Given the history of 3225 Helms Ave. in Culver City, it seems fitting that the building be home to an antique store. Built in stages between 1931 and 1947, the structure was the original location of Helms Bakery. From then until the’60s, its door-to-door bread delivery business flourished, spanning from Fresno to San Diego at its peak, then closing its doors in 1969. When the building was purchased by its present owners in 1972, they decided to preserve its historic character. Occupying the building for the past 27 years has been The Antique Guild, a successful business and one that complements the historic structure. Staff reporter Conor Dougherty talked with Verley Collins, the store’s manager, about the history of the business and their newly opened museum.
“Don Guild leased the building and opened up the first antique guild. Eventually he opened up nine others across the United States. Those have all been closed and liquidated. This store, the original Antique Guild, is the only one left and we’ve been here 27 years.
“Lee Bixler, the current owner, got the rights for the name and the lease in 1995. He knew it was a good thing. We already had a strong following; we’re known worldwide, and we had a mailing list of around 300,000 24,000 of which were interior designers.
“In 1995, we opened up our showcase store. The success of the showcase store prompted us to open the furniture division seven months later.
“We’ve been in the process for some time and finally opened the Helms Bakery Museum four months ago. Peterson Automotive has put a 1948 Helms delivery truck on permanent display in our museum and we’ve been collecting Helms memorabilia for 20 years. And now we’re doing things in conjunction with museums.
“For instance, we’re currently doing a show with the L.A. Textile Museum and the Arts and Crafts Museum about textiles. The show is here until Jan. 15. Last Tuesday alone, 85 people showed up.
“Lee buys all the furniture and antiques for the furniture division. We have some consignment, and we have Antique Guild jewelers, who handle estate jewelry.
“Here you can see anything from a $10 collectible item, such as photographs or baseball cards, $5,000 or $6,000 armoires, we even have a bar, on up to $25,000 jewelry. Watches alone run from $25 to $18,000 or $19,000.”
