Daughter #2 and I made the trek to the Los Angeles fabric district today. Our mission: to purchase lace, netting and satin for her wedding dress. Certainly not the nicest neighborhood. No, I'm being too nice. Truth is: It is a horrible neighborhood, but worth the trip. The deals were awesome!Vivian's advice for you if you ever go to that neighborhood:
1. don't park on the street.
2. park in a designated parking lot only. (costs about $6.00 for the day)
3. don't make eye contact with anyone.
4. don't dress like a tourist--try to blend in, if you can.
5. don't eat the food down there.
6. don't use the bathrooms down there.
7. carry pepper spray, if you have it.
8. clean your hands with antibacterial spray when you get back to your car.
9. pray your car is o.k. and is still in the parking lot.
10. never settle for the price they first tell you...those people are ready to wheel-and-deal!
The Michael Levine store is the first store we went to. Huge and great prices. Lots of fabrics and notions of all kinds. But we went to all the little stores too in the neighborhood. Finally we found a little shop with bolts of gorgeous fabrics, wall to wall, floor to ceiling. There, we got everything we needed....and the prices were great!
Here are a few more views of LA. See the layer of smog as we drove into to town? Cough. Cough. My daughter goes to LA all the time. She loves it. I only like to visit on occasion. I prefer living in my quiet little neighborhood in Orange County!
Here's a picture of the downtown area they are trying to clean up and renovate. My daughter worked on the film Spiderman 3 on this very street. It's where the Sandman made a big sandstorm and taxi cabs went flying all around. It looks like New York City, don't you think? This old part of Los Angeles is used for lots of movies and shows that we, the audience, thinks it is New York City. More Hollywood magic!
Oh, such adventures Daughter #2 and I have! I will miss her when she gets married this Dec.
4 comments:
Gosh! After I saw this district in a magazine, I told myself that if I got another trip to L.A. I'd definitely go. On one of my last trips out there (several years ago) some ratfink stole my laptop from the trunk of my rental car. Since then when I travel, I've always kept my laptop by my side, and it's a huge pain. So, gee, would one want to go to the fabric district alone? Thanks for the wonderful list of advice!
I remember going to LA for fabric when Kimberly was getting married. (Her mother-in-law wanted to sew her dress for her.) We ran back to where our car was parked to feed the meter and found we had a ticket. We fed the meter thinking all was well and returned to find another parking ticket on the windshield. TWO TICKETS! I guess your time was limited to one hour per parking space. You literally have to move your car or you'll get a ticket. They don't care how much money you put in the parking meter. It was an education. That material ended up costing a fortune!
Oh - the memories - I used to love to go to the garment district when I lived in CA. Of course I had no idea of dangers I was 14 - grin - .
You have a beautiful family!
Hmm, I never had any problems whenever I shopped in the fabric district. But then again I was a student and didn't worry about such things way back then. We used to shop at Michael Levine's all the time! And there's a great bead shop around the corner where we'd get Swarovski crystals from. The next time you're in LA, check out International Silks & Woolens on Beverly Blvd near the Beverly Center. It has an awesome selection of fabrics. Not as cheap as the fabric district but gorgeous goods. :-)
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