A Day’s Shopping in Los Angeles
September 1st, 2007 | by antoine |
Digg 
Del.icio.us 
Reddit
A day’s shopping in Los Angeles –home to Rodeo Drive, whose three storied blocks of swanky shops are a kind of shrine to conspicuous consumption–is a fun idea in theory, but difficult in practice. Urban sprawl means there’s really no such thing as a simple walk downtown, and good luck hailing a cab to cart home all your goodies: Not only are they hard to find, but it can cost $40 (all amounts in U.S. dollars) to get to even the most straight-ahead address, once you factor in traffic and divided neighbourhoods. Enter the ladies at Shopanista, a door-to-door shopping transportation service, founded by two former techies in the entertainment business, Camille Alcasid and Sandra Jimenez.
“We’ve travelled to cities where it’s easy to shop without having to rent a car. We thought, let’s combine our loves,” Alcasid says. “I love to drive and Sandra loves to shop. And the stores don’t pay us, so our customers trust our knowledge of the best shopping in L.A.”
Here’s how it works: “Say you’re on a flight stopover from Toronto to Sydney, and have six hours to kill,” Jimenez says. “We’ll customize an itinerary, building in the time from LAX and back.” They’ll even store your luggage (for $5 a bag), so you can pack your purchases in the privacy of their vans, rather than out in the open at the airport. “Or you can check out of your hotel, we’ll pick you up, store your luggage and then drop you off at the airport,” she says.
Staying in the city? A savvy “Shopping Sherpa” will pick you up at your hotel, whisk you to where you want to go and drop you back, without your having to schlep your bags.
Raring to get started, I ask Shopanista to take me to a few up-and-coming neighbourhoods featuring local designers and a bit of a celebrity quotient. (This is L.A., after all.) An immaculate minivan, complete with bar fridge stocked with beverages and energy-boosting snacks, arrives to pick me up at my hotel, and off we go.
As we pull out of the drive, Alcasid says, “Before we head to West Third, we’re going to Intuition, one of our favourite shops.” Made popular by its excellent online boutique, Intuition (10581 W. Pico Blvd.; shopintuition.com) is a haunt of Cameron Diaz, Eva Longoria and Jessica Alba. Typical of L.A., it’s sandwiched between a McDonald’s and a kung-fu school. “When we bring our clients here, we wait, because there’s really not much else around,” Jimenez says. Low-key staffers offer greetings, then leave us alone to check out the goods. “It seems small,” Jimenez says, “but it’s really a one-stop shop on the pulse of L.A. style, with a broad range of prices. You can find dresses here, a T-shirt or tank tops, or a bag for $45 or $1,500.”
Back in the van, we head to West Third Street, between South Fairfax Avenue and North La Cienaga Boulevard, in West Hollywood. Most of the independent boutiques don’t open until 10 or 11 a.m., so we stop for breakfast at Toast Bakery and Cafe (8221 W. Third St.). It’s one of my favourites in the city, renowned for the berry-topped French toast. It’s also a hangout for Mischa Barton, Rachel Bilson and Kirsten Dunst.
“This area covers about a mile,” Jimenez says. “It’s great for people who love fashion, appreciate the eclectic and have stylish hobbies. You can find the Button Store (8344 W. Third St.), the Bead Boutique (8313 W. Third St.) and the Knitter’s Studio (8118 W. Third St.) here.”
We cruise the strip, and I make note of Ethel (8235? W. Third St.), for reasonably priced womenswear featuring L.A., New York and San Francisco designers, and Hillary Rush (8222 W. Third St.), which is stocked with skinny J Brand jeans, Chaiken ready-to-wear and the back-in-vogue retro Kork-Ease wedge heels. “And beauty junkies head here, to Palmetto (8321 W. Third St.), for hard-to-find all-natural beauty products from around the world,” Jimenez says. A stop-in at Zipper (8316 W. Third St.), a home decor and gift store full of funky finds, from soap and stationery to books and toys, rounds out our morning.
OK, now I’m hooked. How about a drive down to Montana Street in Santa Monica, a fave shopping hangout of Courteney Cox Arquette and Meg Ryan? “Montana, between 17th and 7 th, is a great beauty destination, and also for moms’ and kids’ shopping,” Jimenez says. The street is lined with the spa locations of Dermalogica (1022 Montana Ave.), Jurlique (1230 Montana Ave.), Palmetto (1034 Montana Ave.) and Waterworks Bath and Body (1120 Montana Ave.), plus Rachel Ashwell’s Shabby Chic, which started a mini-revolution in home decor.
We pull up to Savannah (706 Montana Ave.) where, as I take stock of the Marni and Jil Sander, I come face to face with a foursome of bag-laden ladies. “Can we catch a ride back to our hotel?” they ask, eyeing the Shopanista logo on the van. Though it’s beyond the call of duty, Alcasid is more than happy to oblige this crew, who are in from Arizona for a girls’ weekend.
Back in the van, we head for the beach. “Santa Monica and Venice are perfect areas for airport shoppers, because it’s easier to get here from LAX,” Alcasid says.
We arrive at the spot where Santa Monica meets Venice Beach, and I shop Main Street, between Ocean Park Boulevard and Rose Avenue. This is boarder heaven and home of the Z-Boys of Lords of Dogtown. “You shop with the locals here,” Alcasid says. Julianne Moore and Jessica Biel are considered locals in this neck of the woods, and the stores have a bohemian New Age vibe. For lunch, I snack on farmers’ market fare, which can be had every Sunday in the parking lot next to the Victorian Cafe (2640 Main St.): They’ll even valet-park your bike!
Along Main, I check out Blonde L.A. (2430 Main St.), which has a great selection of summer dresses, Betsy & Tracy (2929 Main St.), filled with shoes and bags by emerging designers at good prices, and Varga (2808 Main St.), with a fun mix of clothing, accessories and kitsch.
Before we continue on to Venice and Abbot Kinney Boulevard, we make a stop at DNA (411 Rose Ave.), another favourite of the Shopanista crew. Inside, among the stacks of jeans — brands of the day are listed, menu-like, on chalkboards — I also find sparkly jewellery and casualwear.
Named for the man who founded the Venice Beach area, Abbot Kinney is emerging as one of the hippest shopping streets in L.A. But it was Julia Roberts who put it on the map when she and her husband bought a home here. “You can start your day at Abbot’s Habit (1401 Abbot Kinney Blvd.),” Alcasid says of the cafe where Roberts takes her morning brew.
We check out the furniture and one-of-a-kind home accessories at ADHD: Art Design Home Decor (1337 Abbott Kinney Blvd.), owned by Ty Pennington (of Extreme Makeover:Home Edition fame).
“Two other shops we highly recommend are here in Venice,” Alcasid says. Hacked Club (1330 Main St.), with its stylish window dressings, features Venice Beach designers. “It’s eclectic but still conservative enough, and appeals to the 18-to-45 crowd,” Alcasid says. Meanwhile, Ecookie (1639 Abbot Kinney Blvd.) is a “well-edited collection of clothing, accessories, stationery and lingerie. And it’s open late.”
Completely shopped out, I climb into the van for the ride back to Oprah and Angelina’s favourite hangout, the Hotel Bel-Air, where on any given night you can spot such rising Hollywood ingenues as Camilla Belle and such old Hollywood dames as Phyllis Diller perusing the bar list of more than 12 Champagnes by the glass. What better way to toast a grand day in L.A.?
