Los Angeles Gift Guide
It is the gift-giving season. It is the time when we struggle to find the right thing for that person who has everything, show someone that you are thinking about them, and perhaps find a little something for ourselves. If you are in Los Angeles or love this city like I do, I have so many ideas for you to find unique gifts. Although I am publishing my Los Angeles Small Business Guide in November, I hope you use this list whenever you are looking for a gift.
Check back on this post because I will be adding more places over the next week.
Note: I am an affiliate with Bookshop.org, which you will find a book list later in this post. They support local bookstores, so I feel good having an affiliate shop with them. I am also an affiliate/guide with Around.Tours, which will also be mentioned in this post. You will not find listicles sending you to Amazon or other big box companies.
Table of Contents
Why you should support small businesses
(wherever you are)
These are a few reasons of many.
- The money is kept in the local community, helping to fund schools and other programs. It generates 3X more economic benefit to your community. (i.e. local businesses pay their taxes.)
- Buying at a small business means that the owners have grocery money or other essentials that they need to live. Buying big doesn’t really impact the workers in positive ways. (More money for spacemen, I guess.)
- Supporting small businesses keeps your community unique and not a vast sea of chains where everyone eats and wears the same thing.
Gift Shops I love
These places are perfect for gift giving, finding unique wrapping paper, having locally made greeting cards, and keep a stock of Los Angeles themed gifts.
Lundeen’s
(Culver City)
This women-owned and operated shop has been a Culver City staple for years. I think more tourists should know about this place for one-of-a-kind Los Angeles souvenirs. This packed-to-the-brim store is a one-stop shop for all of your gift needs. They also have a great selection of cards for every occassion.
Photo by @thisuglybeautifulcity
Spitfire Girl
(Los Feliz)
This is the type of store I get lost in. Spitfire Gril has stationary, candles, socks with tacos on them, tarot, and potions. It is a little bit of everything. I come here looking for something for someone’s birthday and come out with a bunch of new things for me.
Photo from @spitfiregirlrocks
Soap Plant/Wacko
(Los Feliz)
It is a gift shop, art book store, vintage clothing, head shop, something for the kids, something for the adults, has items with birds on them, a place to buy Lucha VaVoom and concert tickets, and now hosts a gallery. It is easy to lose track of time here; there is just so much to see.
Photo by @thisuglybeautifulcity
Burro Goods
(Abbot Kinney)
This shop on Abbot Kinney has a wide variety of gift options like blankets, board games, and cookbooks for a night at home, something to wear on a special night out, and something for all the children your friends had during the pandemic.
Photo from: @burrogoods
Thank You Coffee
(Chinatown)
This tiny coffee shop in Chinatown carries stationary, journals, and other paper bits and bobs for all of your friends who prefer a more analog way of organizing and experiencing the world.
Photo by @thisuglybeautifulcity
Utsuwa-no-Yakata
(Little Tokyo)
This shop in Little Toyko has the best dishware! It is packed with sake sets, Japanese knives, beautiful dinner plates, and tons of things for coffee & tea lovers. It is pretty cool for a store in a mall.
Photo by @utsuwa-no-yakata
Leanna Lin’s Wonderland
(Echo Park)
A follower on Threads suggested this business to me. Leanna Lin’s Wonderland features gifts from local and independent vendors. It gives them a place to be seen IRL.
Check out their community events as well.
Photo by @leannalinswonderland
Small Businesses that support the community
These are some of the many businesses that give back to the community when you support them.
Village Well
(Culver City)
This has been my favorite new addition to downtown Culver City. It is a bookstore and cafe with tons of community events. They just started a Village Well Van and mobile bookstore that will give books to children aged 0-5 in the Los Angeles area.
Follow them on Instagram to see the upcoming events.
Photo by @thisuglybeautifulcity
South LA Cafe
(Multiple locations)
This is a cafe and a movement. First South LA Cafe was a coffee shop and now a community space and foundation. This coffee shop fed hundreds of Los Angeles families during the height of the pandemic and continues to this day.
Visit one of their coffee shops to support them.
Photo by @southlacafe
Alta Adams
This California Soul Food place serves all of your favorite classics, like fried chicken, black-eyed peas, and red beans and rice–with California produce. It serves as both a restaurant and a place for the community. I was at the restaurant when they had a meeting of young leaders at a neighboring table. It was inspirational.
They have now taken those meetings and community building to another stage called Alta Community. Inspired by LocaL, a restaurant that fed the community in food desert areas of the city, Alta Community will offer local programming and guidance to entrepreneurs.
Learn more about Alta Community
Photo by @altaarestaurant
Independent Hospitality Group (IHG)
This is a group of small restaurant owners and community leaders fighting on the side of restaurants to have a seat at the table when decisions are made about them. Let’s make it easier for restaurants to survive in Los Angeles.
- Support local restaurants whenever you can. All of my Neighborhood Guides list local restaurants
- Buy one of their To Live and Dine in L.A. T-shirts or the ihc totebag.
I want to know how to support Black-Owned Businesses
I get this question often: How do I support Black-owned businesses in Los Angeles?
