Where to Shop & Eat in LA

We've been meaning to share with you our favorite list of where to shop and eat in LA. It occured to us whenever we travel--that how nice it would be to have someone shares the local spots--as if they were your friend.

Well, we'd like to consider you our friend, and here is our short list:

Where to shop for home furnishings:

Most of the home furnishing stores are located in the West Hollywood/Melrose area--but our favorites is Weego, which is located in Santa Monica. Their stuff is very much our style, fresh and fun and colorful. Decently-priced too..

Another fabulous store is Grace Home in Brentwood. In fact this is our favorite store in all of LA. It's small but it's done very well. Pricey though.

Where to shop for clothes

For clothes/shoes shopping, the better stores are located on Robertson Blvd/Melrose Blvd. Rodeo Drive is actually quite boring and stuffy.

A great place for outlet shopping is the Camarillo outlet, which is about 30-40 minutes from LA. Here you'll find some very high-end stores like Saks, Neiman Marcus, Dolce & Gabana. Shop wisely though. Not everything is a bargain.

Where to eat

For eating, our favorite thing to do in the world, a marvelous place to try is Beechwood in Marina Del Rey. Their sweet potatoes fries and Angus burger are to die for. So yummy.

Gjelina on Abbott Kinney in Venice opened about a year ago and got rave reviews. The food is excellent.

For amazing Chinese food, try the San Gabriel/Abraham area. Check the LA Times food section for the latest spots.

For Vietnamese food, you'll have to drive down little Saigon off Bolsa in Anaheim.

What to do:

A very LA thing to do, is to see a classic movie at the Hollywood Cemetary in the summer. Click here for movie schedule.

Go rollerblading along Santa Monica & Venice. You can go for miles, and the people watching part is a blast.

Have a drink at Shutters or Casa Del Mar and watch the sunset... At night, go to the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica and have a drink by the pool while laying beneath the palm tree. It's a marvelous bar at night. Beautiful & young crowd.

For updated listing of things to do, check out Caroline on Crack, an LA blog.

Would you like to share your list? We'd love to have it! Please send us your favorite spots in your town, with some pictures if possible, and we'll publish it.