"Pan Am" Designer Drawn to Bloomfield Ave for Inspiration

Watch future episodes of the ABC drama "Pan Am" and you will most likely spot some period pieces supplied by Montclair-based businesses.

"Pan Am" set decorator and Montclair resident Jacqueline Jacobson Scarfo confirmed Thursday that she's shopped for pieces at Edge Mid-Century Designs and also at Speakeasy Vintage, both on Bloomfield Avenue.

"My major reason for going to Edge and Speakeasy was to support local Montclair businesses," Scarfo said.

She said she's purchased antique desk lamps, ashtrays, candlesticks, chairs, and a table, among other items for the series which is set in 1963. For example, she purchased a table-and-chair set she believed would fit well inside the home of flight attendant Kate Cameron, played by Kelli Garner.

Two weeks ago, the owners of Edge found out from a Montclair Patch article on Scarfo that the set decorator was from Montclair and so they posted a comment on Patch informing her that their inventory is largely made up of items from the "Pan Am" time period.

Scarfo decided to stop in—and she's glad she did.

"Pan Am" airs on Sunday evenings at 10 p.m. on ABC and is about employees and customers of the now-defunct Pan American World Airways.

Scarfo said that researching the early 1960s has been exciting and that she relies on photo services, Internet searches, YouTube videos, films from the period, and books.

"I can spend hours on my computer researching," she said.