Meet the Locals: Jami from Santa Monica
In sunny Santa Monica, artist and jewelry maker Jami Miyamoto has created a colorful, homey Airbnb Plus bungalow.
Photographs by Ryan Kim
The Local
Jami Miyamoto is a lifelong Angelino who started her career as an artist during high school when she and a friend began making jewelry for fun. She went on to study design at CalArts, then got a high-pressure job as a graphic designer. All the while, she kept making jewelry. “I never realized you could actually make a living at it,” she said. “But my girlfriend and I spent so much money on what we were creating that eventually we needed to sell some of it. Then at a certain point we both decided to quit our regular jobs and try out this dream of selling our art.”
Within a year, Jami and her business partner were frequenting trade shows and selling their jewelry to high-end stores like Barney’s New York. At first, Jami worked from a studio. But when she adopted her daughter, Daily, from China in 1999, she realized that she wanted to work from home.
“I thought to myself, ‘Why am I working so much? What’s the point of going all that way to adopt a daughter and then put her in daycare all day?” she said. She had just purchased her Santa Monica home, and turned part of it into a studio where she still works today. Her daughter is now in college, so her dog, DJ Tomo, keeps her company. “I don’t like all these people name for dogs like ‘Sally’ or ‘Max,’” she said. “ I think we should bring back weird names for dogs.”
Her Home
“People tell me that they love staying with me because my place feels homey,” Jami said of her Airbnb Plus home. “I didn’t want a lot of junk in the cottage I rent, so I try to keep it sort of middle-of-the-road looking, but with some style, too. I want a dad from Michigan to feel comfortable here, and a 20-something from New York.”
Jami’s style is a self-described mix of “high-end and low-end.” It’s not only an esthetic — more of a way of life that uses anything and everything to create a space filled with joy and eclectic art. Her taste in clothing, furniture, and food is the same way. “I can eat Taco Bell, I don’t have a problem with it, but I also want to eat at the really hip new place in Koreatown.” Jami, in other words, knows how to appreciate everything — it’s part of what keeps her in the Los Angeles area, one of the most diverse places in the world.
“I like to mix something from the thrift store with something from Target, and add little touches. Sometimes my friends say, ‘Why don’t you just go to Ikea or something to decorate?’ But I love finding unique special pieces. … If I buy something for $10, I’d rather buy it from a cute ceramic art sale.” The same goes for her outdoor spaces. “My yard doesn’t look curated or polished, but I love that it’s never finished,” Jami said of the home garden where she’s planted lemon, orange, peach, persimmon, and lime trees. Though the garden and the home might be chaotic in someone else’s hands, under her curation, they feel bright, alive, and cozy.
In her part of the house, Jami employs her signature mix, including a collection of Japanese Kokeshi dolls and a $3,000 leather couch she’s owned since 1985. Much of the art on the walls is from thrift stores, or artist friends who have given it as a gift.
Her Neighborhood
“I love Santa Monica,” Jami said. “It’s kind of like living in a small town, a little city in a big city — I see people I know everywhere I go.” One of Jami’s favorite pastimes is taking the five-mile walk to the Santa Monica pier and back, sometimes with a snack stop at Hot Dog on a Stick. Sometimes she walks or rides farther — the pier extends south for 25 miles, and there are bike rental shops along the way. “There’s great people watching. As you walk down the beach, you can see how it changes through all the different subcultures, like Muscle Beach — oh, and people are always filming something. It’s just really fun, and every once in a while, offshore, you can see dolphins.”
“I love all the restaurants LA has to offer and I love how diverse it is. There are people from Korea, China, Japan, Mexico, El Salvador, and so many other places. And I love that you can get out easily — it’s 15 minutes to the mountains or 3 hours to the desert and Joshua Tree National Park. I don’t think you can get this variety of people, places, and food anywhere else. You get really spoiled and really picky living here. But it’s a good thing.”
Jami’s Santa Monica Picks
Hot Dog on a Stick: “My favorite weekday activity is to ride my bike along the beach bike path going north and stop at Hot Dog on a Stick. The original one is near the pier, and I have a corn dog, french fries, and their fresh lemonade. I can also ride on the 1922 pier carousel and feel like I’m back in time.”
The Mart Collective: “When I can’t make it to the Long Beach or Rose Bowl swap meets I go here. This is a huge antique mall in Venice with 100-plus dealers. I’ve found fun gifts and cool vintage items for my house.”
Mitsuwa Marketplace: “This place carries all the ingredients you need to make Japanese food, and carries Japanese fast food. This is also where I get all my Japanese snacks like my favorite potato chips dusted with seaweed. In their marketplace is a cute book and stationery store where you can get all the Miyazaki movies on DVD or cool Japanese pens and magazines. There are also four or five stalls selling Japanese food.”
Northgate Market: “This is the Mexican version of Mitsuwa. Their fresh corn and flour tortillas are wonderful. During Day of the Dead they had wonderful bags and candles and other items with Day of the Dead motifs.”
Laemmle Theater: “This movie theater in Santa Monica shows independent and foreign films and sometimes has art gallery shows.”
About the author: Breena Kerr is a Maui-based freelance writer and journalist whose work appears in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, The Washington Post, CNN, and BBC, among others.
About the photographer: Ryan Kim is a travel and lifestyle photographer for Airbnb who loves daydreaming about climbing rocks, roasting coffee, and winning his cat’s affection.
