Oakland’s Narrative is a hotspot for Bay Area vintage lovers. The vintage design collective brings together more than 35 vintage dealers specializing in midcentury modern pieces, fine art, home decor and antiques.
For two years, Narrative has occupied its current store in the historic Oakland Iron Works building on 2nd Street in Jack London Square, next door to its former location, which owner Vanessa Murray opened 10 years ago. Today, Narrative is the Bay Area’s largest vintage design collective. Murray’s love for vintage, and background in art and design, led her to unite the eclectic yet cohesive set of vintage buyers who make up the Narrative inventory.
Eclectic Inventory
Sourcing carefully from flea markets, estate sales and auctions, Narrative’s buyers have already done the dirty work of mining for gold, leaving an inventory that assures customers of high quality, authentic and one-of-a-kind beauties. Many furniture and antique pieces are from the ’50s and ’60s, though the collection represents a range of time periods, regions and aesthetics. Each with their own personal taste and background, Narrative’s vintage buyers hand source every item sold in store.
“We have a super assorted group of people who are choosing inventory,” says Murray. “Some people are ceramicists; some people are visual artists [or] just antique dealers. There’s a lot of variety in how dealers are choosing.”
Shoppers can expect to see masterful curation of top-notch goods, while getting a shopping experience filled with surprises: decorations or eclectic pairings they may not have pictured before, yet end up falling in love with.
Lasting Beauty
The collective’s aim for sourcing emphasizes not only visual excellence and historic character, but also fine craftsmanship, durability and practicality.
“We’re not bringing in things just because they’re old,” says Murray. “But because they have to have some sort of usefulness and beauty that you’d actually want to live with.”
Narrative does not upcycle furniture, but instead works diligently to preserve and sometimes restore original designs, making it a sanctuary for true vintage charm. While “living in a very disposable society,” as Murray puts it, where most furniture is sold with a highly limited lifespan, Narrative tries to look for pieces made with integrity.
“A chair we find could be 60 years old and definitely, if taken care of well, will be functional for another 60 to 100 years, if not longer,” Murray says. “We try to bring in [art] works where the compositions are strong and can be appreciated day-to-day.”
Bay Area Influence
While the collective’s meshing of acquired tastes puts the inventory together, it’s the local culture that fully brings the eclectic style to life. Many vintage finds at Narrative are pieces made by Bay Area artists—works by furniture makers, woodworkers and sculptors from the ’50s and ’60s. The dealers and inventory both represent graduates of San Francisco’s art schools, like California College of the Arts and the San Francisco Arts Institute.
Murray also feels the store has thrived because of the Bay Area’s bohemian roots and appreciation for sustainable shopping. Aside from knowing Narrative’s goods were produced ethically and with material integrity, Murray acknowledges how deep the vintage love runs in the local history.
“Hippies, bohemians, artists and musicians have always lived for vintage: Persian rugs, Victorian homes and other various things,” she says.
Recognizing that antiques aren’t necessarily cheaper, Murray points out what’s special about Narrative’s shoppers, which is their sheer love for and desire to be surrounded by art, history and culture.
Murray herself is a refined arts lover, with a cultivated sense for rare beauty. She grew up browsing estate sales, auctions and flea markets with her father, who owned a rare bookstore. She even ran the bookstore for about five years while living in Seattle. Her fondness for vintage furniture and home decor specifically evolved after she moved to California, and naturally led to her opening a store.
Narrative has had steady growth since its opening 10 years ago, even during the pandemic, which Murray actually feels prompted greater customer relationships. As we all know, retail shutdown moved virtually all shopping to digital spaces. Narrative was no exception; they increased sales through social media, offered free delivery which proved a huge success and were able to communicate with customers through social media direct messages.
As quarantine began loosening up, Murray opened the Oakland vintage market, expanding the vintage treasure hunt for shoppers to a space down the street from Narrative’s store.
“It’s a monthly event where about four to five vendors other than the vendors in our store come out,” says Murray. “We have a 30,000 square-foot parking lot that they set up in. It’s been super fun and has become a super community-based thing. There’s everything sold out there, from clothing to art, furniture and records. There’s food, coffee, people bring(ing) their dogs, and it’s a lot of fun.”
Narrative does not sell at the market but is the primary host. Taking place the first Sunday of every month, the Oakland Vintage Market has attracted a larger audience to Narrative, making it not only a vintage gold mine but a Bay Area community-building catalyst.
Narrative, open daily 11am–7pm, 590 2nd St., Oakland, 510.817.4570; narrativeoakland.com.
