About Us

Secret Canyon started with the problem: too many books and nowhere to put them.

In 2021, novelist Justin Go set up a market stall in Joshua Tree selling vintage books. He named it Secret Canyon. It was meant to be a side project. Then his wife Marlene got involved. Suddenly there was Japanese stationery and European stationery and things spotted in Tokyo and London that were too good to leave behind.

But let's rewind a bit. We landed in the Mojave desert over ten years ago, mostly as somewhere to keep our stuff while we traveled elsewhere. Justin is a bit of a rolling stone, which probably started in his childhood spending time every year in Tokyo, his dad's hometown.  But somewhere along the line the desert became home. 

Which brings us back to the shop itself, really a portrait of two people. Justin writes his novels by hand before reworking them on a vintage IBM Wheelwriter. Marlene gravitates towards cute stuff - doesn't matter the source, 17 juni Flohmarkt in Berlin or Bic Camera in Tokyo. They meet somewhere in the middle, in a shared love of vintage books, paper goods, and objects that feel like they were made for someone who lived a generation or two ago.

What started as a single stall has since grown into locations at Mojave Flea in Yucca Valley and Palm Springs, Fog City Flea in San Francisco's Ferry Building and Mission District, Joshua Tree Trading Post, and Seed People's Market in Costa Mesa, CA.

For five years, Marlene's background in retail and deep belief in the magic of in-person shopping kept them firmly rooted in the physical world. But they kept noticing the same thing: most of their customers were visiting on vacation, falling in love with something, and then heading home. Launching online felt less like a business decision and more like the obvious thing to do. So here we are.

We're glad you're here.