A new Shack is back

Four years after closing up shop at its longtime home at 1212 S. Coast Hwy., the Pottery Shack has reopened a couple of blocks south.

Owner Susie Welton admits her new 1,200-square-foot location at 1492 S. Coast Hwy. is a far cry from the rambling, 25,000-square-foot site she used to run.

The former Pottery Shack property has been redeveloped and opened as the Old Pottery Place, with a variety of shops, including an art gallery, book store and a gourmet restaurant.

The Pottery Place was named in a contest called in late 2006 after it became clear Welton would not relinquish the Pottery Shack name to the new owner. The original Pottery Shack property, which dates from the mid-1930s, is considered a historic landmark, even without the iconic name.

The Old Pottery Place has the original Eiler Larsen statue, and other faithfully restored details of the original Pottery Shack. But after the Old Pottery Place opened in March 2007, with high-end retailers and upscale dining, many felt the name “Shack” no longer applied anyway.

The original Pottery Shack, a collection of ramshackle board-and-batten buildings dating from the Great Depression, specialized in discount dishware and offbeat items.

The new Pottery Shack has a charming Laguna “cottage” feel, with Dutch doors and kitschy clutter in the best of taste.

Welton, who has operated the pottery store since 1986, says she sold the block-long site because it was “too much” for her after she became a grandmother and wanted to spend more time with her family.

“Now I get to do the fun part,” she said. “I adored doing it [running the shop]. People are glad to see us back.”

Welton moved into a tiny, out-of-the-way space at the new location in April, and six months later has taken over a larger adjacent spot which gives her South Coast Highway street frontage.

“I wanted to wait to do a grand reopening,” she said.

The expanded shop — with plates tacked to the roofline like the former Pottery Shack — carries much of the same merchandise as the original Shack, in particular the famous Desert Rose and Apple pattern dishware made by Franciscan.

The store is chockablock with table settings for all occasions, and designer Chris Keenan is creating new “tablescape” displays every week to entice shoppers.

“We’ll be doing a Christmas number,” Welton said, filling the shop with as much holiday dishware, decor and gifts as it can hold. The shop also takes catalog orders.

For more information, call (949) 494-1141.

CINDY FRAZIER is city editor of the Coastline Pilot. She can be contacted at (949) 494-2087 or [email protected].