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Tags: Shopping List / Santa Monica / Food / Shopping-in-SoCal / → All Tags

Shopping List: Santa Monica's Montana Avenue

Visitors to Santa Monica often hit up the Third Street promenade which is kinda like the South Street Seaport in NYC except with cooler stores, more homeless people and more crazy street acts. While the Promenade has the average chain stores you can find in your hometown mall and a couple of cool restaurants nearby on Ocean, the less touristy shopping spot to hit up is Montana Avenue.

From 7th to about 18th Street, Montana Ave is where the local Santa Monicans shop. There's no Gap or Anthropologie here but there's Planet Blue (other location in Malibu is where Pam Anderson and Paris Hilton go for their publicity shopping trips), hi-end boutique shop Morgan Le Fay and the pricey Jill Roberts. Also on the street is Kiehl's, Dermalogica and Rachel Ashwell's famous Shabby Chic store (Britney Spears is a fan.)

But this place isn't like another Rodeo Drive. Nope, there's even a laundromat on Montana Ave so you can do your laundry while you shop and eat.

Pets can also shop here at the Wagging Tail. And since LA is a very dog-friendly city, most shops allow your pets inside and provide water bowls outside.

Yet for some reason, there's also a lot of kids stores and Mommy-to-Be stores like Kids Bizz, Crankypants, BabyStyle, and Mom's the Word.

More on the shops and stores that don't involve procreation after the jump.

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Tags: Shopping List / San Francisco / → All Tags

Shopping List: Bloomingdale's is the New San Francisco Treat

Before Bloomingdale's opened nearly two weeks ago in San Francisco, there was only one--count it--one Bloomingdale's in the entire Northern California region and that was out in Palo Alto. If you are a transplant from let's say oh New Jersey, this was a full-blown shopping mall travesty.

Luckily, Bloomingdale's righted this terrible wrong with their new West Coast headquarters and second largest Bloomie's after the NYC one. It has five floors of wonderful merchandise. Men, there's an entire floor for you! When has that ever happened? Usually you get the one corner near the really crappy mall entrance. But here you have your pick of designers.

Women of course, should find at least one or two things here to buy for yourself from the other four floors.

More on Bloomie's and the Insider Tip post-click.

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