What Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills is to the rich, Melrose Avenue of Los Angeles' westside is to kitsch. You won't find retailers like Cartier and Gucci on Melrose as you would on ritzy Rodeo. That's not to say the shop-strewn street that adorns portions of L.A. and West Hollywood isn't fashionable. It is. But just as they say about beauty, fashion, too, is in the eye of the beholder.
Melrose Avenue caters to a contemporary, off-beat audience -- those who are into funky clothes, gaudy jewelry, peculiar artwork, odd furniture, bizarre trinkets and just about anything else that's kooky, zany or left of center. So it's no wonder that the boutiques, as well as the people who patronize them, are wonderful sources for window shopping and people watching.
In the 1950s, decades before such imaginatively named stores as the Soap Plant, Wacko, War Babies, Aardvark's and Bleecker Bob's had sprung up or moved in from other L.A. locations, Melrose was just another cross-town surface street notable for its furniture showrooms, upholsterers, picture-framing shops and various artisans. When Patrick Terrail's phenomenally successful Ma Maison restaurant opened on Melrose, it encouraged the addition of other tony eateries and galleries and drew the carriage trade down from Beverly Hills, Bel Air and other upper-class communities.
Melrose has taken on a much different look and crowd since the 1980s, when it became the funky retail street of Los Angeles. Bland, two-story, stucco buildings suddenly housed unique, colorful shops and cafes, most of them frequented by folks whose tastes might be considered outlandish by much of Middle-America. Leather-wearing rock 'n' rollers and punks in spiked rainbow colored hairdos are common sights along the busiest stretch of Melrose, between Fairfax and La Brea avenues. Here, you'll also find one-of-a-kind boutiques and small, chic restaurants for more than a dozen blocks -- places like the Soap Plant (for bizarre books, candles and bric-a-brac), Wacko (toys, trinkets and postcards), Aardvark's (vintage and used clothing), Maya (madcap jewelry) and Bleecker Bob's (used records).
Melrose Avenue, besides serving as one of L.A.'s major pedestrian islands, is home to a significant architectural and commercial monument. The Pacific Design Center, built in 1975, is a massive, brilliant blue glass complex containing 1.2 million square feet of fabric and accessory showrooms, furnishings and furniture. Set apart from its Iow-rise residential setting at he corner of Melrose and San Vicente avenues, the PDC or 'Blue Whale' as it is affectionally called by locals, is open on weekdays, but with a caveat. Except on special market days, only professional decorators and designers may purchase merchandise from wholesalers who exhibit their wares inside. The public, however, is invited to browse and dine at the PCD, just as they are all along stylish Melrose Avenue.
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