Couple's eyewear company Sebastopol supplies frames for Hollywood movies

I went out kicking and screaming in California, he said. But things change when you have a child.

The couple moved to Sevastopol in 2007 after visiting Scuras' brother and taking a vacation on the Russian river. Like many younger families living in Sevastopol, they were drawn to schools in the Waldorf areas, based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner.

After renting for a few years, the couple bought a 1970s home in West County and did a major remodel, with a design from Scura, which turned it into a modern home with floor-to-ceiling windows facing west toward sunset. Under the living space on the first floor, they built the large workspace where they store and work on their huge collection of spectacle frames.

The good thing is that there are 9-foot ceilings up and down with a workshop and studio, said Scura. A staff member has a workbench where she revives all the executives. Some have been sitting in the box for 60 to 70 years.

Some of the 70s and 80s sunglasses already have lenses, but most frames are sold without lenses to people who need corrective lenses, Scura said. They will take the measurements and fill the prescriptions, then send them to one of the two opticians with whom they have worked for 20 years.

If customers want to use the frames as sunglasses, they can choose from a dozen different shades or request a custom shade. They can also order prescription sunglasses lenses.

When it comes to shows, Iseyama typically displays around 1,500 spectacle frames, men and women. In the retail world, the Allyn Scura line of eyewear is worn by men's clothing stores because men's models tend to be unisex.

Women buy from the men's store, but men don't want to buy from the women, he said. The vintage ones are cat eyes and rhinestones, so they look pretty even for women.

Some customers prefer to choose a frame in person and then buy replacement frames online after knowing what they like. However, in these days of easy delivery, it seems that more people are ready to buy glasses on the Internet.

Even with something as delicate as glasses, they are a little better at guessing how it will go, said Iseyama. But there is no substitute for putting it. So we have to be flexible for returns and exchanges.

The division of labor

To divide and conquer, Scura oversees the overall state of the company's finances, designs and special projects. Iseyama focuses on shows, Internet and wholesale businesses and the film industry demands, which usually have tight deadlines.

We do a lot of biopic things, so they will send us pictures of the story, he said. We are trying to identify the frame, find it and recreate the story. It can be tricky.

The company is also very labor-intensive, he said, because the supply of vintage pieces is limited. This keeps most of the competition at bay.

It is difficult to find and work with the product, he said. You only get one at a time. You sell it, then you start again. Even if it was mass produced at the time, you can't find it under one roof.

On a positive note, their company has received a boost from modern fashion mavericks who want to support upcycling and recycling and appreciate that Allyn Scura glasses work on solar panels and have been carbon neutral ever since. 2007.

There is a large customer base that likes us to have an environmental policy and the fact that the product is saved from landfill, said Iseyama. They get a good price, a good product, a good quality and without guilt.

The company initially attracted the crowd of Rockabilly interested in turning back in the early 1950s, he said. It's still a big part of their business in April, they'll be going to the Viva Las Vegas Car Show featuring cars from the 50s, music and fashion. But over the years, they've expanded their stock to appeal to people who are also in eras like the 70s, 80s, and 90s.

With the advent of the Internet, people no longer know what to wear, said Scura. We ourselves have access to each decade. At first I had a lot of ugly glasses from the 80s, and I'm glad I kept them. The 80s are long overdue.

Editor Diane Peterson can be contacted at 707-521-5287 or [email protected]. On Twitter @ dianepete56.