The back room of the store is filled with cases lined with
black, quilted padding and stocked full of pipes that look like
Vincent van Gogh paintings blown into glass, their bodies curving
and iridescent.
There is a pipe shaped like a dolphin, the blue and pale yellow
glass molded into a nose, body, tail and fins. A second resembles a
turtle, and a third is a lizard. Some are less than three inches
long. Others are over three feet tall.
Located on Westwood Boulevard just north of Wilshire Boulevard,
Illusion is a store that targets Westwood’s student
population. But even that is not enough to sustain a business in an
area where empty storefronts have become the norm.
By the end of the school year, Illusion will be gone from
Westwood, and along with it, one of few stores that offers both a
fun atmosphere and an array of products, said Allen Sargis, the
store’s owner.
Sargis, 35, said Westwood Village was his second choice of
location when deciding where to open his store five years ago. He
tried to find a space to lease in Old Town Pasadena, near his home,
but ended up in Westwood instead.
With a university of over 35,000 students, staff and faculty
just blocks away, Sargis brought his store to the Village because
he thought UCLA would provide a solid customer base.
Though students and a sprinkling of faculty make up at least
half of Illusion’s patrons, employee Gisela Aguilar, 23, said
the store sees anywhere between 15 and 60 customers a day ““
not enough to keep the business in Westwood.
Sargis added that the number of customers has sunk along with
the economy, especially since the tourists the store depends on for
business during summer months have been few and far between in
recent years.
Rising rent and a lack of parking ““ two factors that have
plagued other Westwood business owners ““ have also
contributed to Sargis’ decision to leave the area.
Sargis, who competes on a national level in body building in
addition to working in his store, said he plans to move Illusion to
a more suitable neighborhood ““ somewhere in the L.A. area
with more parking and street life.
Aguilar, who is studying to become a surgical technologist, said
she will continue working at Illusion after it moves and hopes the
new location will provide a more lively atmosphere.
“Westwood’s empty now; Westwood’s just
dying,” she said.
Aguilar said the one thing she will miss about Westwood is the
people ““ especially the store’s regular customers.
Many of Illusion’s patrons are collectors, Sargis said,
and some pay as much as $1,500 for glass pipes that are twisted and
sculpted and infused with colors of every wavelength.
And while other art collectors opt to display their newly
acquired pieces, Sargis said most of his customers will smoke from
the thousand-dollar pipes they buy.
On one shelf, each pipe is displayed alongside a paper tag
indicating the name of the artist. Patrons are willing to dish out
more money for pieces that are signed or initialed, Sargis
said.
“Glass is a work of art, and these people are
artists,” he said.
Depending on the size and the level of detail, an artist may
spend between 15 to 30 hours of time on any given piece, Sargis
said.
Some pipes in the store are water pipes, which utilize water to
filter out tar and impurities in tobacco, Sargis said. Smaller
water pipes are called bubblers.
The store also carries pipes called vaporizers, which Sargis
called “the new trend.” These vaporize tobacco
““Â or other substances ““ allowing smokers to inhale
just the oils.
The pipes can be used to smoke marijuana, and some Westwood
residents have complained in the past that stores selling pipes
promote use of the drug.
However, Shelley Taylor, president of the North Village
Improvement Committee, said she would rather see smoke shops in
Westwood than stores selling alcohol.
“I’m not convinced that smoking makes people throw
trash all over the place like people do when they drink,”
Taylor said.
Illusion, which would seem at home on the walkways of Venice
Beach, is unique in Westwood.
The variety of products the store offers would make it one of a
kind even among other smoke shops, Sargis said.
Shelves are lined with smoking accessories ranging from
chocolate and cordial mint pipe tobacco to cigarette cases and
every kind of lighter.
“We have (everything) from “˜A’ to
“˜Z.’ Everything that’s old or new, we
have,” Sargis said.
But the store’s failure to attract more visitors means it
will be forced to leave Westwood, an area home to theaters,
restaurants and not much else, Sargis said.
“(Students) should be able to dance, to play pool. … We
don’t give them that,” he said.
Colin Billings, a third-year English and political science
student, said he does not shop in the Village for anything other
than necessities. With the high turnover rate of businesses in the
area, Billings said store closures are a normal part of Westwood
life.
But he added he did not expect Illusion to close in an area that
some believe already poorly serves its student population.
“I’m surprised. That’s more of a student shop,
instead of something catering to middle income people,” he
said.
Sargis, disillusioned by the lack of customers in a neighborhood
heavily populated by students, said he hopes the store’s new
location ““ wherever it may be ““ will bring more patrons
and profits.
“We go with the flow ““ see where it takes us,”
Sargis said. “And we’re leaving.”