I haven’t been in L.A. in almost 20 years but at the time, Melrose Ave. used to be a great place to shop for clothes of all price ranges. However, I almost never hear people talk about it anymore. Is it still a popular street to shop on for clothes or not? If not, where’s the new popular place to shop in L.A. that has clothes of all prices? Any men’s clothing stores you’d like to mention that you like?
| by Anonymous | reply 31 | January 26, 2022 7:50 PM |
Melrose is a dystopian wasteland. No one really walks there anymore, it's like that dead zone from Planet of the Apes. That said, La Brea between Wilshire and Santa Monica has become the somewhat hip place to buy furniture some cloths but not much and a hand full of decent restaurants. But that was all pre-Covid. It's probably dead now too!
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | May 9, 2021 6:41 AM |
What R2 said. Even more so after the pandemic. It's not an interesting place to hang out like in the 90's-2010-ish. It's sad.
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | May 9, 2021 7:09 AM |
Melrose is a dump. Fairfax, starting at Melrose has become home to a lot of hypebeast skate brands that teenagers line up around the block for, but they’re just corporate pap.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | May 9, 2021 7:19 AM |
Ever since that crazy doctor, Kimberly Shaw i believe, blew up an apartment complex there in 1995, it's been downhill on Melrose
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | May 9, 2021 7:20 AM |
R2, R3 How sad. I used to have such fun shopping on Melrose back in the late 90’s and early 00’s when I was last there, but I’d had a feeling it must be dead now since you never hear anyone talk about it anymore. There used to be so many shops that I loved. Although I like online shopping, it also sucks because you don’t get to try stuff on in person and then you have to go through the trouble of shipping it back if it doesn’t fit or you don’t like it.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | May 9, 2021 7:42 AM |
R4 How sad it’s a dump now. Why doesn’t West Hollywood do something to revamp the street? I will say the buildings were ugly and rundown.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | May 9, 2021 7:44 AM |
Bump for more input from LA queens.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | May 9, 2021 8:13 PM |
I think datalounge is an older audience than the crowd on melrose. People still shop there but they’re in their 20’s.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | January 25, 2022 11:19 PM |
In the 80s Olivia Newton-John opened her flagship Koala Blue boutique on Melrose when it was a hot, trendy area.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | January 25, 2022 11:22 PM |
Do any Dataloungers pass by it? What’s it like now? What’s the general area like? What’s the area like to live?
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | January 25, 2022 11:29 PM |
It’s impossible to talk about what’s happened to melrose without talking about race. Ever since the riots, it’s been riddled with crime. Mostly committed by young black men. This is demographic fact, look it up. The young blacks in the area also litter like you have never seen in your life. They are total pigs who have no respect for the neighborhood.
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | January 25, 2022 11:32 PM |
Lets hear some more! Havent been to la in more than 30 yrs.
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | January 25, 2022 11:35 PM |
I recently moved back to LA and near that area. It's been dead a while, the pandemic just sped things along.
I lived in the same area in the mid 90s to the early 00s and it was a hot area. Everyone started moving to Silverlake and that area because it was becoming so expensive. Now it is a bargain compared to the Eastside.
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | January 25, 2022 11:36 PM |
It used to be the hip place to get clothes, shoes, records, etc..Melrose Place made it a tourist spot, then the internet made it irrelevant.
| by Anonymous | reply 16 | January 25, 2022 11:39 PM |
I literally ran into Belinda Carlisle there.
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | January 25, 2022 11:44 PM |
r17 oh baby! do you know what that's worth?
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | January 25, 2022 11:46 PM |
I was over there today at lunchtime and picked up a great Japanese 90s designer sweater for $20. The vibe was nice, sun was shining. Are any of the people talking about how awful it is actually here in LA? Granted it has skewed younger and more racially / ethnically diverse in the last few years but the only reason you’d have a problem with that would be if you’re a cranky racist lol.
| by Anonymous | reply 19 | January 25, 2022 11:53 PM |
[quote] Melrose is a dystopian wasteland.
