The Strip Joint

Over the years, I’ve taken several pieces of furniture that needed a new life over to the Strip Joint. And every time Mike worked his magic. These were family pieces that I inherited and did not want to get rid of. Mike was super patient with me, giving his opinion but never pushing it on me. He’ll stand by patiently while I take forever to decide on the stain!
I had a dresser re-​stained and decided I want it a dark brown. Mike said it might be too dark of a stain for this wood but I didn’t listen. I should have listened! He knew I didn’t like the outcome and redid the whole thing for me with a different stain, never complaining once to me, just wanted me to be happy.
Recently he re-​stained a beautiful antique bench that had been damaged in a flood. I couldn’t believe it! I brought several fabric samples over to see how it looked with the bench and he gave me some great thoughts on what worked and what didn’t…clearly I’m a bit high maintenance when it comes to this stuff! He then took it over to Ideal Upholstery for me to get new springs and fabric. This bench now has a second life in my home.
Even though they’ve moved to Torrance from Redondo, it’s not far and worth the drive if you want great work.

This is a late review. I brought my night stand to the Strip Joint about 2 years ago. I had accidentally spilled nail polish remover on the top of my night stand. I tried to wipe it off but unfortunately the walnut paint came off in this process. Oh noo. huge beige spot in the middle of my walnut stand.
Took it to the Strip Joint and they did an amazing job. It actually looked better than when i first purchased it. No physical or visual signs of damage.
I have another project for them to do next week! Check back for pictures!

This place does good work! I have taken three heirloom items to The Strip Joint; one for refinishing and two for repair. The repair items were flawless. I can not see where the repairs were made, and the wood stain matching is perfect! I just picked up item number 3, an old oak clawfoot table, and could not be more pleased with the restoration. Part of the fun of going there is the conversation with the proprietor. He has a wry sense of humor, and I enjoyed the back-​and-​forth banter.

Awful, awful customer service and overpriced. My boyfriend called to see if we could get the old paint removed from some vent covers from our apartment, hopefully before the 4^th of July so we could get them up before the party we were having for the holiday. They told him if they were dropped off that Friday they should be finished early the following week. I dropped them off that Friday afternoon and was rudely told they would not be able to remove the rust as well. I didn’t ask them too, just asked them to strip the paint as he had mentioned on the phone. I had a bad feeling about the place, but my boyfriend had chosen it, so I filled out the paperwork as he stood there with his hand ready to grab it as if I wasn’t writing fast enough. Fine, rude or not, and overpriced or not, I knew my boyfriend would be the one picking them up and I wouldn’t have to deal with them again. The following week, I never got a phone call that they were finished until late that Thursday (not «early» that week as had been mentioned to my boyfriend on the phone, and the day before the 4^th). There was no way either of us could pick them up before they closed that day, and they were closed on the 4^th through the following Tuesday. Ok, too late to have them before the party. Fine. Not a big deal, at least we’d have them eventually. Two days after that Tuesday they reopened (Thurs, 7÷10÷14) I get another phone call reminding me they’re ready. When I answer the phone, not just with a hello but with a very polite «Good morning this is…» etc, apparently «Mike» doesn’t hear my greeting and answers back with «Hello? God say something when you answer the phone.» I did, I’m sorry if you didn’t hear it, and is that how you talk to your customers? He then proceeds to very rudely inform me that they’re still waiting to be picked up. Yes, I’m aware, it’s only been two days since they reopened after the holiday and we both have busy schedules and haven’t had a chance to make it to pick them up during their business hours. I will not ever be doing business here again and would give them not one star but 0 if possible. No one needs to have an attitude with their paying customers. Very, very disappointed.

The owner of the Strip joint is a bad neighbor. He thinks he owns the public street and parking spaces near his business. Twice he vandalized my car and yelled at me for daring to park in the public street marked parking space on Catalina Ave near his business. Parking is limited on Catalina Ave. On street sweeping day (Thursday) there are more resident’s cars than there are parking places.
He warned me that «Something bad would happen» if he «caught me parking there again».
I wanted to report him to the police, but I I live on that street and I don’t want him to assault me when he sees me. That is his personality. Think about that if you are considering doing business with him. I actually wanted to get my patio furniture refinished, but I would never give my business to such an angry hostile man.

This place is great! Mike has a wry sense of humor, which might account for William K.‘s and Ashley H.‘s reviews. But he’s super nice. In fact, he went ABOVE AND BEYOND!
My fiancé and I had a vintage chair we were using for the guestbook table at our wedding and it had two spots that were a way lighter color than the rest and had two holes in it, from some missing plank or something. We took it to the Strip Joint Inc and said not to worry about the holes, but that we just wanted the color matched. They said they’d take care of it, no problem.
Keep in mind, we’d never been to this place before and didn’t know these people. It’s really just the only wood refinishing place near San Pedro. So, Mike did the job in a few days and, when we came in, he didn’t charge us anything! He said it only took him five minutes and to have a nice wedding. And he filled in the holes even though we didn’t ask him too! All for free!
Great experience. Would recommend this place to anyone.

Ok so I called this place this morning asking about getting one of my chairs re-​glued the gentleman said it would between 65 – 85 dollars depending on the chair I told him that was perfect since I couldn’t afford more then that. I loaded up my two toddlers and the heavy chair and drove over there. When the guy at the front saw me he sighed and grumbled about being with me in a second. When he came over and I told him what I needed he said «Ugh, one of these again» I asked him if he had seen alot of chairs like mine and he said ya and they’re annoying to fix. Looked at it and said 110. He was rude making it seem like he was doing me a favor when he should be happy for the business. Not only rude but he told me it would cost over the top the guy told me on the phone. Maybe he thought one chair just wasn’t worth the effort but I have 7 others at home exactly like it that all need repair. I’ll be taking my business else where.

I was so impressed with the work The Strip Joint did on my table! I tried to start refinishing it on my own, but soon got overwhelmed by the task. The Strip Joint on Catalina was the unanimous response when I asked neighbors where I should take it. Now I know why.
When I expressed concern over the three week turn-​around time (It’s not easy to serve dinner to a family of five around a card table), the owner made sure my table was finished in record time — less than 4 days.
My table now looks like it did 15 years ago! The table top perfectly matches the bottom and the leaves (which I did not want sanded or restained). Plus, the price was very competitive!

Big thanks to Mike and all of the guys at The Strip Joint for making the impossible happen! I brought in a tired, old, inexpensive credenza that I found at the flea market and they made my vision come true! I’ll be posting before and after photos as it’s truly unbelievable to see the transformation.

Dan, Mike and the Strip Joint restore all of our treasured antiques. We have used them for more than a decade on furniture that literally looked like trash. Strip Joint turned the furniture into collectible beautiful pieces of art.

Very helpful and got the job done perfectly. I spent 2 hours stripping paint from a closet door and I hated every minute… worse I had 8 to do… no way. I called them and they gave a price that was so reasonable. I dropped off the doors and a week later stripped clean to the wood ready for me to prime — perfect.

The dude I met knew his stuff.
Turned my $ 250+ refinishing job (Lysol damage) into a quick spray fix.
Used a product I didn’t even know existed.
This is a furniture stripping and refinishing establishment, by the way. Maybe the sentence above will help it show up in the Unilocal search results. Also the word «wood». Unilocal never found it when I was searching and it’s a pretty good place, from what I can see!