When Ken Schwartz and Larry Leight opened their eyewear store on Sunset Boulevard in 1986, they wanted to offer a range of frames that reflected both Los Angeles itself and American design from the 1920s - 1950s Hollywood heydey. They got lucky, finding an estate sale in Connecticut that provided them with a large collection of unworn, vintage American eyewear and associated machinery. The original owner of the estate, long dead, was Oliver Peoples: Ken and Larry now also had the name for their fledgling company.

The estate collection quickly sold and its popularity proved this vintage-inspired idea to be a winner; when the new Oliver Peoples company began designing its own frames, it knew exactly which direction to take. Oliver Peoples frames maintain their focus on retro aesthetics and subtle detailing to this day.