Shop ’til you drop in Los Angeles

If you want to spend money, you are in the right city.  Whether it’s Gucci or Target, opportunities to drop large amounts of cash abound. The following is a guide to some popular shopping locales in the Los Angeles basin. I have included both street-side shopping districts, indoor malls, and outdoor malls. This list is by no means all-inclusive (Los Angeles is huge!); it is arranged from basically from west to east.

Santa Monica Promenade

The fine people of Santa Monica turned 3rd Street into a lovely walking mall, filled with shops and restaurants. The attractions for me here are the fancy art bookstores: Arcana and Hennessey + Ingalls. Even though it is outdoors, there is a no smoking policy: Santa Monica is a people place after all. This promenade is a favorite tourist spot too. The mall at one end, Santa Monica Place, is scheduled to open on 8/6/10.

Santa Monica Place

Westside Pavilion

This place reminds me of the malls they built when I was a kid. It is huge indoor empire of shopping. Be sure to check out the nearby Apple Pan for a trip back in time to a happy burger place.

Westfield Century City

My favorite thing about this mall is that it is close to the Fox Tower, of “Die Hard” fame. My second favorite thing about this mall is the food court, which is really top-notch. This is an upscale, outdoor shopping mall near Beverly Hills. I am afraid of how much the parking costs, so I always arrive by bicycle.

Rodeo Drive

This very expensive Beverly Hills shopping district is one of those places on the earth where every high-end brand must have a store, and preferably a flagship store. Think Gucci, Prada, Dior, Versace, Dolce Gabbana and you get the idea. No one I know actually shops here, but the people watching and window shopping are great.

Robertson Boulevard

This westside shopping street is full of upscale boutiques and restaurants. It is a very chic location and a good place to spot celebrities.

Beverly Center

This huge building looks like an odd spaceship that landed on the corner. The screens in the movie theater are kinda small, but the matinee prices are reasonable. There is an H&M store in here and that floats some people’s boat. This place has definitely seen better days, but it is fun to walk up the stairwells on the side and also check out the large interior space.

The Beverly Center

The Grove

The Grove is a more recent mall, with a lot of nice outdoor space. In the summer, most of the stores keep their doors open; the AC streams outside and creates a consumer powered cool micro-climate. This is another good celebrity spotting site. The food stalls at the nearby Farmers Market are a huge plus.

Hollywood and Highland

This is a very corporate mall built in the heart of the Hollywood tourist zone. It does have some things going for it though: the huge white elephants, the metro station in the basement, the relatively cheap parking garage, and occasional concerts in the interior space of the mall.

White elephant at Hollywood and Highland

Melrose Avenue

This street is a mellow shopping zone where the prices are not over the moon (in general, more affordable the farther east you go). I like the clothes re-sellers (like Crossroads or Wasteland). Melrose is also a great place to buy sneakers (especially the Fairfax and Melrose intersection where the sneaker stores spread down onto Fairfax).

The Americana

If you want more of the Grove, then this is the place for you. The developer of these places, Rick Caruso, specializes in extravagant “mediated public spaces.”

The Americana at Brand

Glendale Galleria

This place is kinda dated but that is why I like it so much. The Americana was built immediately next the Glendale Galleria; a walk from the one shopping center to the other is a very strange and informative journey.

Sherman Oaks Galleria

I have neglecting the Valley in this list! The original Sherman Oaks Galleria was featured prominently in our favorite movie, “Valley Girl.” Of course they had to tear the old mall down and rebuild it. Such is life.

Westfield Fashion Square

To be honest I have never been to this one. I like the name, because it reminds of the Fashion Square mall of my childhood. It sounds like this is a very pleasant suburban destination, again in the Valley.

Citadel Outlet

It’s a mall filled with outlet stores! If that is not strange enough for you yet, this place is housed in a massive reconstruction of an Assyrian Castle that was a tire factory in the 1930′s.

Citadel Outlets

Paseo Colorado

Downtown Pasadena has a nice shopping district along Colorado Boulevard and Green Street, of which the Paseo Colorado mall is a part. This place is concieved as a “urban village,” which I think means you never have to leave if you don’t want to.

My apologies to the outlying shopping areas; I have neglected so many places in this partial list. In any event, I hope this is helpful to all the consumers out there!

[Photos courtesy of Alo Lopez, dj drüe, prayitno and Noah Albert]