This Figueroa Street Upholsterer Might Have Been a Doctor, Lawyer or Teacher

If Jesus Lopez wasn’t forced to drop out from Cal State L.A. after his student visa ran out in his second year, he might have ended up like many of his peers—going on to become a doctor, lawyer or teacher.

Instead, Lopez, an immigrant from the Mexican border town of Tijuana, found his calling in the upholstery business, trading his biology major for fabrics and foam padding—a vocational detour that wasn’t quite the accident it might appear to be at first.

Lopez, who owns Baja Tapicería on 3916 N. Figueroa St., discovered upholstery in summer school while he was a student at Roosevelt High in Boyle Heights, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s alma mater. “I’m not sure what I liked about it, but I was always interested in upholstery,” recalls Lopez, adding that he has no regrets about being unable to follow a white-collar career.

The fields of law, medicine and pedagogy have their challenges, but so does the earthier world of chairs, sofas and ottomans.

For Lopez, the trickiest assignments are when he’s asked to upholster a piece of furniture—after designing it. Although he lacks carpentry skills, Lopez manages to satisfy such requests—through outsourcing and his own improvisations.

Lopez moved from Boyle Heights to Highland Park in the mid-1980s and started his upholstery business in 1991 from a store on Avenue 41. He moved to his current location, a few blocks south of the Marmion Way crossing and next to a used cars dealership, in 2008 after his lease on Avenue 41 ran out.

There’s not much of a difference between the two locations from the business point of view, says Lopez, largely because “I still keep the same customers.”

He also appears to lose some.

“Be forewarned,” writes Alexis B., a reviewer on Yelp, who evidently went to Lopez’s upholstery shop to get a leg on an antique table fixed last year. “While it was in their shop they scratched the top of the table and then decided to sand down and strip the veneer off of this 70-year-old antique,” writes the reviewer.

Lopez admits he has some cleaning up to do at Baja Tapiceria, also known as Baja Upholstery. His shop is messy and the driveway outside is crammed with junk, although walk-in customers don’t seem to care.

Besides, the negative review on Yelp is the only one about the shop. Who knows how many satisfied customers don’t post reviews.