LaGare GALLERY
The Founder and the Collections
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OUR STORY
Gary D McDaniel opened The Attic Antiques in 1961, and soon after, a purchase of a collection of master artworks. LaGare, his artist name, quickly expanded to an old riverboat guiding lighthouse, establishing The Lighthouse Antiques, Iowa Silver Plating Works, and LaGare Gallery, all nicely showcased on a historic property in Davenport, Iowa. Seems my father's vision quickly resonated throughout the Midwest and the Southwest, drawing some well-known costomers including the very famous concert pianist, Liberace, the world's highest-paid entertainer of that time. And there's Ike and TinaTurner, who traveled often from Chicago to negotiate the 'Art of the Deal,' and sometimes customers were barefoot on board LaGare's thirty-six foot Antique yacht.
Expanding in the early 1970s, LaGare opened The Old Goldmine gallery in Searchlight, Nevada, alongside operating a turquoise mine close by. Then along came the 80s and three more galleries, the Fountain Hills and Scottsdale, Arizona, locations, opening the latter store within a prestigious new art district. But cherished more than any was the Sonoita, Arizona, gallery. This secluded community was just a stop sign and several buildings, a place LaGare enjoyed curating the yearly wine festival, and include a monthly auction for the ranch owners of that southernmost border.
LaGare was quite the businessman and the father of five. As a promoter, he established the Quad Cities Antique show, and those Dealers flocked from across the nation, a yearly event held in Rock Island, Illinois. From prestigious Chicago, Illinois, estate sales to caring for three hundred Racing Pigeons, and a night-club owner, remember Disco in the late 1970s. And Lagare's father, David McDaniel, he was a WWII Navy ship mechanic, surprisingly, he became a pocket watch mechanic and avid collector, living a lifetime in the suburbs of Joliet, Illinois.
I'm Terry D McDaniel, an Antiquarian and a student of THE GREAT LIFE of LaGare
My father provided an incredible life for our family. His oldest son had a complete line of cars, beginning with an amazing canary yellow '56 Chevy, a '70 Barracuda, a new '79 Chevy van, a '75 Harley Davidson, and before he went out on his own, a new Jeep with big tires.
Then LaGare's daughters had closets filled with the latest fashion, and one seemed to use her wardrobe as carpeting (and I love her independence, so much like our father). And the youngest boy was doted on by our mother and sisters, yet he hardly ever smiled, even if I took him to the Rock River fishing or to the drag strip in Cordova, Ill.
For me, I liked the slow pace of living on the Mississippi, and really didn't care for the latest fashion, and when it came to cars, LaGare had a parking lot full of Antiques that needed a battery charge. And then my art collection, something I started while working LaGare estate sales. And I loved art class, especially around the house, thankfully, Dad was always in his workshop, and if he wasn't sculpting a decoy for the Quad City fair, he was creating a fishing lure. And whenever LaGare was creating, then so was I.
And who wouldn't want to live on Lake Davenport, just a wide section of the Mississippi River, with the sailboat club a block downriver, and the Davenport Yacht Club, just a half mile upriver. And what a view.
The GREAT LIFE of LaGare, something important enough it needed a Trademark.
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