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The Odells isn't just a stylish new Cali-bohemian label—it's also the surname of the cool duo behind insider-faved Silver Lake boutique Bucks & Does. Meet husband-and-wife team Laura Stang-O'Dell and Jason O'Dell, who also happen to be the creative force of charming Anthropologie-stocked label Porridge (and the subjects of our first-ever double-feature edition of our A Juice With series).
While Laura was born and raised in Alhambra, Portland-born Jason lived a gypsy life until settling in LA at 17. "By the time I was 22, I had moved 25 times," he recalls; Washington, Colorado, Texas, and New York are just a few states he's temporary called home. After scoring a sponsorship by Santa Cruz, Jason toured the country as a competitive skateboarder and eventually met Laura through his teammate's girlfriend. Now married for nine years, the couple have two ridiculously adorable kids. (#truelovegoals!)
Laura attended FIDM and started her fashion career at Market in Brentwood Village, where she began selling handmade tees for $38 to help fund her and Jason's dream of exploring Spain. Within six months, the two made enough money to go to Europe for three weeks.
"We were 23 years old, so we stayed in hostels," remembers Laura. After the vacay, she continued designing apparel and landed her merch in shops around LA. "We used to deliver them on my motorcycle," Jason tells us.
Meanwhile, Jason attended a semester at Art Center for photography and assisted pros before breaking out on his own two years later. His expert lensmanship led to shooting gigs at magazines Elle, Flaunt, and Vogue Turkey, among others. To help Laura keep her focus on designing, Jason began helping with the business and production side of her clothing brand. "We got busier and busier and I basically stopped doing photography," he says.
The couple had been eyeing Sunset Junction as their business's home base; when Pull My Daisy's space opened up two years back, The O'Dells jumped on the opportunity. They converted the front of the space into their shop, Bucks & Does, which offers labels like Harlyn, Alternative, Cynthia Vincent, and more cult-fave brands; the back of the store houses production and design studios.
"What [most shoppers] don't know about is the yurt!" reveals Laura. After transforming the space into the store and studio, the O'Dells realized they forgot to make room for an office space. "I built a deck [in the back] and our desks are in a yurt behind the store," says Jason.
We got to know the super-cool globetrotting couple at Naturewell, just a quick stroll away from their boutique. Below, find out their craziest vacays, what's on their bucket list, and more.
What are you both drinking today?
Laura: My favorite from Naturewell is their pressed juices, which they make here. This one is orange, apple, lemon, ginger, strawberry, and cayenne.
Jason: I get The Protein Smoothie with extra protein. It's pretty much my go-to.
Best vacation you've taken?
Jason: Probably our honeymoon to Italy.
Laura: That was good, but even some of our camping adventures have been awesome. But yeah, our honeymoon was pretty epic.
What's the craziest trip you've ever taken?
Laura: Once of the craziest trips I went on was actually with my girlfriends. We went to Zihuatanejo in Mexico and we stayed in a treehouse. There were no walls; you're just completely outdoors.
Jason: My craziest trip was whenever I'd go out with my skateboarder friends who also ride motorcycles. One time in Portland, all the different crews meet up and there's probably 35 of us in the hotel.
At 3 o'clock in the morning we hear a banging at the door. It's the police, the manager of the hotel, and maybe a couple firemen. And they're basically are kicking all of us out of the hotel because a couple other people in our crew decided to throw the furniture out the window. We all end up sleeping on the sidewalk across the street from the hotel.
The one kid who instigated the whole thing somehow got his own hotel room and when they banged on his door he didn't wake up. At 10am, he wakes up to a fireman climbing through his window, because they thought he was dead.
What's your signature recipe?
Laura: This is a hard one because I love to cook! Jason would probably say my spaghetti and meatballs. It's a secret family recipe from Sicily.
Jason: I used to cook; I can follow any recipe but I'm not creative.
Laura: You're good at grilling. You make a good rotisserie chicken.
What's your least favorite fruit or veggie?
Laura: Papaya, hate it! I can't even look at it or smell it, it makes me want to gag.
Jason: Does seaweed count? [Laughs] I've been making asparagus since I was 20, and I think I'm just tired of asparagus. I can't even eat the end part anymore, I only eat the heads.
Got any funny nicknames?
Laura: My friends call me Duder or The Dude or Chief; I wear a lot of Native American-inspired prints. My best friend calls me The Duder Chief; and we love The Big Lebowski.
Jason: I'm Papa Porridge.
Laura: One of our clothing lines is called Porridge.
What's on the top of your bucket list right now?
Laura: Going to Africa. I wanna take our kids on an African safari and do something really adventurous.
Jason: Mine is definitely doing the Continental Divide Ride. Riding a motorcycle from Canada to Mexico—it's about 2,500 miles, all off-road; it takes 10 days.
Best present you've received?
Laura: My [Vizcla] dog, Marley, on my birthday. It was two years before our son was born. Jason got [Marley] for me and he arrived with a balloon attached to him.
Jason: Last year for my birthday, we picked up a motorcycle. It was kind of like a birthday present to myself though. It's the one I can ride on the Continental Divide.
Would you rather have no internet or no cell phone?
Laura: Probably no cell phone.
Jason: Same.
Beach or forest?
Both: Forest!
Dusk or dawn?
Laura: I love dusk; I feel like we get recharged. I'm not really a morning person.
Jason: Dawn. One of my favorite things more than anything is coffee. Especially if we're out camping; there's a beautiful sky, the sun's coming up, the air is crisp and you have your warm coffee—I love that.
What's your favorite board game?
Laura: Balderdash.
Jason: Chess.