“(Final) exit through the gift shop: L.A. County Coroner’s Office has souvenirs to die for” by Liz Langley, a fun travel article in The Washington Post, details a few of the offbeat items you can get at the unique gift shop, Skeletons in the Closet.
LA Coroner Beach Towel photo by Liz Langley
Need a beach towel? How about this cool chalk body outline version? You can get lots of other fun CSI-themed nicknacks, too. Author Liz Langley writes:
In this snug little store, you can get scrubs, T-shirts and a license-plate holder that says “Coroner,” which might get you a little grace on your parking-meter time. You can get a pin with the department’s seal, which has symbols of medicine and law enforcement, a reminder of the collaboration required to uncover how people have died. You can get a desktop model of a human torso or a red cooler bag with the seal on it, which can give the impression that instead of beach snacks you might be transporting organs (to go with that crime-scene towel).
Of course, all sales are final.
Skeletons in the Closet is tucked in the front-right corner of the lobby, and its beginnings stretch back to the early 1990s, when the office put on a forensics seminar and gave registrants a coffee mug decorated with the departmental seal. It was a huge hit, so the following year the mugs featured “Sherlock,” a skeleton in a deerstalker hat, a perfect symbol of death investigation drawn by former investigator Phillip Campbell. When employees Marilyn Lewis and Mark Cooper came up with the chalk outline beach towel, the department decided to sell them. And so the gift shop began.
If you can’t go to the actual office in Los Angeles to buy these goodies, they are available online! Visit this site at www.LACoroner.com to grab your choice of clothing, housewares, office supplies, accessories, and “miscellaneous.”
A Good Goodbye also has some fun stuff in our online store which also has fun stuff to die for – like this great T-shirt: “The one who dies with the most toys… still dies.” Available in Medium, Large and Extra-Large in always-in-fashion black with white text, these T-shirts come in comfy, long-wearing 50/50 cotton/polyester. Each is $20.00 plus shipping and state tax as applicable. Add to Cart