One of a Kind L.A.
It almost reads like an oxymoron since the entire City of Los Angeles can be described as "one of a kind." But, it's the holiday season, and we're talking shopping here. In a city that aspires to trend setting, it's not much of a stretch to find cool bling for your friends and family (and for yourself!). Famed Melrose Avenue offers many unusual shops, but how often these days do you actually come upon an independent bookstore? Bodhi Tree (www.bodhitree.com) offers all things New Age and spiritual, from books to videotapes, as well as a gift section where you can stock up on basic necessities like multiple brands of patchouli oil and eye-catching Tarot cards. Also adhering to the spiritual bent is the Self-Realization Lake Shrine (www.yogananda-srf.org/temples/lakeshrine) near the beach in Pacific Palisades. Open to the public, the lovely gift shop/museum stocks an eclectic assortment of handcrafted jewelry in all price ranges, bright woven accessories, incense sticks and cones, and the burners to use them in. Pièce de resistance for interesting items are the mom-and-pop-type shops at the historic Farmers Market (farmersmarketla.com) where, among the stalls, you can pick up a mind-boggling (and fire-inducing) array of hot sauces ranging from mild to Help! at Light My Fire along with delectable made-from-scratch sweets at circa-1920's Littlejohn's English Toffee House that turns out handmade toffees, fudge, marzipan, honeycomb, and other melt-in-your-mouth confections (this is risky, since your purchases might not make it beyond the parking lot!). Don't overlook the many fine museum stores. One example is the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (www.nhm.org) in downtown's Exposition Park where you can pick up replica relics of L.A.'s dinosaur past such as postcards, figurines, stuffed animals, and some scary-looking stuff. And, though there are plenty of touristy-type souvenir shops along Hollywood Boulevard, serious collectors head to Burbank's Book Castle's Movie World (www.bookcastlesmovieworld.com) to select from a 30-plus-year stash of movie posters, entertainment industry-related books and back-issue magazines, masks, stills, and Maltese Falcon reproductions. What other city has a shop like that, I ask you??
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