The Lesters at Arboretum Apparel

We're pleased to announce:
The Lesters Store window display November 22 at Arboretum Apparel in Healdsburg.

Thanks Teagan

Thank you to Teagan Tall, a San Francisco graphic designer,
for the shout out. We'll see you soon.

San Miguel Island

MEET THE LESTERS STORE TEAM

THE LESTERS STORE is a project from friends Alison Kendall and Megan Mansell Williams, based on their scientific expeditions to San Miguel Island in the early 2000s and the stories of the Lester family.

The idea for the store has its roots on the rugged island of San Miguel, in the Channel Islands National Park, where Ali and Megan, both trained marine biologists, conducted a biodiversity study of the intertidal; walked on long, endless, shipwrecked beaches; tiptoed silently through a caliche forest; bobbed among cartoonish, giant coreopsis; and read books in the field station to escape the wind.

One of the books encountered was The Legendary King of San Miguel, about the life of Herbie Lester and his family, who lived on the island in the 1930s. From the field station today, it's a short walk out to the site of Herbie's Killer Whale Bar, where he entertained luminaries from the mainland and showed off his collection of shipwreck paraphernalia.

THE LESTERS project embraces design, decor, branding, marketing, and more. We're celebrating our first year in business with a series of ephemeral, pop-up store openings. Our first event takes place December 18-20, 2009, when we'll fill "the loft" in downtown Healdsburg with items we admire that harken back to another time and remind us, if not solely of the Lesters and of San Miguel Island, of Herbie's love for collecting and his love for the landscape around him.

We hope to meet you soon,

Megan + Ali