Describing Melrose as a wasteland without making a Wasteland joke is a bit of a waste tbqh.
| by Anonymous | reply 20 | January 25, 2022 11:57 PM |
When I was a teenager in the 90s, going to Melrose was a rite of passage. So much fun and full of life. I remember buying Nirvana T-shirts there, ditto weed, eating at the lame Johnny Rockets on Gardner.
Now it's just sad.
| by Anonymous | reply 21 | January 26, 2022 12:05 AM |
Lol R21 yes youth culture changes over time.
| by Anonymous | reply 22 | January 26, 2022 12:10 AM |
R22, it's not the ephemeral nature of youth culture I was talking about.
I was lamenting how a once vital part of the city is now a ghost town. And of course change happens everywhere. Doesn't mean commenting on it - especially when a thread asks us to - is somehow worthy of derision.
| by Anonymous | reply 23 | January 26, 2022 1:05 AM |
R23 but it’s not a ghost town in the slightest - you’ve clearly not been there recently. It’s one of the busier parts of town. Idk when the last time you were down there but I was down there today and it was busy. How wrong you are is worthy of derision.
| by Anonymous | reply 24 | January 26, 2022 3:46 AM |
R18 more like Head Over Heels
| by Anonymous | reply 25 | January 26, 2022 4:17 PM |
Recall running into Jeff Conaway at big gay porn vid store. Forget the name.
| by Anonymous | reply 26 | January 26, 2022 4:23 PM |
There used to be so many funky stores on Melrose. The Last Wound Up was my favorite, but I remember buying lots of records and clothes on the street back in the day.
Went back recently. There are still a few good stores, including a great record store (I do like vintage jazz on vinyl), but many stores were closed and empty. I had mixed emotions.
| by Anonymous | reply 27 | January 26, 2022 4:27 PM |
There are still stores there but not much foot traffic. The people getting mugged while they were lunching last year didn't help matters. There is more foot traffic around Fairfax/The Grove and also La Brea, as a poster above mentioned. More people hang out in Silverlake and Santa Monica, some on Miracle Mile / Museum Row-- but shopping in boutique stores is a mostly dead activity.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 28 | January 26, 2022 4:40 PM |
r7- West Hollywood ends a little past La Cienega, so anything east of Fairfax is not their domain. There was a time maybe 5 years ago that the true WeHo part of Melrose was a shopping dream- McQueen, Balenciaga, Vivenne Westwood, All Saints, Marc Jacobs, Theory, GStar, Chrome Hearts, John Varvados.
Then Kitson moved in and ruined the rent prices. Since the pandemic, more stores closed down- Kitson (but they pretty much own Roberston now), Balenciaga, Untucked, Sweaty Betty, Zadig & Voltaire- but now the Instagram/Tik Tok stores have taken over- Pretty Little Things (I think that's the name), Marcell Von Berlin, RtA, The Real Real, Lululemon, Rag & Bone, Glossier, Byredo, and others, so this little part of Melrose (between Crescent Heights and Doheny) is busy with all the frickin' influencer kids. Keep in mind too, the Melrose Place stores- those are more mid/high-end: Marni, Zimmerman, Isabel Marant Frame, Balmain.
Many of the residents (including myself) blame all the muggings and robberies due to Cookies (Cannabis store)- apparently they used to sell wholesale and it was cash only, so you would get dealers with tons of cash hanging out in the area. Some guy got his $250,000 Rolex mugged from him at Urth Cafe, and we've had a shooting right in front of RtA. This stuff didn't happen when the Artist Tree opened up few years earlier, because they didn't sell wholesale.
| by Anonymous | reply 29 | January 26, 2022 4:54 PM |
Back in the early 2000’s, I used to love an Art Deco furniture place on Melrose, called Boo Radley’s. Had some amazing 1930’s pieces, a couple of which I bought and still have. But I went by there around 2012 or so, and all the Deco was gone. They had switched to mostly Midcentury Modern furniture, which has become more trendy with the Millennial crowd. Oh well….
| by Anonymous | reply 30 | January 26, 2022 4:59 PM |
^ I remember Boo. Was that the queen who ran it? He use to get a hard on when we talked about the Normandie.
| by Anonymous | reply 31 | January 26, 2022 7:50 PM |
