Vintage Interview: Hoof & The Horn, Joshua Tree

Hoof and the Horn
55840 29 Palms Hwy
Yucca Valley, CA  92284
760.365.6100

site:  Hoofandthehorn.com
facebook:  HoofAndTheHorn
twitter:  hoofandthehorn
instagram:  @hoofandthehorn

I wasn’t sure what to expect before I arrived at Joshua Tree. I had heard years ago from a friend of its spiritual and healing energies, about the Integratron and the desultory Dr. Seuss-looking trees the national park is aptly named for. Like Marfa, Texas, it appears as an old-western movie set for a few blocks and then….nothing.

On the last day of my week-long camping/writing excursion in the Mojave, I gave myself the day off to browse the shops and cafes that lined 29 Palms Hwy on my route back to Los Angeles.  I parked my car in a dirt lot in “Old Town”, Yucca Valley and horseshoe’d from venue to venue, leading me to Hoof and the Horn, an Americana-styled boutique merchandised with an eclectic mix of bohemian contemporary apparel, jewelry and a selection of vintage tees, Levi’s and other rock n roll relics.  

Adam, 1/2 owner (his wife Jen was not present that day), and transient from Akron, Ohio was working the shop on a quiet day, which presented the opportunity to get the back story and snap some pictures of the shop.  “We wanted to make sure that everything that went into the store is something we truly care about and sets us apart from just another vintage shop, ”  He explained.

I learned that Adam and Jen had just opened the shop two years earlier and transported all their inventory (about 50 boxes worth of vintage) from a store Adam owned alongside his sister back in Ohio, called Revival, which she still runs today.

When I asked him what convinced them to move the business to the desert, he explained, “I was visiting friends out in L.A. and just checking it out and fell in love with it instantly.  My wife and I bought a house here 2 years ago and we were kind of trying to figure out what we were going to do if we moved here. I’ve owned a store previously so opening one seemed like the thing to do. Although I love Joshua Tree and that’s why people come here, Old Town just felt right.