Loved To Death, the well-known taxidermy and oddities shop in the Upper Haight that is kind of like a more goth version of Paxton Gate, is shutting down its spinoff next-door gallery space called LTD and the owner tells Hoodline that the taxidermy is going to be the first to go as they consolidate the business back into the original storefront.
Opened in 2014 as a way to display more inventory, the LTD space at 1685 apparently became too much for owner Audra Kunkle. She opened the original creepy Victoriana store at 1681 Haight in 2008 after having a successful Etsy business selling jewelry, accessories, and taxidermy.
"Things in the world have changed," Audra tells Hoodline of the decision to wind down taxidermy sales. "With the current concerns regarding the laws that protect wildlife, this is something I personally feel needs to happen."
She also says she'll be picking up where she left off with her jewelry business as she took on all these other products and antiques, and she says, "I look forward to evolving with the times and keeping things new and interesting."
Kunkle and her oddball crew were featured in the Science channel's show Oddities: San Francisco in 2012-2013, often on the hunt for skeletons or taxidermied animals, as in the clips above and below.
Or there was the time a guy wanted them to find him something "undead" to carry as a prop to the Zombie Prom.
Or there was the glorious time they took a visit to the Pritikin Museum/Chenery House in Glen Park, the largest private estate in San Francisco which is owned by eccentric onetime adman, octogenarian Bob Pritikin, who still invites the public in to see his nutty collection of art and objects a few hours every week.