The best resource I have found is Black Owned in L.A.
Los Angeles Merch
It seems like everyone has a t-shirt these days–bookstores, coffee shops, restaurants. These are the t-shirts I would buy to both rep Los Angeles and support small businesses. I am wondering if I should have a t-shirt??
L.A. Taco
L.A. Taco Neighborhood Roll Call.
Image sourced from website.
Grand Central Market
Grand Central Market neon T.
Image sourced from website.
Ms. Chi
Ms. Chi Black Bao Tshirt
Image sourced from website.
Velaslavasay Panorama
Valaslavasay is one of the weird little places that make Los Angeles unique. I feel like they took over from where Machine Projects left off. They show silent films and avant garde programming.
Image sourced from website.
Honorable mention is Coop Pizza in Palms, but you have to go there to buy it. They do not have a website or Instagram presence.
My business
Did you know that I have things for sale as part of my small business?
One of the greatest gifts you can give someone is a stress-free vacation. Wouldn’t it be great to buy the plane ticket or the tank of gas, a self-guided itinerary, and hit the ground running?
Available now
Support my work by becoming a paid subscriber
I moved to Substack a year ago and absolutely love it. It has allowed me to chat with subscribers and fund this site. Paid subscribers get all kinds of perks–in-person tours, Los Angeles AMAs, and additional Los Angeles itineraries.
Itineraries included in the subscription:
Take an Audio Tour today
I created two audio tours for Around.Tours featuring not-your-typical Los Angeles destinations. These help you to dive deeper into Los Angeles’s history and hidden gems.
Movie History in DTLA
This two-hour tour, brought to you by Around and narrated by me, gives you an insight into Downtown Los Angeles in the 1920s and 30s when Broadway was the entertainment district of L.A. If you thought that the movie industry was born in Hollywood, I try to change your mind in eight stops.
Learn what places were the sets for popular movies and discover my favorite DTLA spots.
Bonus: Get details on how these buildings are featured in films like Blade Runner and Everything, Everywhere, All At Once.
Los Feliz Like a Local
If you are coming to Los Feliz just for the Griffith Observatory, you are doing it wrong. There are so many great things about this neighborhood nestled at the foot of Griffith Park.
Los Feliz has art galleries, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the best vintage shopping in the city. If you want to experience Los Angeles like a local or are a local who wants to get to know the city better, this is the tour for you.
Coming soon
This past month I paused my Etsy shop to revamp all of my products. This is what I am working on right now:
Tourist Bingo
A spin on the classic bingo travel game, Los Angeles Tourist Bingo is a fun way to gamify your next trip to Los Angeles. Follow a path down, across, or diagonally to create a day-long itinerary, a weekend getaway, or fill the entire card for a week of things to do. There are twelve possible itineraries visiting Los Angeles tourist attractions.
This is a printed game that will be mailed to you.
Hidden Gems Bingo
A spin on the classic bingo travel game, Los Angeles Hidden Gems Bingo is a fun way to gamify your Los Angeles explorations. Follow a path down, across, or diagonally to find the places that make Los Angeles unique. This 5×5 game has 12 itineraries in one place and will reveal secret places.
This is a printed game that will be mailed to you.
Hollywood Itinerary
If planning a trip to the most famous neighborhood in Los Angeles is stressing you out, let me help you. This Hollywood itinerary is a one-day plan that mixes well-known attractions and hidden gems.
Dog-Friendly L.A.
Los Angeles is the most dog-friendly city I have ever lived in. People really love their dogs here. If you are wondering where the dog parks are, if there are dog-friendly beaches, and where you can find dog-friendly patios, this is the resource for you.
Photo of Bailey
Neighborhood Guides
All of my Los Angeles Neighborhood Guides feature small businesses to support in a neighborhood–from shopping to restaurants you should know.
For your foodie friends
Los Angeles is in my top five food cities in the world. We are the home of food from all fifty states and over 100 countries. You can find anything imaginable here, from fad foods to classic dishes your grandma would make.
Los Angeles is a top dining destination with a very active and knowledgeable foodie community.
Eating Los Angeles
Los Angeles is the land of celebrity chefs–Top Chef and Chef’s Table alums. Here is the list of cookbooks putting Los Angeles on the map.
All of your money goes towards supporting a small business, whether it be your local bookstore, a bookstore in Los Angeles, and my small business.
Parchment Paper
Here, you will find food-focused gifts from tasting journals, cookbooks, cocktail gifts, and s’more plushies. There is something for that discerning foodie in your life.
Boba Money purse from @ParchementPaperLA
Surfas
This is the best place for those in your life who like to cook. From hard-to-get ingredients to cooking classes to chef-quality equipment and more, this is your place. If you have a cook in your life, this is the place to go.
Photo from @surfasLA
Truffle Brothers
Because sometimes that dish needs, or wants, something extra and you should get truffles from a place the restaurants in the city trust.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio
Check back over the week because I am adding more to this Los Angeles Gift Guide, like things for cinephiles, chefs, and how to send Los Angeles to someone across the country.