It’s commonly understood that the best way to explore a new place is to go straight to the locals. Each week in the Urbanist, we take that wisdom one step further by seeking out not just locals but local experts — those who are especially well versed in their cities’ newest and most noteworthy scenes — to give us insider recommendations. This week, we asked fashion designer Zoe Latta, co-founder of Eckhaus Latta, for her picks in California’s largest city.
“I relocated to Los Angeles in my late 20s, and it felt so foreign to me even though I grew up in Northern California. Every time I found myself having a quintessential L.A. experience, like taking your dog to Lake Hollywood Park, where you can see the Hollywood sign, or sneaking into the pool at Chateau Marmont, I realized there were so many more to be had. I don’t think people understand the scale of Los Angeles. It’s massive, and in that massiveness you can have anything. You can have a cosmopolitan experience and basically any cuisine you desire. You have access to beautiful beaches, amazing museums, hiking trails, restaurants, performances, and events, but there’s no way you’ll do what you want to do here in a day or two. The beach is not part of everyday life here unless you’re situated on the west side (or near it). I get most excited here when I am localized in a neighborhood. Pick an area and really devour it.”
Her Other Musts
Hotels
“I just worked on a project with the Proper Hotel (700 Wilshire Blvd.; 310-620-9990) in Santa Monica, and it’s gorgeous — I love how attentive it is to interior design and its lack of uniformity. Kelly Wearstler designed the interiors, and they’re full of earthy tones and different textures. It’s huge — 271 rooms and suites — and you can rent bikes at the hotel valet and take a five-or-so-minute ride to the beach. We did the uniforms for Onda, the restaurant there that Gabriela Cámara (Contramar in Mexico City) and Jessica Koslow (Sqirl in L.A.) collaborated on. I’m excited that Sqirl is a part of this; its food deserves a sit-down, being-waited-on experience. Onda’s food is a really beautiful marriage of the two chefs: halibut tartare with trout roe and jicama, smoked-trout tostadas that have the umami of pulled pork, a whole fish breaded with tapioca balls then fried — mind-blowing.”
Restaurants
“The Highland Park/Cypress Park/Lincoln Heights/Chinatown area has so much to offer, and I love how all the neighborhoods bleed together. On Figueroa in Highland Park, I love Nancy Silverton’s Triple Beam Pizza (5918 N. Figueroa St.), where you pick your slices by weight. You can get an inch-wide piece of pizza and get, like, seven of them because all the flavors are really great. My favorites are the acorn squash and spicy asparagus. Silverton is also the queen of bread in L.A. Triple Beam’s focaccia is exceptional. Plus, behind it is Highland Park Wine (97 Woodbridge Ave.), from which you can BYOB to Triple Beam. In the same complex is Hippo (5916½ N. Figueroa St.), a California take on Italian food. The dishes are very olive oil and plant based. The appetizer and vegetable options are really beautiful: green beans, cauliflower. On York Boulevard is Parsnip (5623 York Blvd.), a very casual Romanian restaurant. I love what they’re doing there; it feels very exciting and new. I’m not experienced with Romanian food, so I don’t know if it’s an authentic experience. But it feels like half-Mediterranean, half–Eastern European with polenta dumplings stuffed with brussels sprouts and red peppers. It’s very good comfort food.”
Natural-Wine Store
“Psychic Wines (2825 Bellevue Ave.; 213-915-0600) in Silver Lake is the best wine shop in the world, and if you call ahead at Sqirl (720 N. Virgil Ave., No. 4; 323-284 8147), you can skip the line and just take the food to go and eat and drink at the Reservoir. It’s a nice two-mile loop with really amazing architecture on one side — mid-century houses designed by Rudolph Schindler and Richard Neutra — and this man-made lake on the other. Psychic Wines carries only natural wine. There isn’t anything I’ve gotten there that I haven’t liked. What they carry changes often, and the staff is very well educated and passionate about it. It’s fun to go and talk to them. I don’t go to bars in L.A. nearly as much as I do in other cities. I prefer to buy natural wine at Psychic and drink it with friends at their homes.”
