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SHOPPING
Designer brands reign on fabled RODEO DRIVE in Beverly Hills, between
Santa Monica Boulevard and Wilshire Boulevard, where all the right labels
are represented within a three-block stretch. Elite department stores
can be found here, too, such as Barneys New York (9570 Wilshire Boulevard;
310/276-4400), Saks Fifth Avenue (9600 Wilshire Boulevard;
310/275-4211), andNeiman-Marcus (9700 Wilshire Boulevard; 310/550- 5900).
Inland, still-trendy MELROSE AVENUE, between Robertson Boulevard and La
Brea Avenue, features frocks and accoutrements for the young and painfully
fashionable. However, ultrachic RON HERMAN FRED SEGAL (8100 Melrose Avenue
at Crescent Heights Boulevard;
323/651-4129) is still the number-one retail outlet if you want to bump
into real Hollywood royalty. A more mature and scattered version of trendy
Melrose is nearby LA BREA AVENUE, where an interesting explosion of antique
shops and vintage clothing stores line the avenue from Melrose Avenue
to Wilshire Boulevard. Los Angeles's THIRD STREET
(not to be confused with Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade) has several
wonderful gift stores within a few blocks east of La Cienega Boulevard.
Worthy stops include FREE HAND (8413 W Third Street, between Orlando Avenue
and La Cienega Boulevard; 323/655-2607) and NEW STONE AGE (8407 W Third
Street, between Orlando Avenue
and La Cienega Boulevard; 323/658-5969), which both carry unusual pottery
and jewelry, and ZIPPER (8316 W Third Street, between Orlando and Sweetzer
Avenues; 323/951-0620), a top choice for affordable retro and modern gifts
and housewares. The BEVERLY CENTER (8500 Beverly Boulevard, at La Cienega
Boulevard; 310/854-0070) is a multilevel mall complete with Bloomingdales,
Macy's, boutiques, a food court, and a multiplex movie theater. ROBERTSON
BOULEVARD between Melrose Avenue and Third Street is the place to stroll
designer boutiques and fashionable furniture stores. CENTURY CITY SHOPPING
CENTER, one of L.A.'s first malls and completely outdoors, is a world
of its own, with an excellent food court, a multiplex movie theater, and
a superb selection of
shops, including a METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART STORE (10250 Santa Monica
Boulevard, between Century Park W and Avenue of the Stars; 310/553-5300;
310/552-0905). Santa Monica's MONTANA AVENUE offers elite—and complete—shopping
to match its clientele. SANTA MONICA PLACE mall (310/394-1049), a whirlwind
of major department stores (Robinsons-May and Macy's) and specialty shops,
is bounded by
Second Street, Broadway, Fourth Street, and Colorado Avenue. The mall's
front yard is the THIRD STREET PROMENADE, a carnival of shops, tourist-oriented
restaurants, movie theaters, and street performances.
Los Angeles has a wealth of great bookstores, and BOOK SOUP (8818 Sunset
Boulevard at Holloway Drive; 310/659-3110) is foremost
among them. Despite its chaotic appearance when you first come through
the door and become overwhelmed by the cornucopia of fiction, travel,
memoirs, cookbooks, magazines, special-interest fiction, and nonfiction—and
by hordes of customers bumping into each other in the narrow aisles—there's
a method to this madness. Thousands of culinary titles
stock the small storefront of COOK'S LIBRARY (8373 W Third Street, between
King's Road and Orlando Avenue; 323/655-3141). The BODHITREE (8585 Melrose
Avenue at Westbourne Drive; 310/659-1733) caters to New Agers, stocking
volumes on holistic medicine, philosophy, astrology, alchemy, and the
occult. DUTTON'S BOOKS (11975 San Vicente Boulevard, between Bundy Drive
and Montana Avenue, Brentwood;
310/476-6263) offers an excellent collection of used and reference books
as well as the latest fiction. HENNESSY & ENGALLS ART & ARCHITECTURE
BOOKS (1254 Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica; 310/458- 9074) has amassed
one of the finest selections of art and architecture books in the country.
They're well known for their sales and remainder
tables and at any one time there may be as many as 4,000 titles on sale.
KOMA BOOKSTORE'S (1764 N Vermont Avenue, above Hollywood Boulevard; 323/665-0956)
specialty is "subversive" literature, with topics ranging from
anal sex to bomb-making, and they have a catalogue, too. At SAMUEL FRENCH
(7623 Sunset Boulevard at Stanley Avenue; 323/876-0570), an institution
for actors in Los Angeles, every play that's ever been published is neatly
arranged in alphabetical order on the floor-
to-ceiling shelves. There's also a trove of publications on filmmaking,
directing, how to prepare for auditions, and how to secure an agent, as
well as film and music industry directories that many people in the area
consider to be as sacred as the Bible.
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