San Francisco, California

Paxton Gate

A shop full of natural curiosities, carnivorous plants, and costumed taxidermied mice.

Paxton Gate is an eclectic cross between a gardening store, taxidermy shop, entomological treasure trove, art book retailer, and natural history boutique.

Started across town in 1992 by two landscape designers as an eccentric landscaping store, they soon began including other natural oddities like mounted exotic insects and taxidermy.

After several years, the shop moved into a larger space on Valencia Street and expanded their offerings to encompass “treasures and oddities inspired by the garden and the natural sciences”.

The shop features a collection of coffee table and practical books on gardening and natural sciences topics, botanical and anatomical prints, shells, bones and a large selection of unusual plants. The back room contains several types of carnivorous plants, and an area up front is dedicated to tentacled epiphytes.

Paxton Gate hosts some amazing taxidermy classes catered to adults in its shop.

In the annex shop down the street, Paxton Gate Curiosities for Kids, they sell unusual toys and puppets, as well as hosting a number of intriguing classes, from insect mounting, to small animal taxidermy taxidermy, to shadow-puppet making for kids. They regularly host story time and holiday events for children as well.

Paxton Gate also offers landscape design services.