At first I wasn’t sure of what I was looking at, in part because I’d imagined Ken’s collecting room to be in a separate building rather than through an insignificant door leading off a tiny study. I was also expecting the room to be more cavernous given the laser-print images but, while it certainly is huge, Ken has managed to cover every square inch of available wall space in the interim and, after having blanketed the walls, began installing lag bolts in the ceiling joists so that he could fill the air space overhead. Huge tin litho advertisements descended from the ceiling like stalactites, while purpose-built, moveable displays now grew like stalagmites from the floor. The far end of the room held a full length, saloon-style bar, while the center was occupied by circular gaming tables. A large trunk heavily weighted with binders stood just inside the door. As I made my way into the room, I understood that I was in a Temple of Glass.

Introduction Meet Your Host > Temple of Glass < Chat with Ken Shot glasses:     Showcased     Indexed, A-Z

Ken rescued several arched, stained-glass windows decorated with pastoral scenes from an old mansion in San Francisco, and they sat high in the rafters at either side of room. Ken has them back-light to further the illusion of that this was a house of worship. Bare-fleshed beauties graced the upper parts of the walls and gazed down at us like Madonnas and Blessed Saints. The room was infused with a muted amber light emanating from the columns of tightly packed and back-lighted whiskeys lining the walls.

If Ken decided to install a rack of organ pipes above the bar, the Pope himself would find himself stooping in reflex genuflection upon entering this Holy Shrine to western whiskey and glass.