Judi Lesta’s Encore

Boulder antique store The Amazing Garage Sale is a mid-century modern furniture lover’s dream. Gleaming teak dressers, groovy curved chairs, and home bars suitable for the Rat Pack are set out throughout the space, constantly changing as pieces come and go. In one nook, glass cabinets are filled with vintage jewelry. Turn the corner, and a wall of black-and-white photographs transports you to the late 1970s. Shots of music stars Blondie, The Bee Gees, Tom Petty, Elton John, Rod Stewart, Led Zeppelin, Bob Marley, and more were all taken by the store’s owner, Judi Lesta, when she worked as a rock photographer for record labels in Los Angeles.

Judi’s story is as colorful as the business she runs. She grew up in Manchester, England, lived in Italy in her teens, then the Canary Islands, Hawaii, France, and Spain before emigrating to the U.S. with her first husband. Following her divorce, she took a job delivering health food in Los Angeles. Her route took her past all the record labels on the Sunset Strip in the late 1970s, a prolific time for chart-topping rock music. A perk of her job was free concert tickets. Judi took a camera with her to every show.

“I brought the photos I took of the shows back to the record labels, and they loved them,” she explains. “They hired me to go backstage, to the interviews, and to shoot the shows. I just had a knack for photography. I taught myself how to use a 35-millimeter camera, and one thing led to another.”

Judi’s images began being published in magazines such as Teen Beat, NME, and People, as well as in other publications around the world. She then got an offer to be the exclusive photographer for the Bee Gees.

“I went everywhere with them, to award shows, concerts, when they filmed the movie, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” They were gentlemen. That was a lovely experience,” she recalls.

Judi still owns many of the negatives and the rights to her photos and sells them through her shop and an agent she retains in Hollywood. She says she never planned to be a photographer, and, as with much of her life, she goes where the wind takes her, and it’s taken her down some interesting paths. 

As the music industry changed, Judi decided to leave Los Angeles in 1988. She scouted several cities and eventually chose Boulder for her next home. She credits her natural business savvy for investing her money in real estate, buying several properties in Boulder to rent out and one to live in, which is one of the quirkiest homes in the city. 

The Noble House was built in 1958, when Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Noble commissioned designer Charles Haertling to create its two-wing structure, composed of 16 identical triangles, each culminating in a steepled skylight. The house is designated a Structure of Merit by the City of Boulder, an honorary designation for properties that possess architectural, aesthetic, or historical significance. 

Judi has retained the original design and added her own whimsical touch to the interior, with each wall painted a different color and various art objects representing different times in her life. She says she had to put up a no-trespassing sign out front to keep curious design enthusiasts at arm’s length and maintain her privacy.

When she met up with a childhood sweetheart and decided to move to Ibiza in 1999, she kept the Noble House and rented it. Keeping the home proved fortunate when the romance ended, giving her a place to return to. Selling everything she owned before that move prompted another business venture—a love of buying and selling vintage furniture.

“When I left, I had all these garage sales, and I loved the people I met. I wanted to keep doing that, so I did it from my house. I went to thrift stores, got stuff, and just started selling it. Then eventually it grew and grew. I had no plan. People were lining up to come in.” 

She moved the business from her home to a rented storage trailer, then to a studio space in North Boulder. And finally, a permanent location in the Emerald City.

“As an artist, I love being part of the NoBo Arts District,” she enthuses. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else. It’s the only quirky part of town left.”

Through it all, Judi’s lifestyle has been defined by creative and entrepreneurial freedom. “I take each day for what it has to offer,” she reflects. “I fill my life with things that I love to do, and work with things that come naturally to me, and it’s always worked out.”  

Visit The Amazing Garage Sale at 4919 Broadway in Boulder or browse current inventory at theamazinggaragesale.com.