Gilt Groupe

If you don’t get your fix of sample sales during the holiday season, or are too busy with finals to go check them out, I’d recommend trying out Gilt Groupe, a website that offers a new 72-hour sale every day. Gilt Groupe markets itself as an exclusive shopping experience – sales are only accessible for members who sign up by invitation only. In reality, it’s not that exclusive. I’m a member and could easily send any one of you an invitation to sign up.

Sample Sale Season

‘Tis the season…for sample sales. Every year around this time sample sales start popping up all around L.A. – designers and boutiques offer huge discounts on merchandise from previous seasons. Sample sales often require some rummaging, and undressing in an open area, so come prepared! They’re a great way to find deals and even pick up gifts for your friends and family.

some gifts for the holidays.

New sample sales are announced each week – sign up for DailyCandy emails to receive alerts, or check out Refinery 29 for announcements. Both of these sites also offer helpful and entertaining guides to shopping in the L.A. area, and other cities if you’re going to be traveling!

Warby Parker Eyewear

Attention all glasses-wearers! I’ve found the solution to all of your glasses-shopping woes – Warby Parker. If you’re tired of spending ridiculous amounts of money on designer frames and lenses, and dread trips to Lenscrafters to try on frames for hours, Warby Parker is your solution. Even if you just like to wear clear-lens glasses to make a fashion statement, Warby Parker can help you out. The best part is, for every pair of glasses sold, a pair is donated to someone in need.

To Peru

In a small corner of the very hip American city, Silver Lake, stands a small, quaint place full of South American culture: an authentic Peruvian restaurant called Don Felix. Run by a Japanese family who once immigrated to Peru long ago during World War II, American customers who have never been to Peru could experience the real Peruvian cuisine.

Before getting to the main dish, a small red basket filled with dinner rolls is served as an appetizer as soon as diners sit down. Although this may seem like a dull and ordinary appetizer, it’s completely out of the ordinary as it is served with aji sauce. Another sauce that makes a world of difference to a simple meal is lime colored green sauce. Adding a spicy and unique twist to your meal and bread, it may seem like a complicated sauce but it can be made right in your very own kitchen! The ingredients are ¼ head of lettue, 3 jalapeno chiles, ¼ cup of mayonnaise, 5 green onions, ½ bunch of cilantro leaves, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, and 1 teaspoon of garlic powder. After a taste of a unique and delicious appetizer, the main part of your dinner is ready to be ordered and enjoyed.

The Year of the Pig

Koreatown is the place for a fun night out filled with drinking, karaoke, and of course the wide variety of Korean meat.

There’s galbi, or Korean barbeque; chadol bae gi, a thinly sliced beef brisket; and the sam kyup ssal, pork belly, but the only place for pork intestines is Byul Dae Po.

El Taurino es muy Deliciouso!

El Taurino is a restaurant where one smoldering red sauce changes everything about a Mexican meal experience. While no one can get through a burrito, a tostada, tacos, or a torta without feeling the need to dump their heads in a bucket of water, this is one mouth-watering meal that you won’t forget!

Carne Asada Burrito with rice & beans: This simple gift, wrapped in a warm flour tortilla, consists of Spanish rice, bite size pieces of Carne Asada meat, fresh green cilantro, and diced onions. This sounds like your regular burrito, but by adding the infamous red sauce one by one to your every bite, it becomes something beyond the ordinary. (P.S. For those that can’t handle the heat of a very spicy sauce make sure you ask for a SIDE of sauce).

Gyms Near Campus: Marina Fitness

Putting music in the back seat for the moment, I would like to present a fitness opportunity to those at LMU. If you’re not feeling the school gym and are anywhere in a 5 mile (or so) radius of campus, then may I suggest my gym, Marina Fitness. Unlike your common, name-brand popular gyms, Marina fitness gives students the opportunity to work out in a much quieter environment. You will never have a problem getting on the equipment that you need to work and won’t have to wait on anyone. It is mostly an older crowd and the majority of patrons are regulars, so after a month there you get to know pretty much everybody. The staff is friendly, as expected at any gym, but it’s nice because they’ll get to know you by name.

Westchester Music

If you’re looking for affordable guitars and amps, or for custom work and service done to an existing string instruments; look no further than Westchester Music. It is the closest music shop to LMU and has been around for many, many years. I have known the owner, Kenny, for about four years now. I’ve actually helped him work on his drag car. Westchester Music is really just a quiet, small shop for one’s get in and get out needs. It won’t take you but a minute to go through the whole store and get a feel for the selection. But, that is definitely the beauty of it, as someone who is trying to get their feet wet and learn the guitar will be at ease here. They won’t cringe at the price tags like at TimeWarp music, neither will they buy something that won’t be utilized with their skill range. There is no elusive or trendy atmosphere here, just straight equipment and service.

A Taste of Venice: The Good Hurt

Right next door to TimeWarp is one of the few locations for any sort of musical outlet called the Good Hurt. Once again, it caters to the current culture; but does not discriminate in anyway, as to who it performs. It is a happening place on a Friday and Saturday night that rivals lines I have been in at the Roxy or Whiskey. The Good Hurt offers another location to the area of Venice and Grandview that adds to the dynamic character of this niche. Across the street is the Venice Grind, one of the few independent coffee shops left. I have often seen patrons of both locations going back and forth between the two.

What’s nice about the Good Hurt is that one doesn’t have to make the trek out to Sunset Blvd. in order to see a quality show for the evening. This is convenient for LMU students faced with the elusive problem of transportation and carpooling.  Also, the venue offers a change to the consumption culture that is rife around the area. There really seems to be a greater focus on musical consumption rather than production in the area, as far as the individual trying to immerse them self in this culture. I didn’t want to just cover locations that sold musical equipment, so this was the first place I went to try and quell that problem.

A Taste of Venice: TimeWarp Music

There is no better place around the LMU area for musical equipment than TimeWarp Music. The variety and sheer magnitude of their inventory is hard to rival anywhere in Los Angeles, as very few establishments that I have been to have awed me in the way in which it did. TimeWarp does bring up one issue though, as to whether the average person can afford most of the items that they carry. Their selection of vintage guitars is astounding, as one can find Gibsons and Fenders dating back 30+ years. They also carry amps from the elusive Orange Co. that have been apart of rock and roll since the ’60s.

Looking out from the shop.

 

Musical history lined the walls.

For the date and time that I went, there was a surprising amount of customers, signifying that this is a lot of people’s one stop shop. The walls and shelves were lined and piled with various multitudes of equipment that TimeWarp had clearly been collecting for many years. While the focus was clearly on guitars, they did offer percussion and bass instruments at the same level of quality as the guitars; however the selection was not as vast.