They say the best things in life are free. The best are priceless things like your health, your family, friendship, or a special feeling or experience.
The next best things, or second best in life are really expensive like a home in Beverly Hills, a new car, a diamond ring, or a great vacation in the South of France.
After that, the third best thing is a deeply discounted bargain. The best place for bargains is Santee Alley in downtown Los Angeles. Santee Alley is made up of the a few flagship stores like Michael Levine for fabrics, Moskatells for crafty items, and The Bead Factory, carrying a large range of beads of all shapes and sizes - especially Bohemian crystals.
Besides those, there are hundreds of small shops. You can find a variety of cheap stuff like costume jewelry, scarves, clothing, videos, sunglasses, hats, stripper high heels, live turtles in plastic habitats, …etc. Among all the chachkees are some of my “third” favorites that come in handy during gift giving time.
Every Christmas, I make 50 blankets to pass out to the needy. Many stores carry quality fleece fabric in 60” widths for $1-$2 per yard, coming in a range of colors, patterns and thicknesses. Most of the stores are located on Olympic, Maple and 9th Street. By the time I have assembled the blanket, I have spent less than $10 on a snuggly and durable blanket that will endure the harshest of Los Angeles winters.
Another favorite gift item is glittery “bling” jewelry such as rings, bracelets, bangles, necklaces, etc. There are rows of countless shops located on Olympic. While you are buying a rhinestone tiara for the bride-to-be, don’t forget to pick up a pair of shiny cubic zirconia diamond earrings. You will feel like a millions bucks (the second best thing). For the groom-to-be, you can get him the ultimate bling, a diamond studded dollar signs on thick golden chain which may be the closest thing he gets to the real thing once he pays for the wedding.
Speaking of gifts for men, which can always be the challenge of every gift-giving season. There are a range of unique lighters that appeal to the macho in all in the shapes of footballs, guns, dolphins, alligators, cars, golf clubs, and other random and obscene shapes that the lady that I am cannot mention.
Other gift ideas are sports caps with most all team logo of any sport whether college, professional, football, basketball, and football. For the hard to please teenager you can get them ninja warrior weapons like throwing stars and nunchuks. You may even be lucky enough to find a bootlegged CD of the Teenage Ninja Turtles to go along with that and the plastic turtle habitat.
In fact, that would be one of the best thematic gifts I could ever come with: Ninja Turtle CD, a Teenage Ninja Turtle CD, and baby turtles in a plastic habitat. I would just be afraid that they might get thrown down the sewer along with green mutagent.
Although shopping downtown is super fun and there are many bargains to be had, here are my disclaimers.
- Parking can cost up to $10. So make sure your shopping excursion is worth spending that much off the top.
- You might be tempted to get a pair of colored contact lenses to make your eyes purple, cat-like, or completely white. Neon might be an interesting thought, but may not be so good for the health of your eyes.
- Three are street vendors selling cute little animals like baby bunnies, turtles, hamsters, birds, even cats and dogs. (I have seen pit bulls sold for $60). Most likely they were born into a mill. We would not want to encourage animal mills.
- Counterfeit merchandise namely purses is illegal due to copyright infringement, and it is rumored that profits from designer knock-off products support Al-Kaida, or the Mexican drug lords. The LAPD is continuously busting shops every weekend. So if you want to shop with a good conscience, buy generic brands. Most likely they are made in China.
NEED TO KNOW:
Santee Alley
Located within two blocks between Santee Street, Maple Avenue, Olympic Blvd., and 12th Street
Hours: 365 days a year from 9:30 am to 6:00 pm.
Check out their website here: http://www.thesanteealley.com
SUE HELMY Sue Helmy has plenty of tricks up her sleeve. She is currently providing superb concierge duties at the Building and Safety Division of the City of Beverly Hills. She is active in countless church and civic organizations and spends every minute she can spare dancing to the zumba beat.
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 94
Pub: Nov 21, 2014
