|
| A glorious day in La-La Land. |
I have been spending more and more time of late in Los Angeles, and I have to say that I am simply crazy about it. The sunshine, the space, the palm trees, the glamour. As long as I don’t have to take the freeways at rush hour, I am smitten. I'm thinking about renting an apartment next year in the city’s West Hollywood or perhaps Hancock Park nabes to see how I like living in LA. Stay tuned. New York is just so, well, I’ve done it. And in spades.
I am just back from a very delicious week on the West Coast. John and I bopped about Venice, Santa Monica, downtown and everywhere in between. I even made it out to the Valley—a first, curiously. We had loads of glorious dinners, caught up with old friends and explored the new and noteworthy.
|
| The jaunty awning at Hollywood at Home, an amazing home design shop on North La Cienega owned by design star Peter Dunham. |
Since John and I have our own interior design business, John Loecke, Inc., we always spend a day or two wandering about the city’s La Cienega Design Quarter in West Hollywood. If you are passionate about interior design—as well as fashion and terrific eateries, too—then this charming area is a must visit. Start at the Beverly Center mall and wander north along La Cienega. The southern stretch of the boulevard is a tad tawdry with a few Live! Nude! Girls! joints and lingerie boutiques that quickly give way to more upscale furniture and fabric shops. (I love the wacky high-low mix in LA!) Among my favorite home design shops are The Collection (my friend Frannie Beers shows her wares at this shop, and her eye is spot-on), Hollyhock, Todd Alexander Romano, Pat McGann, Barclay Butera, Hollywood at Home and Dragonette. And don’t miss just-opened Harbinger from the fabulous duo of Joe Lucas and Parrish Chilcoat. All of this is just scratching the surface.
|
| The Pacific Design Center, a colorful, spaceship-like building designed by Cesar Pelli on Melrose Avenue. The PDC houses numerous trade-only interior design showrooms. Here, the building rise above a very modern home and offers a curious juxtaposition. |
Turn off La Cienega and you’re in fashion heaven on Melrose Place, home to the likes of Marc Jacobs, Marni, Mulberry and Carolina Herrera. Plus, there’s an outpost of NYC’s Fig & Olive restaurant on the corner (although I prefer the fab, Googie-style Norms on La Cienega. Deep down I am more of a sit-at-the-counter, whiskey-down, diner type).
Veer onto Melrose Avenue from La Cienega, and you’ll find even more shops, restaurants and boutiques, from the Pacific Design Center to hot-spot eatery Cecconi’s West Hollywood and horticultural nirvana Inner Gardens. Best of all, this neighborhood is a walker’s heaven: You don’t need a car. Period.
And you thought nobody walks in LA?
Photos by Jason Oliver Nixon