Chivalry for Sale : Studio City Store Stocks Medieval Armor, Other Anachronisms

Historical detail rules the realm as sweating schoolteacher Bob Schontzler is fitted with a stainless steel breastplate for an educational performance for Latino schoolchildren in East Los Angeles.

“We want to show the kids that they have a noble history dating back to Spain, the Crusades and the Moors,” Schontzler said.

A librarian sent the schoolteacher to Medieval Fantasies: A Renaissance Merchant’s Gallery in Studio City, a store that has been open since November.

A suit of armor modeled on one worn by an 11th-Century knight greets customers at the only establishment of its kind in the city.

Proprietor Robin Grattidge and partner Larry Horne have set up a cottage industry based on wares from the 6th through 16th centuries--sort of a medieval cooperative for modern times.

Medieval Fantasies is a historical journey through Western Europe, its extensive collection of culturally diverse artifacts from the rough and tough Middle Ages and the subsequent culturally oriented Renaissance neatly jammed into a 1,200-square-foot showroom.

“We like to think we’re a cultural information center specializing in the Medieval and Renaissance times,” said Grattidge, 39. “We get lots of inquiries about all aspects of the periods, and we provide an opportunity for artists and craftspeople to display their goods year-round.”

About 80% of the items are handcrafted and all are sold on consignment. Most of the vendors became known to the store’s owners through various Renaissance fairs.

“We’re merchants, not warriors. There’s no malice; the battles are simply historical re-enactments for education and interest,” said Horne, 35.

To this end, Grattidge is sponsoring a tournament-style fighting group of knights who will re-create a medieval battle at the annual Long Beach Renaissance Art Festival on Saturday and Sunday.

Of the Long Beach fair’s many vendors and performers, almost 70% make their living in the computer industry, fair director Beth Hanson said.

“In this day and age when everything is so complex, there is a real need for a low-tech past,” she said. “We see knights as humane, polite and civilized while our politicians are hauled into court. It’s all fun, but we’re looking through rose-colored glasses at a past that never really existed.”

Alexander Muller, professor of history at California State University, Northridge, said his medieval history classes are always full.

“It’s a reaction against modern civilization and its emphasis on antiseptic and impersonal elements,” he said.

“We definitely hit on something that has a lot of appeal,” said Grattidge, “and we’re not a spinoff of a Renaissance fair. There’s a real need for what we offer, and it’s a market for people to come for items priced under $100.” Made-to-order goods are considerably pricier, as much as $4,000 for a suit of armor.

Grattidge and Horne, longtime Valley residents, met three years ago on a year-round fair circuit that travels up and down the state. They share expertise in medieval weaponry, augmented by Grattidge’s formal art training and gallery management experience.

“This enterprise was an untried concept; we are the only retail operation such as this around,” said Grattidge, as he fashioned a leather vest laced up at the sides. To bring in customers at first, the pair took turns wearing a suit of armor and waving a red flag on the front sidewalk.

Fantasy items, an offshoot of the futuristic sci-fi rage, are incorporated throughout the store. Though historically inaccurate, the serpent representations, jewelry, chains and dramatic drawings attract fans that include members of local heavy metal groups.

Customers browse among majestic handcrafted swords, knives, shields and other weaponry (original and reproductions), costumes, engraved leather work, ornate beadwork, art objects, fragrant oils and unusual jewelry, among other items.

The biggest sellers are exotic swords and knives--most for ornamental purposes or used by clubs that stage battles--and jewelry, which sells for as little as $2 to $3.

Grattidge also specializes in heraldry research into coats of arms and family crests, and fine leather crafts. Horne, the history buff, weapons expert and self-proclaimed “modern knight,” helps customers with everything from the authenticity of costumes to research for novels.

Horne also conducts in-store classes on stage fighting from Rome and ancient Greece and has served as an extra in various films depicting medieval battle scenes.

Despite the store’s emphasis on weapons, he quotes an old Samurai saying: “Any idiot can pull a trigger. It takes a man to use a sword,” to decry violence--specifically the brutal, random type practiced by today’s gangs.

The duo also has offered interior design consulting to residences and businesses. Grattidge and Horne helped stock and authenticate decorations for restaurants such as La Bastille in West Hollywood, where collars, cuffs and shackles decorate the walls.

Many visitors to the store are drawn to the exquisitely designed beadwork of store employee Marion Held, who learned the ancient folk art in her native Germany and now teaches classes at the store.

Sporting purple and black hair and clothes, Held, of North Hollywood, painstakingly hand-stitches such items as multicolored magic wands, chokers, bracelets, earrings and pouches.

Held offered the most vivid observation pertaining to the rage for this age as she gestured toward a departing young man in business attire. “You see someone like him in costume, in character with accent and manners, and it’s romantic. Then you see him in everyday work clothes and attitude and he’s just another guy.”