Karpas has been making dolls since she was a child in Maryland. And sometimes that's because they've just had a busy life and they're now 80 years old and this is what was left.”īeth Karpas repairs a toy snowman at her home in Los Altos. “There's also people who are like, literally, this is the only thing they have from their childhood. “It's been everywhere, and it’s part of me, and yet, getting rid of it would almost be like losing part of yourself,” Karpas said people tell her of their dolls and stuffed animals. People who've sent in their stuffed friends have told Karpas that they’ve had them since childhood others have come from parents who've had to dig through rain and mud to find them again others were left behind on vacation but were shipped home by hotels. Since starting the hospital nearly 20 years ago, Karpas has helped more than 6,000 toy patients from around the world.
Regardless of a toy's popularity level, each receives a patient number and is set up in its own space during its stay. More high-profile toy celebrities passing through have included Raggedy Ann, Raggedy Andy, Care Bears, Paddington Bear, Scooby-Doo, Barney, Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and sometimes Tigger too.
You can run into all sorts of patients here - lions, tigers, bears, bunnies, lambs, elephants, cows and other plush pals.
It's where the torn, falling apart, and heavily-hugged go for love and care. Some are literally on their last thread.īut no matter how they arrive, Beth Karpas makes those beloved stuffed animals and dolls feel like new again at Realms of Gold, the toy hospital she runs out of her home studio in Los Altos. Some have been mangled in the washing machine or burned in the dryer. Some arrive with the love nearly squeezed out of them. 8, 2023: An earlier version of this article misspelled Beth Karpas’ last name as Karper. (Michaela Vatcheva / For The Times)ġ1:28 a.m. Beth Karpas stands for a portrait at her home in Los Altos, Cali, on Friday, July 14, 2023.
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