Sometime around 1969 Alex returned to New York City and spent some time living on the upper west side before finding his way downtown to Soho.  He met with a Gypsy family at 152 Prince Street who shared with him stories of the neighborhood and secrets of selling and soon he had the keys to the storefront.
In the early days, he sold magic books and tarot cards, tie-dyed shirts and leather belts as well as Tarot pendants he created using a print making process of acid etching.

Earliest Jewelry for Hippies on the Haight

Welcome to week two.

Alex remembers a family trip out west as a child, driving through the giant redwood trees and falling in love with the Western United States.
While living in San Francisco in 1968 he was exposed to the graphic genius of the Fillmore Poster Artist Rick Griffin.  It was an art education of its own kind.

While working at Hippie stores on the Haight like Wild Colors, Middle Earth and Happy Jack, he was encouraged to paint and created some of his earliest jewelry.  The pieces were carved from redwood bark, painted and strung on leather cord.

For this week's chapter, Alex has recreated 7 special pieces of his earliest work.  He has painted desert flower blossoms on hand carved and varnished redwood bark.  Just like his earliest creations, they are strung on leather and painted with love.  These are rare pieces for collectors to own.  They can be purchased in out webstore until they are sold out.

Tune in for next week when we explore more of Alex's early jewelry experiments.

In the beginning....

Friends,
We have taken down our MYSTORY page on the website and will be starting at the beginning.
Each Monday we will bring you a little snippet from the life of Alex Streeter.  We invite you to follow along and learn of his travels, his development into a jeweler and sculptor, his inspirations, his patrons, his pioneering in Soho, years in New York City, travels through Japan, foreign commissions, unearthed relics and love for the desert of Arizona where he currently resides with Jake the poorboy (a chihuahua) and runs his museum and workshop.

Sometimes we call him "Sideways Streeter," his approach is never head on, and so, this week, we begin with Alex being too strange for even Art School.  Before the cultural revolution at the end of the 1960's, Alex and a notorious class at Rhode Island School of Design were asked to leave for being too strange.  So he got on his motorcycle and headed west across the country to San Francisco.  He arrived in time for the summer of love.