Located about a mile north of The Grove, is uber-trendy shopping in Los Angeles Melrose Ave with chichi boutiques and vintage shops. It’s between Fairfax and la Brea Avenues. The upscale stores mingle with the funky in a unique sort of atmosphere. Great for people watching and Celeb spotting.
Melrose Avenue is an internationally renowned shopping, dining and entertainment destination in Los Angeles that starts from Santa Monica Boulevard at the border between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood and ends at Lucille Avenue in Silver Lake. Melrose runs north of Beverly Boulevard and south of Santa Monica Boulevard.
The eastern end of the district, which runs from Fairfax to Highland Avenue, became a popular underground and new wave shopping area in the early 1980s. Pioneered by adventurous independent retailers and restaurateurs, Melrose Avenue captured the global imagination as the birthplace of Southern California’s New Wave and Punk cultures. Rapid notoriety quickly lured movie stars, moguls, and style seekers, leading the press to dub Melrose Avenue “the new Rodeo Drive.” Ready for its close-up, the avenue enjoyed its share of TV and movie cameos, and appears regularly today in Jay Leno’s “Jaywalking” segments, in addition to pop culture gems like Entourage and LA Ink.
As a constantly evolving merchant district, it has featured stores such as Vinyl Fetish and Retail Slut, both of which closed several years ago while The Burger That Ate L.A., a landmark fast-food stand, was in recent years replaced with a Starbucks. The original Johnny Rockets opened at the end of Melrose in 1986. Long-term stakeholders like The Groundlings, l.a. Eyeworks, Angeli Caffe, and Sportie LA have shown continued dedication to the community. In 2005 musician and director Joe Hahn, a member of the world-renowned rock band Linkin Park opened his concept retail store SURU on the 7600 blocks of Melrose. Canadian designer John Fluevog opened on Melrose in 2003. As one of the city’s most walking-friendly neighborhoods, this must-see destination has maintained its reputation for an original, alternative, and independent experience for more than three decades.