Lala Love

Look who I found on Myspace.
Miss Lala-a-gogo.

I friended Lala, because…well, I’m a sucker for anything cutesville, and once you’ve checked out both her and her new redesigned Lala-a-gogo site, you’ll be clickin’ on myspace too. Pronto.

Who is Lala?
Giddy, happy, fun, outgoing & super-friendly.

Pink-world hearts Lala and her world of retro-tastic thrift charm websites mostest. Tell us all about them, what are they? What’s with their titles? When did you start?
I make sites to pay tribute to the many, many things I collect and adore.
Here’s a breakdown of my little family of websites: Lala-a-gogo is my blog, Happiness Is… is a site about the many things I adore, Thriftland has my thrifting blog and hints and information on how to secondhand shop, The Kitschen is chock full of vintage food recipes & party ideas, Craftedelic is an archive of articles from vintage crafting books and magazines, and B-L-Y-T-H-E.com is my fansite for my super- favorite doll. I tried to pick fun, memorable names for each of my sites.

I also have a few coming soon… Kitschy.net, which is my online shop and Mod-Dolls.com which will be an information site about fashion dolls of the 1960s & early 1970s. I also have a few other sites on hiatus. I just need to find some spare time and they’ll be back on the web as well.

When and how did you realise you were a creative girl who wanted to create fabulous-o websites?
When I was a little girl I always loved crafts and drawing. When I was a teenager I became very fond of graphics and drawing programs on my computer. One thing lead to another and I started making graphics that eventually turned into websites.

What was the first site you ever made?
The very first website I ever made was for a zine that my sister and I published. I made a little webpage to advertise it on the internet. It was sweet and simple, but from that I realized how fun web design could be. I taught myself simple html and later moved on to a web design program. I was hooked. I made my very first personal site in 1998, and in 2000 I bought my domain lala-a-gogo.com, which has been been my home base for all of my sites ever since.

Is making sites what you do or do you have other jobs too?
Web design is definitely just a hobby for me. In “real life” I call myself a Pop Culture Archeologist, which basically means I spend my spare time traveling and hunting down antiques and vintage collectibles to resell online. It’s very exciting, and double fun for me because I can look for items to add to my own collections at the same time. My dream is to open up my own vintage pop culture shop one day.

You love all the things we love, we would be the best of friends for sure, what makes you want to write about them?
Some people make sites about the celebrities they love, I make sites about the things I love. I guess it’s my way of paying homage to the hobbies that bring such great joy to my life, and it’s also a great way to meet fellow people with similar interests.

What inspires your too-cute designs?
I’m really, really into ultra-cute children’s illustrations from the 1940s, ’50s & ’60s. Vintage children’s books, valentine’s, print-ads, cartoons and paper dolls have such inspiring imagery and colors that I’m in heaven whenever I look at them.

Another major source of inspiration is the mod-era of the 1960s! I love the fashions, the simplicity of color schemes and the modernism of the interior designs, furniture, and architecture. I love the pop art movement and find it all so refreshing and literal eye candy. I can spend hours just gazing at old magazines from that era.

What’s a typical day in the life of Lala…
Some mornings I go out “treasure hunting” at estate sales & thrift stores. On weekends my sister, friends and I scour flea markets and faraway antique stores. I usually use eBay to re-sale the items I find. If I’m running auctions I spend a lot of time answering customers questions, mailing parcels, listing new auctions, taking photos of auction lots, writing descriptions, and cleaning the items I find. I take lots of breaks during the day to basically goof off… bake cupcakes and other desserts, enjoy my collections, get online and visit some of my favorite websites. Whenever I find lots of free time I love taking making clothing for and taking pictures of my beloved dolls. They’re so much fun!

What sites, besides your own do you dig?
Well, Pink World, of course! I also love browsing eBay, uploading pictures I take to Flickr and visiting my sister April’s fantastic sites, Miss-Vintage.com & That60sGirl.com!

What would a Lala soundtrack sound like?
I love upbeat, happy songs. My favorite music is pop music from the 1960s– bubblegum, sunshine pop, beat music. A Lala soundtrack would definitely be filled with a ton of candy-coated tunes from bands like The Archies, Ohio Express, 1910 Fruitgum Company with a few seventies popsters like T. Rex & the Bay City Rollers thrown in for good measure!

What makes you take a trip to happyville?
Well Lisa, when I’m out-and-about and I find something special that I’ve been searching for for years, or a new item for one of my collections I jump for joy! That’s why I love thrift shopping– the thrill of the hunt. You never know what you’re going to find when you leave out on a thrifting adventure!

What’s next in the world of Lala?
I’m hoping to re-launch my clothing & accessory line, Kitschy. It’s a small-scale one-girl operation that I started back in 2001. Basically, Kitschy is me taking fun things from pop culture and turning them into jewelry, accessories and clothing. I’ve been so busy the past few years that I’ve been forced to put my little project on hold. I made a promise to myself that I would give it a go again in 2007! I can’t wait!