shopping in venice
Surfing Cowboys, Photo By Abbot Kinney, June 2006
- venice shops
- A steady tide of design aficionados and celebrities moving into the Arts & Crafts bungalows and ultramodern homes here has turned this bohemian beach town into style central.
- A.K. Eleven 14
- 1114 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
(310) 729-0666 Considered one of the best 20th-century dealers in Los Angeles, Ken Erwin opened shop 12 years ago, when the neighborhood wasn't yet fully primed for a chess table by Paul McCobb ($900). Erwin's specialty is mint-condition pre- and postwar furniture by marquee minimalists—Charles Eames, Herman Miller, George Nelson—and more decorative modernists such as T.H. Robsjohn Gibbons.
- Bazar
- 1108C Abbot Kinney Blvd.
(310) 314-2101 Inked in the little black books of many decorators, this overflowing shop specializes in high-end, exquisitely refurbished furniture and objects from the 19th century on. A recent window display paired a '70s Parsons desk ($4,200) with a rosewood stool and 1930s silver-plated column lamps ($2,600 for the pair). Owner Tina Wakino says many of her customers are New Yorkers, including one Ralph Lauren.
- Colcha
- 1356 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
(310) 392-3600 Sue Cowie recently opened this craft-centric shop to peddle exclusive international furniture lines like San Miguel de Allende's Casamidy (chairs, tray tables, mirrors), as well as local artwork, John Robshaw textiles and silk-screened pillows by L.A.-based British designers. Stuffed animals handmade by women in a Kenyan village ($35 and up), BURN candles and fluorescent pencils ($7.50 a pack) are a few of our favorite gifts.
- Equator Books
- 1103 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
(310) 399-5544 We would happily spend the day enriching our brain cells at this light-strewn mecca for vintage, out-of-print and first-edition volumes. The ultramodern space (in a converted garage) makes a striking backdrop for endless tomes expertly organized by genre: art, architecture, surfing, prostitution! There are vintage magazines, like Nabokov-era Playboys ($25 to $50), and exhibitions of cool local artists.
- Honor Fraser
- 1337 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
(310) 433-8474 Next to Jaxon House, former model and Gagosian gallerist Honor Fraser has set up a small space to show the work of contemporary artists including Amer Kobaslija and Mark Licari.
- Jaxon House
- 1337 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
(310) 401-0080 Melissa Ross debuted her 1,800- square-foot gallery a year ago with a Dennis Hopper show. He set the cool standard, though her focus is on younger up-and-comers, mostly from L.A. When we stopped by, there was a fascinating exhibit of urban bird paintings (above) by local star Sage Vaughn.
- Neptina
- 1329 ½ Abbot Kinney Blvd.
(310) 396-1630 There's a Wonderland feel to this shop, which is packed with Technicolor glass vessels, many of them eye-poppingly enormous. From Blenko floor jars ($450 and up) to Holmegaard drinking glasses ($550 for a set of 18), the vintage stash dates from the '50s to the '70s and comes largely from Italy, Scandinavia and America. Even giddier are large-scale playground animals, hand-polished and remounted on custom-built stands.
- Patio Culture
- 1136 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
(310) 314-9700 Karla Stevens quit costume designing for The O.C. to dream up a line of pop-preppy outdoor upholstery featuring Scalamandré, Sunbrella and other weatherproof fabrics. Her retail nook brims with tailored pillows in regal greens and purples, bright stripes and sophisticated patterns ($95 to $125). Also for sale: chic grill covers and two-tone umbrellas.
- Rose
- 1225 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
(310) 399-0040 This year-old shop is likely the only spot in Venice where you'll find an antique Inuit fertility chime and a centuries-old stone snuff bottle ($165). White shelves hold museum-like displays of rarefied objects from the 18th to 21st centuries . Owner Mark Rose, who worked at designer fave Blackman Cruz, also carries solid-ash coffee tables by local artist Alma Allen ($3,200) and British jeweler Jemima Rogers' chokers crafted of beetles suspended in Lucite.
- Strange Invisible Perfumes
- 1138 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
(310) 314-1505 L.A. native Alexandra Balahoutis named her high-gloss boutique-lab after a line from Antony and Cleopatra. The 17 botanical perfumes ($185 per quarter ounce), with rich aromas and seductive monikers like Narcotic, are splayed on a marble-topped bar, and in the back you can design a custom scent in a podlike booth . Sicilian lemon and lavender-vervain body washes make for light indulgences at $25.
- Surfing Cowboys
- 1624 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
(310) 450-4891 Donna and Wayne Gunther, fashion photographers turned collectors of surf memorabilia and Hawaiiana, are always on the hunt for rare—and rad—surfing posters ($200 and up), vintage boards and related items like large macramé wall hangings. The Gunthers also showcase mid-century furniture and rustic-modern pieces by California designers from the '60s and '70s, whose work, they say, is as important as anything produced in Denmark from that time.
- Tortoise
- 1208 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
(310) 314-8448 Almost all the Japanese wares at this atelier owned by amiable Keiko Shinomoto and her furniture-designer husband, Takuhiro, are rooted in traditional crafts, yet the pieces feel utterly modern: sleek cast-iron pans ($88 and up), hand-dyed cloths (to use as dish towels or handkerchiefs), blown-glass sake sets ($76), bone-china tableware— leave room in your suitcase.
- Waraku
- 1225 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
(310) 452-5300 For a taste of Tokyo street culture, step into this sneaker fetishists? haven for limited-edition kicks by Nike, Asics and Puma, plus hardto- find Japanese brands. The Vans-like slip-ons with minimalist rabbit graphic by surf-and-Kabukiinfluenced label Namitatsu ($78) are definitely going to be a mainstay of our summer wardrobe.
