, is filled with mid-century items from the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. Its owner, Margie Warriner, also owns Westwood Flower Garden next door.

Warriner, who has taken flower orders from out-of-town boyfriends and mothers of UCLA sorority members for 40 years, said she opened The Little Branch to share the collectibles she had accumulated over the years.

“I’ve always loved vintage,” she said.

Warriner added she enjoys watching how her pieces can engender childhood memories in customers who walk into her shop. She said she gained interest in selling mid-century items after she sold parts of her mother’s estate on eBay.

Warriner then began to attend other estate sales in search of new items like jewelry, home decor and accessories to sell on eBay and in her flower shop.

Every Monday, she places items she has difficulty selling outside the store on what she calls a “crazy cart” to be sold at low prices, she said. Last week’s selections included a floral table ornament and a collection of small glass cups.

In choosing her collection, Warriner looked for items that were once common but have become collectibles over the years. She said many of the artifacts she sells are things most people grew up with.

“I had (collected) so much of it but I didn’t have room in my house,” she said.

The pieces that are sold are quickly replaced with new ones, Warriner added.

“We can replenish (the stock) and sell different things every day, like we do with the flowers,” she said.

In the 1970s, Warriner lived with seven other people, each of whom helped run a Los Angeles flower shop. In 1977, Warriner moved her business from Santa Monica to Westwood, opening a new flower shop.

Sarah Summers, a Westwood Flower Garden employee, said Warriner is the reason the shop has been around for so long.

“She’s the friend-boss that everybody wants,” said Rochelle Guardado, who has worked for Warriner for 15 years. “It’s always a fun day with Margie around – a little chaotic, but fun.”

After working in Westwood for nearly 40 years, Warriner said she has developed relationships with UCLA faculty and students. She often welcomes students searching for gifts, faculty looking to spruce up their UCLA events and other employees who need home furnishings into her businesses.

Warriner said her flower shop has become the go-to for the UCLA community over the last 10 years. She added students especially like to decorate their dorm rooms with small succulents displayed by their windows.

The flower shop also receives a lot of window shoppers intrigued by the storefront display, Guardado said. Floral arrangements, gift baskets, a turquoise stenographer’s typewriter, a tea set or a ’50s surfboard table catch passersby’s attention and persuade them to stop in and look around. Warriner said one woman stopped by and bought a vintage pie-holding rack because it reminded her of her childhood.

Like the artifacts themselves, Warriner’s business carries with it Westwood Village’s history and memories.

“I like (the artifacts and the shop) because of its story,” she said. “There’s nothing like it in Westwood.”