thrifting in los angeles?

i tried a SF search or four and came up empty handed. anyway, i'm heading to l.a. for a week or so starting soon and wondered where everybody's favorite thrift shops were and what they might specialize in. i'll be staying near sunset and la cienega, which is pretty central i think. suggestions, anyone?

there's a bunch of good vintage stores not far from where you'll be

on La Brea/Melrose there is Jet Rag (about 1 block north of melrose on La Brea)

then go south on La Brea and American Rag is there just below 3rd st

go back to Melrose and go west...you find Wasteland, Slow, Aardvaarks etc on the "melrose strip" in between La Brea and Fairfax

all within 5 min of each other

yup, i'll definitely take a swing by those. thanks!!!!

anyone else have any suggestions, maybe in less hip areas?

less hip areas....

Long Beach...on 4th st there is the "antique row" that has about 3 or 4 really good stores. near 4th and Cherry

there is a huge Salvation Army store on Hollywood Blvd just east of Vermont (about 10 min from the melrose area). and if you go there, check out Wacko's right across the street for the BEST bookstore in LA, if you're into pop culture, subculture. and if you do go there, walk a few storefronts down from Wackos to Glory who sell one of my favorite selvage jeans, their "1955" one rinse straight/slim leg.

I hear the influence of the Replacements? And someone else that I can't think of right now...

Oh -- I just saw the rest of your page, under "influences". I remember the Jam, Buzzocks, Stranglers (weren't there two bands w/same name? one from UK and one from US). I also have a few others in my collection, like SLF.


> Check out my band The Motives

The Replacements arent a conscious influence but we're def into their early stuff. Thanks for checking it out tho!

Originally Posted by Get Smart

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there's a bunch of good vintage stores not far from where you'll be

on La Brea/Melrose there is Jet Rag (about 1 block north of melrose on La Brea)

then go south on La Brea and American Rag is there just below 3rd st

go back to Melrose and go west...you find Wasteland, Slow, Aardvaarks etc on the "melrose strip" in between La Brea and Fairfax

all within 5 min of each other
also try Resurrection on Melrose.

edit: actually, it's not much of a thrift shop, more of a vintage clothing store.

You might want to check out Burbank.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,4-2006130217,00.html

Anybody have any experience with the vintage/thrift store in Long Beach that's on the corner of PCH and Redondo? (I can't remember the name right now.) It's not far from where I live. and I've always meant to check it out, but I have never gotten around to doing so. It looks pretty inviting, though.

Originally Posted by JLibourel

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Anybody have any experience with the vintage/thrift store in Long Beach that's on the corner of PCH and Redondo? (I can't remember the name right now.) It's not far from where I live. and I've always meant to check it out, but I have never gotten around to doing so. It looks pretty inviting, though.

Oh man, Out Of The Closet. When I was little, the "Parking In Rear" was the peak of hilarity. Unfortunately, it's not a great store. It's about as depressing and selection-free as your average Goodwill, except it's campy.

Originally Posted by Metal Circus

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Oh man, Out Of The Closet. When I was little, the "Parking In Rear" was the peak of hilarity. Unfortunately, it's not a great store. It's about as depressing and selection-free as your average Goodwill, except it's campy.

Gotta love the basket of free condoms next to the cash register, though.

I'm bumping this because I'm interested...

Any actual thrift stores worth visiting in LA? Or even consignment places with good prices and mens' clothing?

Pretty sure there was another LA thrift thread on here. Might want to search again for a rehash.

My recommendations would be based on your budget since the definition of "thrifting" changed in the late 90s. If you're looking to rummage for bargains, there are plenty of big Goodwill's. If you're looking to rummage through what someone else has rummaged through, try Aardvaark's Venice/Melrose/Pasadena (I prefer Pas as there's less scene people than Venice/Melrose). Lastly, if you're looking to go to a place that filtered what other people rummaged through, check out Ozzie Dot's on Hollywood in Los Feliz. You pay a premium on some items (nothing completely outrageous) and you'll usually find something there worth walking away with.

Originally Posted by whodini

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If you're looking to rummage through what someone else has rummaged through, try Aardvaark's Venice/Melrose/Pasadena (I prefer Pas as there's less scene people than Venice/Melrose).

I drive past Aardvark's in Pasadena every day at lunch. I might have to stop in and check it out today.

There's also an Out of the Closet not much farther down the road.

Update on Aardvarks in Pasadena:

Not that impressed. Is seems like the type of place that if you went really often and knew your brands better than the employees, you might be able to come across a deal or two. However, I dug through pretty much everything and while I can across a few orange tab levis, they were the early 80s models and not worth the 10 bucks.
Nothing in the suit department jumped out at me except a couple interesting fabrics that would have gotten me some looks even in the 70s.
They had a really cool old levis suede jacket, cut like the denim jackets. I got all hot and bothered until I noticed it was marked at $300!!!
Every pair of selvage jeans in the place was on one rack near the front. It consisted of a bunch of worn out, not worn in, jeans, so faded the red line was not even visible, and one pair of what I suspect were some cheap repros. The prices ranged from about $50 for a pair of destroyed, basically unwearable paper tag jeans, to the chinchback repros which looked like they had seen the washing machine at least 50 times, were paper thin, and had a blown out knee, marked proudly at $200!!!

All that being said, I think the store is great. All kinds of crazy stuff to dig through, and the prices of the non-boutique area stuff were not bad. Just don't expect to walk away with great stuff without paying at least ebay prices.