This Los Angeles Company Creates Reclaimed Lumber from Fallen Trees
Angel City Lumber saw a problem that needed solving in the world of wood.
Courtesy of Angel City Lumber
Angel City Lumber is one of our 2020 Emerging Designers. Discover the entire inaugural class here and find out why they’re making the West a more beautiful place.
Name: Angel City Lumber (Todd Cooper, Charles DeRosa, Jeff Perry, and Brady Zaitoon)
Type of work: Salvaged lumber from fallen Los Angeles trees
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Established: 2015
Based out of: Los Angeles
Carpenter Jeff Perry saw a problem that needed fixing. He’d be buying white oak at the lumberyard for a lot of cash, and then witness big oak trees throughout the city being mulched up when they had lived out their lifespan. He was perplexed. Just because a beautiful tree expires as a living specimen, doesn’t mean it’s not useful anymore.
Courtesy of Angel City Lumber
And so, Angel City Lumber was born. The company specializes in urban lumber from downed Los Angeles trees, and operates out of a 10,000 square foot warehouse in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. They recover between 15 to 30 trees a month—a lot of eucalyptus, cedar, oak, ash, and pine—and then mill, kiln-dry and sell them off for a second life as something beautiful. “Utilizing salvaged lumber should be a standard for urban planning,” says partner Brady Zaitoon, “Transparency is the new sustainability.”
“We’re like a bridge,” says Zaitoon. “We process raw materials into usable lumber. We specialize in urban lumber—people’s backyards and places like that. We give the design community an opportunity to reuse wood in Los Angeles after its living usefulness has expired.”
Not local to LA? Here are the best salvage lumber yards to visit in the West.
Pacific Northwest
2024 N Argyle,
Portland
Southwest
By appointment only
16908 I-40 Frontage Road,
Albuquerque
Islands
41 Waikupanaha St
Waimanalo, HI
Mountains
2506 Jackrabbit Lane
Belgrade, MT