Boutiques
“I go to stores like some people go to museums, to see what’s going on in the world of fashion. I also have my own store and constantly think about the retail experience in L.A. The new Eckhaus Latta store (980B N. Broadway), of course, is a must. Our brand is unisex, so there are men’s and women’s offerings there, including our classic jeans in every size and our Ugg collaboration. The neighborhood, Chinatown, I adore. There are a lot of like-minded, independent businesses, like Building Block (970 N. Broadway, No. 104), which has an accessories line; the showroom for Hansel From Basel (970 N. Broadway, No. 106), a sock company; and my dear friend Sonya’s Come Tees brand, which has a shop across the street called Classic Hits (943 N. Broadway, second floor).
“The way Dover Street Market (608 Imperial St.) visually merchandises things and collaborates with designers, myself included, is unlike any other store. It’s very experiential. I think their consideration of that is very important in this day and age of retail. Why go unless you’re really gonna get to touch and feel and try things on and contextualize the brand that’s making the clothes you want to buy. They have well-trained, attentive salespeople. Even if you don’t spend a penny, you’re welcome there and you can really explore.
“I adore Mameg (9970 S. Santa Monica Blvd.) in the back of the Margiela store in Beverly Hills. Everyone who works there is so welcoming, and the offering is very thoughtful. It’s like 70 percent Margiela and 30 percent other European designers: Haider Ackermann, Bernhard Willhelm, Bless, Vivienne Westwood. Where Mameg focuses on European designers, Noodle Stories (8323 W. 3rd St.) has an incredible offering of Japanese designers: Commes des Garçons, Issey Miyake, and Yohji Yamamoto. It has been in L.A. for decades and has a devoted clientele. They’re definitely for older women, which would be who’s keeping the lights on there, but it’s interesting for everyone.”
Vintage and Secondhand Shops
“The RealReal (8500 Melrose Ave.) always has a good assortment. I like the conversation they’re having regarding consumerism and sustainability. I really enjoy that they have programming. Julie Gilhart, the former fashion director of Barneys, gave a talk there about sustainability and fashion that was not an ad for buying secondhand clothing but at the same time really drove the message home. Wasteland (7428 Melrose Ave.) has such a high turnover of vintage and consignment designer items that I always find something new there. It’s like the Beacon’s Closet of L.A. with maybe more designer stuff. I recently found this amazing old mechanic’s jumpsuit, or maybe an aviator’s suit. It’s white with red stripes. I don’t know where the hell else I would have found that. It’s nothing you can, like, search for.
“At Replika Vintage (1812 N. Broadway), owner Danny Flynn is a walking fashion encyclopedia and always has mind-blowing pieces. He knows when something is a runway sample from a Vivienne Westwood collection in the ’80s. He has affordable pieces on his Instagram and in his store. He also has a space inside the Fred Segal store (8500 W. Sunset Blvd.) in Santa Monica. Danny is a big Jean Paul Gaultier collector. He treats the care of his clothes like more than a full-time job; they’re like his children. It’s just a really beautiful relationship with clothing, like, ‘This garment has a story and a provenance, and I know as much as I can about it and how to fix it.’”
Museums and Galleries
“It’s a nice caliber of art here in L.A. without being pretentious and hard to access. I’m really excited about the programming and the new lineup at The Museum of Contemporary Art with Mia Locks taking a curatorial role and Klaus Biesenbach as the new director. He recently organized an installation with Barbara Kruger at the Geffen Contemporary branch at MOCA (152 North Central Ave.; 213-625-4390). Gaga & Reena Spaulings Fine Art (2228 W. 7th St.) is two galleries — House of Gaga from Mexico City and the latter from New York — that share a space in MacArthur Park. The space itself is beautiful, and I think it’s really cool that two businesses share it although their programming is different. They’ve had some really moving shows with Leidy Churchman, Kim Gordon, and Karl Holmqvist.”
Beach
“For a public-access beach that’s still kind of secret, there’s Escondido Beach (27148 Pacific Coast Highway) in Malibu. You park on the Pacific Coast Highway, where there’s this little sign that says ‘Coastal Access.’ To get to the beach, you go down this really wild staircase (past Meadows Court) that is between two houses. There won’t be tons of people on the beach. You can’t do fires there, and technically you’re not allowed to have dogs off leash. A lot of my friends don’t wear bathing-suit tops there, and that’s fine. There’s bougainvillea growing on the beach, and there’s not as much sand. It feels like a long cove, a little more intimate.”
More Destinations
- The Urbanist’s Guide to Approachable, Unusual Hikes
- The Urbanist’s Guide to the Beaches of New Jersey
- The Urbanist’s Guide to Tucson