STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

bluediamond · Dooney & Bourke

Santa Monica

crystal · Kate Spade

well you came to the right place! i live in santa monica, so you can ask me anything! my recs will depend on your budget, but for now i'll assume that it's limitless (hehe, nice assumption, eh?). for hotels, i would say shutters is the ultimate. it's on the beach & totally fancy! some other great ones are casa del mar, loews, and viceroy. they are all on the beach (well, viceroy is across the street, but it's SUPER trendy). the location of those is pretty good, they are all on ocean ave between pico and colorado, but closer to pico. shopping starts on colorado which can be quite a long walk from pico, but not impossible. if shopping is going to be the main focus of your trip though, i would go for hotel carmel. it's on 2nd and broadway (shopping is on 3rd & broadway).

there are also plenty of restaurants in that area. some of the best are: i cuigini, il fornaio, lobster, sushi roku (i used to work there, but it really is good, i'm not biased), boa steakhouse. these are all on ocean ave, but there are good places on the promenade (3rd street) also. all of these will be walking distance from hotel carmel, and i'd say about a 20 minute walk from the other hotels i mentioned.

hmm, as for length of stay, 2 days seems a little short to me, but i'm not really sure how long people usually stay. there will be PLENTY to do in 2 days, between the beach, shopping, dining, you will not be bored. where are you from? the reason i ask is depending on how often you come to california will also influence how long your stay should be. if you will have a car here, you should definitely check out the rest of LA, but that would take hours to tell you all the places to go & would require a MUCH longer stay. let me know if you have any other questions!

Lilykind · Hermes

I live close by, in Westwood.

The closer to the ocean you stay, the better off you'll be. Most of the shopping is concentrated on the Promenade. Plus the ever-legendary Fred Segal is on 5th and Broadway. There's also some shopping on Main that's more neighborhoody, boutique-y and loads less crowded than the Promenade.

If you have a car, you should make your way out to Montana between 10th -16th for even more shopping (tends to be on the higher end, there's a London Sole Store, Dermalogica, Kiehls, Jack Nicholson's daughter's store and lots more).

BTW, I do the walk from Ocean/Pico to the Promenade frequently, its about 10-15 minutes at the most. If you're used to walking, it's not a big deal at all, but everyone seems to enjoy driving their car to places even if they're only two blocks away.

crystal · Kate Spade

Lilykind wrote:

everyone seems to enjoy driving their car to places even if they're only two blocks away.

haha, yep, i sure do!! i dunno, i guess i've just never really done that walk before and i'm a bad judge of distance so it seems long to me.

good call on the fred segal, can't believe i forgot to mention it!! duh! also, tara reid's brothers store is on montana & 7th (since we're mentioning celebrities' relative's stores ). it's got lots of denim & cute junk food tees. lucy is also a great place to find workout clothes (on montana), but i think it's online so it may be no big deal. planet blue is another gem on montana, it's on the higher end, but has great stuff!

Tara · Dooney & Bourke

Lilykind and Crystal did a great job summarizing SM....I just have one thing to add:

I *love* the chocolate peanut butter gelato at the Angelato Cafe (Arizona and 3rd - on the 3rd street promenade)!

Oh, and check out a movie at the Laemmle Monica (2nd street just west of the promenade) - it is my fav SM theater.