Pasadena Lamp Repair Shop Since 1924: Talbott Electric

Pasadena is the home turf of Arts and Crafts design, and the houses along its tree-lined streets are full of hammered copper lanterns, mission-style sconces and small lamps that have outlived three sets of wiring. When one of them stops working, a long-running local option is Talbott Electric at 1887 E Washington Blvd. The retail store is open Monday to Friday from 8:00am to 4:00pm and Saturday from 9:00am to 3:00pm, and you can call (626) 798-1105 to describe what you are carrying in.

Talbott Electric was established in 1924, and the company describes itself as a third-generation, family-run business owned and operated by Kirk Talbott. That is a long runway for an electrical outfit in a city that has rewired itself more than once. Today the company runs a retail office and lighting showroom with fixtures, hard to find electrical parts, light bulbs and lamps, so homeowners can walk in with a broken fixture under one arm.

The shop says its specialty is craftsman and period style lighting. In Pasadena that is not a niche. It is the local housing stock, across the neighborhoods of the San Gabriel Valley. A counter run by a family that has been in the electrical trade since the 1920s is the right kind of address for a fixture of that age.

The company says it repairs and rewires most light fixtures and small lamps. That wording matters, because it tells you the sweet spot. A table lamp, a wall sconce, a hanging lantern or a ceiling fixture with a bad socket is a good fit. A huge floor-standing antique or a chandelier with hundreds of crystals may call for a restoration specialist instead, so describe the piece when you call.

The retail page lists a complete line of lamp parts, wire and sockets to build or repair lamps and fixtures, along with hard to find light bulbs. That second item is a quiet draw. Anyone who has tried to find a candelabra-base bulb in the right shape, or a tubular bulb that fits an old sconce, knows the aisle at a big-box store rarely has it.

Because no rules or turnaround times are published on the site, the best preparation is a clear description. Note whether the lamp flickers, hums, trips a breaker or simply does nothing. Bring the plug end and, if you can, the bulb. For a wall fixture you have taken down, bring the cover, the mounting plate and any screws, since period hardware often uses odd thread sizes that are hard to replace.

Prices are not posted online, so ask for a figure at the counter before you leave a piece. A simple socket swap and a full rewire of a fixture with several arms are very different jobs,, so agree the figure before you leave the piece.

A useful habit before any visit is to take two photographs, one of the fixture whole and one of the label or stamp inside the socket shell or on the back plate. Those marks often carry a wattage rating or a maker's name, and they help the counter staff pick a compatible socket. If the fixture hangs from a ceiling box, shut off the breaker before you take it down and keep every screw in a labelled bag.

Talbott runs two faces under one roof. There is the retail office and lighting showroom, where you see fixtures, lamps and electrical parts, and there is the electrical construction and service side, which keeps weekday hours of 8:00am to 4:00pm. If you have a bigger problem, such as a circuit that keeps tripping behind the very sconce you came about, the same company can talk through service work.

That pairing is unusual for a lamp stop. The company lists electrical construction and service alongside the retail store, so a question about an old fixture and a modern circuit lands with people who do both kinds of work.

Period lighting tends to fail in predictable places. Cloth insulation on old wire dries and cracks, brass sockets loosen from decades of bulb changes, and pull-chain switches wear until they stop catching. A fixture that works only when you hold the cord at a certain angle is warning you, and rewiring it is usually inexpensive next to the cost of a replacement in the same style.

Wall lanterns and porch fixtures add weather to the mix. Moisture gets into the socket, corrodes the contacts and eventually trips a breaker. Bring the whole fixture, including its gasket and glass, so the person at the counter can see what condition the housing is in and decide whether a new socket will be enough.

The Saturday window from 9:00am to 3:00pm is the reason many Pasadena commuters can use the shop at all. A lamp that sits broken all week can be dropped off on a weekend morning. Arrive earlier in the day if you want time to talk through the repair.

Washington Boulevard is a long east-west street, so use the house number 1887 rather than a cross street when you navigate.

Bloomfield Creamery is a familiar name along East Washington Boulevard, and it makes a sensible sweet stop after a hardware errand. The corridor has several small restaurants and neighborhood businesses, so a lamp drop-off can turn into lunch without a long drive.

For a longer outing, Pasadena's craftsman architecture is worth a slow look. The same period style that Talbott specializes in shows up on porches and in front doors all over the neighborhood, so it is easy to see the fixtures in their natural habitat while your own lamp gets its new cord.

Address: Talbott Electric Inc., 1887 E Washington Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91104.

Phone: (626) 798-1105.

Retail store hours: Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 4:00pm, and Saturday, 9:00am to 3:00pm, per talbottelectric.com.

Founded: 1924, third-generation family business owned and operated by Kirk Talbott.

Services: repair and rewiring of most light fixtures and small lamps, lamp parts, wire, sockets and hard to find light bulbs.

Specialty: craftsman and period style lighting fixtures.