Written by Stylist & Fashion Blogger Jamie Lee Kendall
PR contact Jamie Lee Kendall 415-362-8300 or westcoastleathersf@gmail.com
Fashion Designer Skip Pas and Model/Publicist Jamie Lee Kendall recently had the pleasure of interviewing West Coast Leather Manager Joe Crane. Joe has been with West Coast Leather for 30 years.
He was the right-hand man for manager Shelly Slovan and everyone's favorite person at North Beach Leather and West Coast Leather. He shared how he got hired and some of his favorite stories.
Here is the audio of the interview:
https://on.soundcloud.com/
And here is a written version from Joe:
My story with West Coast Leather began in Los Angeles in the winter of 1982, when I was hired by Shelly Slovan, the manager of the West Coast Leather store on Sunset Boulevard. I was hired as a security guard, but I had no idea at the time that this job would turn into a lifelong career filled with incredible people, unforgettable experiences, and some amazing stories.
West Coast Leather was a very famous company at the time. We had stores across the United States and were featured in major magazines including Vogue, Cosmopolitan, People, and many others. The Sunset Boulevard store attracted some of the biggest names in music, movies, television, sports, and entertainment.
After a few months, someone at the store went on vacation and Shelly asked me to help out. That's when I started learning how to write up sales. Since it was a small store, if a salesperson was busy helping another customer, I could step in and help someone else while still working near the front door and keeping an eye on the store.
I quickly discovered that I really enjoyed working with customers.
I'll never forget my first sale. It was Chuck Negron from Three Dog Night. He was a really cool guy, and I sold him a pair of leather jeans. I certainly didn't realize at the time that this was just the beginning of what would become a very long list of memorable customers.
Not long after that, I sold leather to Mötley Crüe. They gave me a worldwide pass to their Dr. Feelgood concert tour, and I was able to hang out with them backstage. That was an incredible experience and something I'll never forget.
One of our regular customers was John Entwistle from The Who. He had a particular style of jacket he really liked, and every year he would come back and buy the same style in a different color.
David Lee Roth was another regular. He would come into the store and tell me amazing stories about things that had happened to him while he was on tour.
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne would shop with us whenever they were in town. And then there was Elton John. He wanted a pair of pants but couldn't wait for them to be hemmed. So he gave me a backstage pass and asked me to bring the finished pants to the concert. I delivered them to him and got to watch the show.
Over the years, I got to know many of these customers really well. Some of the other incredible people I had the opportunity to meet and work with included Natalie Cole, Randy Travis, Travis Tritt, Tanya Tucker, Lionel Richie, Ben Vereen, LL Cool J, Ice-T, Johnny Mathis, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, The Isley Brothers, and Laurence Fishburne.
I also had the opportunity to meet some incredible people from the world of sports, including Jim Brown, Magic Johnson, Jerry Buss, and Pat Riley.
There were so many unusual and fun experiences that happened at the store.
Chuck Barris, from The Dating Game, decided that Fridays were his day to not wear a suit. Instead, he would come into the store and buy one of our colorful color-block jackets. He would come back regularly for another one.
One time, I even became a contestant on The Dating Game. I ended up winning a trip to Las Vegas with my date!
Arsenio Hall was a big fan of our famous 8-Ball Jacket. He liked it so much that he wanted to get a different one for his television shows. I would drive the jackets over to Paramount Studios so he could wear them on the show that night.
I also remember Robert Kardashian coming into the store with his daughters Kim and Kourtney to buy a present for Kris. While Robert was looking around, I showed the girls around the store. They were very nice, funny, and had great personalities. Robert later helped me get the opportunity to meet one of his clients, George Michael, at his concert.
Jeff Goldblum came into the store looking for a blazer. I helped him try one on, and he loved it. He told me he was going to get it for the movie he was working on at the time, which was Jurassic Park.
Nicolas Cage was also a regular customer, and I always thought he was a really cool guy.
Then there was the day a very big guy walked into the store and asked me about getting a motorcycle jacket like The Fonz wore. I put our basic motorcycle jacket on him, and he loved it.
He told me he was on his way to an audition to become a comedian and was nervous about it. It turned out that he got the job. His name was Andrew Dice Clay, and that motorcycle jacket became his signature jacket for his comedy performances.
One of the funniest and most memorable encounters I had was with a beautiful woman who came into the store with a man. They both had long blonde hair and were wearing long coats.
The man stopped to talk to Shelly while the woman walked toward the back of the store where I was working. She put out her hand and said, "Hi, I'm Daryl." She was so beautiful that I blushed and said, "I'm Joe." It turned out that Daryl was actually Kim Basinger, and the man with her was Bret Michaels from Poison.
I also remember Lesley Ann Warren coming into the store because she needed something to wear for a movie. I helped Shelly pull several outfits for her to try on. She ended up buying five or six leather outfits, which she wore in the movie Pure Country.
Another memorable story started with something very simple. I was standing at the counter one day when a tall woman walked into the store and asked me if she could get change for a dollar. I said, "No problem," and then jokingly told her she should come back and look at our leather. Two days later, she came back. It was Sigourney Weaver, and this time she wanted leather pants. I sold her two pairs of our black back-zip leather pants, which she wore in Aliens.
I've had so many incredible experiences over the years that I could probably write a book about them. But what I've always loved most about working for this company isn't just meeting celebrities. It's meeting great people from all over the world and seeing the smiles on their faces when they try on a beautiful leather piece and find something they really love. I've watched people walk into the store looking for one thing and leave with something completely different because they found a style or color that expressed their personality. That's what makes fashion special to me.
Leather has always been about individuality. A great leather jacket or a beautiful pair of leather pants can make someone feel completely different when they put them on. I've been fortunate enough to experience that feeling with thousands of customers throughout my career.
Today, I'm proud to still be part of the company at West Coast Leather San Francisco. We continue the tradition of beautiful leather, bold colors, distinctive styles, and personal service.
When I look back at everything I've experienced since I first walked through the doors in Los Angeles in 1982, I'm grateful for the people I've met, the friendships I've made, and all of the incredible memories along the way. I've met rock stars, movie stars, athletes, comedians, television personalities, and people from all walks of life. But at the end of the day, I've always just loved helping people find a great piece of leather.
And after all these years, I still do.
-Joe Crane
