Santa in L.A. / Think snow-globally, shop locally. But don’t wander the malls aimlessly! You need a plan. Here, we break down four prime shopping districts for holiday gift givers, be they happy or harried.
Don’t be fooled by the ripped jeans and chipped black nail polish on the clientele of Sunset Junction’s coffee-nerd hub Intelligentsia -- Silver Lake and its hipper, dicier sister to the east, Echo Park, aren’t just for the kids anymore. Grown-up eateries such as Restaurant 15 and Lot 1 have sprung up east of Alvarado in the last year, and the shopping has steadily grown more upscale.
Take MediaNoche, which opened two years ago on the corner of Alvarado Street and Sunset Boulevard, where alternative bookstore 33 1/3 once stood. Stylish fedoras have replaced Xeroxed ‘zines, and there are espresso-cup sets and brightly printed reusable shopping bags from Japan.
Heading west on Sunset, you’ll find Sumi’s, which sells sophisticated jewelry and home furnishings in the space that was once the used furniture store (read junk shop) Pepe’s. Stop inside for a locally made twist on nameplate necklaces (order two weeks in advance) or ceramic tea-light holders that look like ethereal paper bags.
Continuing farther west toward Sunset Junction, the handmade-craft store ReForm School sells gorgeously packaged soaps by Saipua. Right where Silver Lake bleeds into Los Feliz, we recommend a stop in the old standby Uncle Jer’s. Yes, it looks like a patchouli shop from the outside, but inside it’s an adult gift-giver’s haven -- Aden + Anais blankets for the mod mom, reissued Bauer vases for a mere $33 and super-cool carved-graphite pieces that look like feathers and conch shells but write like pencils.
And make sure to duck into Bar Keeper, which stocks enough cocktail cabinet kitsch -- think stuffed-olive candles, guitar-shaped ice cube trays and chip bowls crafted from melted Madonna records -- to keep your favorite barfly buzzing all year long.
Just because Silver Lake is all grown up doesn’t mean it isn’t any fun.
Intelligentsia, 3922 W. Sunset Blvd., (323) 663-6173; Restaurant 15, 1320 Echo Park Ave., (213) 481-0454; Lot 1, 1533 W. Sunset Blvd., (213) 481-8400; MediaNoche, 1200 N. Alvarado St., (213) 353-4995; Sumi’s, 3204 W. Sunset Blvd., (323) 660-0869; ReForm School, 3902 W. Sunset Blvd., (323) 906-8660; Uncle Jer’s, 4459 W. Sunset Blvd., (323) 662-6710; Bar Keeper, 3910 W. Sunset Blvd., (323) 669-1675.
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