East Side Jewelers in Los Angeles, California, was established by Ben Oberstein in the early 1950s and left a legacy of jewelry for his children and grandchildren. As a teenager, Sally Oberstein created original jewelry pieces with her mother, Shirley, for their family chain of boutique clothing stores. She studied jewelry-making as an art major at Humboldt State University (Cal Poly Humboldt), and became a jewelry designer in the 1990s, creating original art pieces to sell in art galleries. In the late 80s, she discovered vintage and collectible costume jewelry and traveled on blue highways across America for three years in search of treasures and studying with collectors from New York to California. Sally now sells pieces from her personal collection and occasionally appraises collectible costume jewelry for others.