Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
9
Shops & Spas
Whether you're looking for
trend-
setting fashions or just some tourist
hit the shops, check y our packages with the
Grove concierge, have lunch, enjoy your spa
treatments, see a matinee, pick up y our pur-
chases, and call it a day. Nicely done.
A note on shopping hours:
Street shops
are generally open Monday through Satur-
day from 10 or 11am to 5 or 6pm. M any
are open S unday, par ticularly those near
the beaches, mo vie theaters, or clusters of
other stores. In addition, quite a fe w offer
extended ev ening hours 1 night a w eek,
often Wednesday or Thursday. Mall shops
take their cue from the anchor department
stores and generally open fr om 10am to 8
or 9pm. On Sunday, shave an hour or two
off each side, while holiday periods incease
mall hours substantially.
Sales tax in Los Angeles is 9.75%; savvy
out-of-state shoppers kno w to hav e larger
items shipped directly home to save the tax.
schlock mementos, Los Angeles has y our
shopping needs covered like no other place
in the world. H eck, Los Angeles practi-
cally
invented
the shopping mall.
But to really shop L.A.-style, you need to
combine your outing with a trip to a day spa
and make it an all-day event. For example, if
you're planning an outing to the G rove, an
outdoor mall (highly r ecommended), y ou
should first make an appointment at the
Amadeus A veda
spa (
&
323/297-0311;
www.amadeusspa.com), make a lunch reser-
vation at
Morels F rench S teakhouse &
Bistro
(
&
323/965-9595
), and then go
online to buy mo vie tickets to the
Grove
Theatres
(
&
323/692-0829;
www .the
grovela.com). When the big day arrives, you
meet your friends for coffee in the morning,
1
SHOPS & SPAS: L.A.'S TOP STREETS &
NEIGHBORHOODS
Here's a rundown of L.A.'s top shopping areas and spas—from chic to cheap—along with
some highlights of each neighborhood to giv e you an idea of what y ou'll find ther e. If
addresses and phone numbers ar e
not
given, refer to the stor e's expanded listing b y cat-
egory in “Shopping A to Z,” later in this chapter.
L.A.'S WESTSIDE & BEVERLY HILLS
BEVERLY BOULEVARD
(from Robertson Blvd. to La B rea Ave.) Beverly is L.A.'s
premier boulev ard for mid-20th-centur y furnishings. E xpensive sho wrooms line the
street, but the shop that star ted it all is
Modernica,
7366 B everly Blvd. (
&
323/933-
0383;
www.modernica.net). You can still find vintage S tickley and Noguchi pieces, but
Modernica has become best kno wn for the authentic—and mor e affordable—replicas
they offer (Eames storage units ar e one popular item).
Scent Bar,
8327 B everly Blvd.
(
&
323/782-8300
), the sleek r etail shop fr om the wildly popular fragrance w ebsite
www.luckyscent.com, is the place to go for exclusive fragrances from Monyette Paris and
Parfums de Nicolai.
British designer and rock royalty
Stella McCartney
(8823 Beverly Blvd.;
&
310/273-
7051;
www.stellamccartney.com) opened her eponymous digs in an ivy-co vered 1920s
