This feature article appears in the September 2024 issue of X3 magazine, dedicated to capturing the genuine personalities, passions, and stories of emerging and established stars. X3 is published by XBIZ Media.
We are standing in a parlor filled wall-to-wall with vintage taxidermy, occult amulets, tarot cards, supposedly cursed dolls, ancient animals floating in gelatinous liquids in jars, carefully arranged bones and assorted eerie paraphernalia.
Flashback to 15 minutes earlier, and Kira Noir flashing an impish smile: “I’d really like to take you to one of my favorite stores.”
So here we are at Vulture Culture Oddities, an emporium of the unusual, carefully hidden behind a nondescript storefront in the sunnily named Magnolia Park shopping area of Burbank. Kira gives us a guided tour, excitedly pointing out items she has gotten before or is planning on getting, or would definitely get if she wasn’t worried about worrying people who come over to her house.
“I collect taxidermy stuff,” she shares. “I’m really happy that I got to include some of my collection for the X3 magazine cover shoot!”
For the shoot, she notes, she tried to pick “the prettiest things” from her extensive collection of peculiar artifacts.
“I also have a lot of spiders and bats and wet specimens — body parts or whole small animals in jars of rubbing alcohol — but I made a careful selection for the shoot.”
Most of us have, or are, that one friend who serves as a fountain of information about specific wonders of our endlessly fascinating world. Kira is that person, and performs her duty with boundless, contagious enthusiasm and the specific joy the divulgators of the world derive from turning people on to things they enjoy. Should you ever have the pleasure of hanging out with her, bring a notepad or open up your Notes app. You’ll leave with a whole set of “must check out” tips to expand your horizons when it comes to styles, subcultures, fandoms, conventions, books and movies.
Staring at twin bat fetuses dangling inside a small apothecary jar, perhaps from the 1800s — everything at Vulture Culture Oddities feels vaguely 19th century — you might ask Kira, “Where do you get your oddities?”
“Oh, oddities markets and online,” she answers matter-of-factly, her tone politely suggesting “Duh!”
“There’s an Oddities Festival that comes to LA every year,” she explains. “There’s another one that’s happening in a different state — I just saw a video for it and I need to see if I can fit it into my schedule! People from all over, a bunch of different vendors, will come to one spot. It’s just a bunch of weird stuff, a lot of handmade things, a lot of artifacts, found or passed down. A lot of the stuff that I have, a lot of the skulls, I’ve gotten at oddities festivals. The fairies that I have, I bought them both at two different oddities fairs.”
Then you might nod, although inwardly wondering about those passing references to skulls and faeries.
For the full article and exclusive pictorial, click here.
