Los Angeles Official Visitor Guide 2008 - (Page 90) Shopping Shopping in LA: When you’re ready to escape from the shopping mall scene, you can strike out on your own and discover the following neighborhood shopping destinations, full of independent boutiques and one-of-a-kind stores. Piece them all together and you’ll find every conceivable niche covered, including handcrafted wines and perfumes, designer clothing and shoes, pet-focused emporiums and single-genre bookstores. Forget about the one-size-fits-all approach so familiar back home; boutique shopping is about finding a niche and discovering what it offers. Find Your Niche La Brea Boulevard Check out the area on La Brea between Beverly Boulevard and West Third. It’s a paradise for sneaker-obsessed hipsters, stationary enthusiasts and vintage-clothing shoppers who want to find something their friends back home don’t already own. Check out stores such as Pulp and Dear John for unique gifts and letter-writing supplies; American Rag for clothes with the vintage touch; and Undefeated for one-of-a-kind shoes. Blue House and Hemisphere offer home furnishings. Back home, you’d be lucky to find a handful of stores like this in an entire city. Here in LA, there’s a whole neighborhood full of them. Robertson Boulevard Fashion mavens flock to Robertson’s big-name stores the way surfers seek out legendary SoCal waves. Lisa Kline, Kitson and Kiehl’s are well known for serving their celebrity clients right alongside the style-conscious everyman. This area is still a great place to spot celebrity shoppers, but don’t let that distract you from the fabulous shopping. Montana Avenue Estimates put the number of shops at more than 150 along this well-known street in Santa Monica. That translates to more choices than you can make in a single day. Most of the stores are privately owned boutiques or designer-label retail outlets selling couture that’s not widely available. The area is popular among the celebrity set and the well-heeled residents of nearby Brentwood. Situated between 7th and 17th streets, this shopping district offers block after block of boutiques selling everything from antiques to wines. In between, shops such as The Abbot Kinney Boulevard This legendary street runs through the heart of Venice. The shopping is located between Main Street and North Venice Boulevard. Home décor shops, handmade furniture stores, vintage clothing sellers, surf shops, perfume shops and bookstores make this area as eclectic as any in Los Angeles. A former hangout for artist types and other hipsters, the area maintains a bit of an underground vibe while catering to a clientele that’s in the know yet still a few tax brackets removed from the starving artist stage. Ventura Boulevard In the San Fernando Valley, Ventura Boulevard is ground zero for boutique shopping. Stretching in an east-west direction, Ventura connects Universal City to North Hollywood to Studio City to Sherman Oaks. Along the way, several pockets of concentrated shopping await eager shoppers in search of some off-the-beaten-path 90
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