When Evelyn Bauer, 97, downsized from her four-bedroom home in Sherman Oaks to an apartment in Reseda in 2014, the longtime collector and antiques dealer was forced to relinquish many of her personal belongings.
“It was hard to part with so much stuff,” Bauer says. “My house was absolutely full. But it was a joy to see other people adopt my things at the estate sale. I got a lot of pleasure out of it because everyone fell in love with my things, just as I did when I first bought them.”
Originally from New York, Bauer, who taught elementary school in New York City and Los Angeles, says she saved about a third of her most cherished items for herself.
“Collecting is my passion, my addiction, and I’m so happy to be afflicted with it,” says Bauer, whose two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment at an independent living facility for seniors is filled with furnishings and decorative arts from her 65 years as a collector.
Step inside her living room, and the vast collection of antiques feels like entering the former Encino Antique Center, where she was once the proprietor during the 1990s. Each item has a story, a memory and a unique charm that she cherishes.
As a former teacher, Bauer finds joy in educating others about antiques and sharing these stories. “Purple glass has magnesium in it, and it turns purple after many years in the sun,” she says as she picks up a piece of glass in her dining room. “People who collect patterned glass think this is an abomination because it’s not in its original state. That’s ridiculous. I love it.”
Moving on to the guest room, Bauer points to a Fretwork wood wall panel above the daybed. “I bought that at a yard sale along with a chair. I think I paid $65 for the two pieces,” she says. “It hung from the ceiling of my restaurant for years. Then it was my headboard and now it’s here.”
Her collection includes the first antique she ever purchased, an iridescent orange vase made of stretch glass, as well as the 1930s-era rocking chair from her parents’ house in New York. “It was my father’s favorite chair,” she says.
After living in a 2,600-square-foot home, Bauer indulged her passion for orange by painting all of the walls of her apartment a pale orange to make her ceramics, wall pockets, glass and furniture pop.
“It’s a happy color,” she says, noting the orange chaise in her bedroom and the Art Nouveau ceramics. “I knew when I saw the apartment that I was going to close the door to the bathroom off of the living room since it had two doors. That’s why I painted everything the same color — you don’t really see that there is a door behind the etageres.”
Despite the fact that she doesn’t drive anymore, Bauer’s adventurous spirit has not diminished. She still enjoys the “thrill of discovery,” which she says is a significant part of her passion for collecting. After bringing her treasures home, she looks them up on Google and her reference books. Then, the real fun begins: finding a home for it in her apartment.
“Not to worry,” she says. “There’s always room for one more gem.”
A tireless researcher, Bauer tries to keep a record of her purchases, from the colorful vintage Bauer pottery ringware in her kitchen to the Akro Agate glassware in her guest room. She tags each piece with a note that identifies the maker, year, how much she paid and what it’s worth now in her tiny handwritten cursive. Taped to the bottom of an Art Deco ceramic vase, for example, she has written: “Weller, Forest c. 1920. Paid $1 at a yard sale. Took to Antiques Roadshow in the 1990s. Valued at $250-$350.”
As something of an antiques expert now, she recalls how intimidated she was when she spotted the orange stretch glass vase in a store window in Silver Spring, Md.
“I had never been in an antique store before in my life,” she says. “I was afraid to go in.” When she returned home, she says her husband told her, “Go back and buy it if you like it.” So she went back to the store and inquired about the vase. “The salesman told me it was a wonderful example of stretch glass,” she says. “I had never heard of it. That was the beginning of my education.” The $4 price tag remains on the bottom of the vase today. “It’s not worth a lot of money,” Bauer adds, “but it’s one of my favorites.”
By contrast, when asked what she would grab if her apartment were on fire, she walked over to a bookshelf and picked up a ceramic pitcher. “I would grab this,” she says of the 1880 Wilhelm Schiller & Son piece in mint condition. “I just love it.”
Like the family photos throughout her apartment, there is, in fact, much for her to love. And although she has suffered losses — her first husband died of pancreatic cancer at age 42 and her second husband, Harry, died in 2013 — her apartment, she says, has the same sense of warm familiarity as the home she shared with her family for nearly 50 years.
Recently, when two of her granddaughters expressed interest in some plates and mirrors in her dining room, Bauer didn’t hesitate to put their names on them. “I told them ‘they’re yours,’” she says.
“But you can’t have them yet,” she adds, laughing.
That’s because her things, such as her Art Nouveau pottery and her black-and-white silhouette artworks, still bring her joy. She still remembers purchasing the John Widdicomb Midcentury Modern coffee table new in Washington, D.C. She loves wall pockets of all kinds, mirrors — even hats.
“I won first prize at last year’s Halloween costume party,” she says as she reaches for a hat on her coat rack. “I’m going to be Michael Jackson this year, and I’m determined to moonwalk.” (She looked up Jackson’s dance moves on her iPad and is currently practicing).
Despite her affinity for her beloved objects, Bauer is a self-described people person. She hosts monthly lectures at her retirement home and plans to take her neighbors to the American Cancer Society Discovery Shop in Encino later this month. Recent topics in her Antiques and Collectibles series have included lectures on celluloid, vintage weddings and Art Deco.
“I do a lot of research first, and then I give a brief history,” she says. “A discussion follows, and then I show them my things.”
Her neighbor, former L.A. City Councilwoman Joy Picus, says she had little interest in antiques until she met Bauer. “I furnished my home in Midcentury Modern,” she said by email. “I then saw Evelyn’s apartment full of interesting things, and saw things in a different light. Through Evelyn’s outstanding programs, another world has been opened up to me.”
During her recent lecture on Bakelite, Bauer brought the candlestick telephone from her apartment and discussed the history of the plastic material. “I know a lot,” she says, “but there’s always more to learn.”
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