Melrose Avenue
You know what you’ll find in Beverly Hills: Dior, Chanel, Gucci, Prada. In contrast, Melrose and Beverly Boulevards, parallel shopping streets, offer some surprises with less-established, cutting-edge designers. More surprises await when you glance at price tags only a smidge less lofty than their Rodeo Drive counterparts. Apparently, it costs money to look glam. Costume Nationale and Miu Miu make their homes in this mid-town neighborhood. The ne plus ultra of mini-malls, Fred Segal, anchors the Melrose-Beverly district, luring hordes of A-listers and wannabes with the newest Chloe tees, Dolce & Gabbana leather and Kiehl creams. Not a day goes by without a name-brand face strolling into Fred Segal.
When the stars themselves are too busy or just can’t be bothered to leave Malibu, they send stylists and costume designers to shop for them. Costume designers for Friends, Sex in the City and the O.C. have been known to shop here. Driving by, you wouldn’t necessarily recognize these streets as the hotbed of American trendsetting. Unlike Beverly Hills, Madison Avenue or your run-of-the-mill mall, Beverly and Melrose have sparse, if any landscaping, bland, box-like storefronts and deserted sidewalks. Although theoretically, you could walk from store to store, not many do, preferring to drive the 20 or so feet from Miu Miu to Jonathan Adler. Once inside these boutiques, however, you’re rewarded with some of the most innovative designs available anywhere. Which goes to show, even in LA, it’s what’s inside that counts.
Los Angeles
. .Beverly Boulevard
. .Los Feliz
. .Melrose Avenue
. .Robertson Boulevard
. .Third Street
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Betsey
Johnson
8050 Melrose Ave
I love going to Betsey Johnson. You can't just
drive by when you're going down Melrose, with that bright green front
and neon sign demanding you stop and shop.
>Go
to Store
Cynthia Rowley
7975 Melrose Ave
IPushing through the green wooden door I thought I'd stumbled into Cynthia's own cozy, little loft.
>Go to Store
Fred
Segal Melrose
8100
Melrose Ave
Being in LA and not shopping at Fred Segal is like
going to Manhattan and overlooking the Empire State Building.
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to Store
Jonathan
Adler
8125
Melrose Ave
Who
knew pottery could be so fun? The West Coast outpost of the Jonathan Adler's
pottery empire is more Silverlake than SoHo.
>Go
to Store
Miu Miu
8025
Melrose Ave
Miu Miu scares me. What with the big cement front
and severe minimalism interior, I always feel a little like the message
is shop...or else.
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to Store
Soolip
Paperie and Press
8646 Melrose Ave
This wondrous mini-mall has five boutiques under
one name—Soolip.
>Go
to Store
Soolip
Bungalow
548
Norwich Ave
As husband and wife Wen and Forsberg combed the
world for unique stationary items to expand into a second boutique, opening
the Bungalow in 1998.
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to Store
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