JETTING off to Los Angeles to start a new life in the sun may represent something of a fantasy to most Scots.

But that is exactly where one Neilston-born woman finds herself.

Pauline Clifford is “living the dream” in the City of Angels - a dream she had nurtured from a young age.

The adventurous 35-year-old upped sticks along with 36-year-old husband David Meekin two years ago to revive her retired father’s antiques store.

A former shoe designer who had an online business that proved popular with celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Pauline opted to switch career path to follow in the family footsteps when imitators began latching on to her designs at an uncontrollable rate.

After having to wait 13 years before being granted a visa, the former Kirkhill Crescent resident vowed to make the most of the Stateside opportunity to re-establish Clifford Antiques.

Summers spent pottering around at the family business in Brentwood, California, opened Pauline’s eyes to a new way of life.

So much so that she set her heart on moving there permanently.

Dad William, who began collecting antiques at the age of 19, shared his passion for all things retro with his daughter when she was only knee-high.

Although 81-year-old William gave up his day job in 2002, he remains an integral part of Pauline’s operation.

It is William who ships all of the products to America’s west coast from a warehouse in Neilston, where he still lives with his wife Marilyn.

Explaining how she ended up with her own shop 5,113 miles away from the village, Pauline told the Barrhead News: “When I had my own shoe customising business back in 2007, I still had my dream of moving to LA and, at that point, my dad had retired and closed the antiques business.

“But he continued to buy antiques and fill his warehouse, so I always had the dream to re-open the shop and put a new vintage spin on it and make antiques trendy again.

“When dad started the business in the late 1960s, he would buy and ship all the antiques from Scotland but my aunt would run the shop in the US.

“When I was growing up, my dad would spend around half the year in LA and the other half in Neilston.

“We would do a house swap in the summer months, with my aunt coming back to Scotland and we would stay in her house in LA.

“For eight weeks every year, LA was my home and I have very fond memories of my time at Clifford Antiques in Santa Monica in the 80s and 90s.”

Pauline admits she became increasingly frustrated by people muscling in on her shoe design enterprise.

She said: “Gradually, my designs were copied more and more and I couldn’t stop people, so it fizzled out and I became more interested in helping my dad re-establish his antiques business.

“He had been retired for 12 years but, in 2014, myself and dad made a trip to LA to find a location to re-open the business, which we did and it was a lot of hard work.

“I’ve always been around history and antiques, so my personal love for the 1950s era was a natural progression.

“I always dress vintage 50s from day-to-day and love mid-century collectibles and furniture.

“I often say that, if only antiques could talk, they would have so much to tell us.”

Thanks to the distributional skills of her dad, as well as Pauline’s discerning eye for vintage collectibles, Clifford Antiques has become an Aladdin’s cave of goodies.

From Georgian chests of drawers and Victorian bamboo to Scottish pine and art-deco mirrors, the business stocks antiques dating from the 1700s all the way up to the 1960s.

Outlining her vision for the future, Pauline said: “I really hope to inspire younger people to shop antique and appreciate the history that’s left in the world.

“Customers always get so excited that we’re Scottish and ship everything from there. The business is going from strength to strength and I’m so happy I can make my dad proud.

“I love working with him, he’s such an inspiration. I always wanted to move to LA and my dream of re-opening my dad’s business has come true.”

Even though Clifford Antiques is just a 30-minute drive from Hollywood, getting used to seeing famous faces in the flesh is something Pauline still isn’t accustomed to.

When asked for the name of a well-known celebrity who had stopped by the store, she revealed: “The most famous people we’ve had in our Burbank store have been actresses Cameron Diaz and Nicole Richie, with their partners from the band Good Charlotte.

“I was a little star-struck.

“My dad talks about his store in Malibu and all the celebrity clientele they had there, including Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, Olivia Newton-John, Dolly Parton, Jeff Bridges, Donald Sutherland and various pop groups of the time.

“There is never a dull day in LA. There’s always something happening, interesting people to meet and things to do.”

Despite the glitz and glamour that comes with living in California, Pauline is adamant some aspects of life there will just never match up to her home village – most notably the cuisine.

“I miss my friends and family from Scotland, the small village community and the warmth of Scottish people in general,” she said.

“I also miss a good curry, the chippy and cans of Irn-Bru.

“It can be difficult not having close family around. My mum and dad both still live in Neilston, in the home I grew up in, and they visit us in LA throughout the year which makes the big move abroad a little easier.

“I do miss Neilston - but not the weather.”

For more information about Pauline’s business, visit www.cliffordantiques.com.