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:: Silverlake, Book Envy, and Christmas Shopping
Posted by Vanessa on December 1, 2007
Today was a fairly boring weekend morning, so I took Joelle’s recommendation (how come she can still think of places for me to go when she lives in London?) and sought out Reform School. No, not to cure myself of my bad behaviour; in fact Reform School is one of Silverlake’s many cute, innovative little shops. Silverlake is known for being an artsy, young neighbourhood and I’ve been driven through it a few times on the way to baseball games but had never actually stopped off there. I was delighted with Reform School; my boyfriend and I found the fantastic coasters above.
I also purchased some really excellent stocking fillers. There’s also an ecletic range of craft books and magazines, as well as unusual artwork, and some gorgeous bags (bit on the pricey side though. I do think ‘I could make that if I tried’ though my attempts would probably not be nearly as glamorous).
Not content with one street of good shops, we headed across to Vermont (near Franklin) and nosied around a really good bookshop with an entire stand devoted to McSweeney’s books. The poetry section was also great. In fact, I ended up feeling quite sorry for myself because I couldn’t afford to purchase the whole shelf. Ahem. I have forgotten what the shop is called though, because I was too eager to go to ‘House of Pies’ and have a big, yummy slice of pie. Which they delivered, although our waitress seemed very grumpy. I’ll definitely be going back, though! I’ll find out!
Both the pie, and the handbags, got me thinking - what’s worth making versus buying? I’m sure a whole pie would have been better value for money if I’d just made it myself, but on this particular day it wouldn’t have been worth the effort. On the other hand, the handbags I saw inspired me to maybe have a go at a bit of DIY, possibly because I’d been priced out of the market.
Categories: christmas, los angeles, shopping
Tags: books, handbags, pie, reform school, silverlake
Joelle says:
December 2nd, 2007 at 6:08 am
Gosh, I am so envious of you being near Reform School. I love just about every thing on their website. Actually, perhaps its a good job they have no branch in London or I’d be broke.
Reduce, reuse, recycle, rebel - like it.
Kirsty says:
December 3rd, 2007 at 10:27 pm
The making versus buying issue has been on my mind a lot lately, too. Most crafts require an initial outlay, meaning that you’d probably need to be planning to make a substantial amount to begin to see a saving. And then there’s the time expense; with knitting being such a time consuming craft, most of my projects tend to be made for love not profit.
Vanessa says:
December 3rd, 2007 at 10:35 pm
True. That’s what makes homemade stuff so special, it’s often a real labour of love! But the things I have that were made - like that gorgeous clutch you made - I treasure all the more when I use.