By now you know about the huge blogging.la yard sale tomorrow. Of course you do. And you’re going to be there? Of course you are.

What you may not know is that I will be selling some of the baby gear that’s accumulated around here since I made my single greatest accomplishment in Los Angeles: having a baby (though he was technically born in Beverly Hills).

I’ve got big ticket items. A car seat. A Baby Bjorn. A Bumbo. The carseat is a Graco infant carrier and is a few years old. It’s yours for $25. The Bumbo ($40 new) I’ll take $20 for. I’d like to get $75 for the Bjorn (it retails for $125 and was used for less than four months), and if you want all three items they’re yours for $100.

If you don’t have a baby, or think that’s awfully pricey for a yard sale, fear not! I will also have with me almost 29 years worth of tchotchke, assorted kitchen and barware, bath toys (which I am running through the dishwasher right now to disinfect), and approximately a gazillion books and movies, all at ROCK BOTTOM prices. Not to mention board games, baskets, handbags, and a Pur water filter.

Hope to see you later today!

Picture is from the Bumbo website.

Here we go! I’m getting rid of stuff at our blogging community garage sale. I’ve got classic anodized aluminum goodies (tumblers, popcorn bowls, pitchers), a vacuum cleaner as well as many books that I’ve lost interest in, stacks and stacks of design & food magazines (Sunset, Martha Stewart, Bon Appetit, Architectural Digest … you can have em for free). I also have a cherry stained coffee table and side table set. They have glass tops (so no worries about using coasters). They’re in good condition.

But my big ticket item is our old Play Station 2. It has two controllers (well, it has a third that we plum worn out), a DVD remote (so you can watch movies), memory card and lots and lots of games (15 plus). I’d love to sell the whole thing as a package for $150, but if folks don’t want any or all of the games, I’m not going to argue. (Click to embiggen to see the titles … I may have more, I need to do some more digging.)

9am-3pm (no early birds!)
Saturday – May 12th
1500 Block of Elevado
Silverlake

The sale is basically on the northwest hill above the intersection of Silverlake Blvd. & Sunset Blvd. We’re taking over several driveways & carports in that block. It’s gonna be that big! Elevado Street is a little circle street off of Westerly Terrace. Westerly is off of Sunset and Berkley to Westerly off of Silverlake Blvd. Stayed tuned for more postings about all our wonderful crap we’d like you to buy from us.

[click for detail]

Challenging parking not withstanding (the place is across from Bodhi Tree in West Hollywood), CAKE is one of my favorite stores.

And this weekend they’re having a huge sale. Bags, jewelry, body products – this place has it all and for a limited time it’s all on sale.

Now that I’ve already been in and cleaned up, it’s safe for me to let everyone else know about it. My other tip: Valet Parking. Better yet, if you spend $10 at the Bodhi Tree they will even credit you the $3.50 you pay the valet.

(They’ve also just opened on Vermont in Los Feliz, but that’s another story.)

CAKE
8568 1/2 Melrose Avenue
(in the funky courtyard)
West Hollywood,CA

For those of you that might be looking to score some skate stuff on the cheap, the Black Label sidewalk sale is going down this Friday and Saturday down south. Cash only, so don’t show up with your parent’s plastic. And if you’re a fan of John Lucero, who founded Costa Mesa-based Black Label in 1990, then you’ll love Fat Guy on a Curb.

Has anyone seen one of these DVDPlay kiosks around town? I hadn’t even heard of them, but we spotted one at the newly-renovated Von’s at 3rd and Vermont yesterday and to say that it appealed to my tech fetish is an understatement. I happily put the machine to the test by renting a copy of Casino Royale, which I haven’t been able to catch at Video Journeys. Swipe a card, enter an optional email address (so they can mail me a receipt and credit me for the “rent 10 movies, get 1 free” promo) and the machine ejects a jewel-cased DVD. All for $1.49, or 99¬¢ on Mondays. I’m feeling a little guilty about not supporting a local shop, but the selection is limited to relatively new releases so I don’t think it’s going to put any decent video stores out of business. I’m sure, however, that the Video Hot around the corner from me must be a little worried.

[clicking is the path to enlightenment]

Need an authentic Hundu deity or two for your living room? How about a fully decked opium bed? Or maybe a few jeweled Indian wedding scarves?

If this sounds good to you then you should know the best place in LA to find this stuff is the Koan Collection. These guys scour the earth to bring you the best of old and new from India, Indonesia, Nepal, and Thailand.

And guess what? Today is the first day of their big weekend clearance sale.

Expect drastic markdowns on furniture, fabrics and accessories, and the people who run the place are super nice too.

Koan Collection
6109 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90038
(323).464.3735

[apologies for overuse of exclamation points]

No time to blog – The Little Knittery is having a HUGE sale!

Books, magazines, and the most glorious yarns, many at 75% OFF!

I was in there right when they opened at 11am and it was already like a Lucy episode – the tiny store jammed with people, all scurrying to hoard the best stuff.

The amazing handspuns, hand-dyeds, cashmere, and even the Misti Alpaca is on sale!!

Also, all books and mags are on sale – 15 to 75% off!! (That includes the
new Rowan Studios magazines!)

Today (Sat) Only
11-7

The Little Knittery
4712 Franklin Avenue
Los Angeles, CA. 90027
(323)660-0294

I stopped at the TJ’s on Ventura near Laurel Canyon today for emergency supplies (beer and wine and some frozen pizza to wash it down with) and when I walked in the door I was greeted by a table of Mystery Beer. The table held three TJ’s brown paper bags which each contained six randomly chosen beers. Some spoilsport killjoys had opened two of the bags and must have found the selection within unsatisfactory, because they were still on the table. I grabbed the third bag, still stapled shut, because I like a little mystery in my Mystery Beer.

This is what we found inside the bag:

I am a little disappointed in the Good People at TJ’s for the inclusion of an NA. I have nothing against Non-Alcoholic beer, but I think that should have been advertised as a possibility. That said, for $3.99 I have NO complaints, and I’d buy another.

As it turns out, although my gal at the Rodeo Drive Vuitton store was promised those shoes in my size, what they ended up getting was the next size up. They were unbelievable, but they were simply too big.

I know how that will disappoint some of you, but before you think I’ll be going barefoot tonight, check out what can happen if you go into the store instead of doing all this over the phone:

I hadn’t even seen these, and now they are mine!

I may still get the silver ones too, if they can find them, but these cost so much more that even I may blush.

[click all you like but you'd better be sitting down]

Looks like I need $575, and pronto.

Today’s mail brought this new catalog from Loius Vuitton shoes. I damn near peed my pants when I saw these. Yes, they are a chrome finished silver patent leather, with high-polished silver metal heels.

Sweet Mother of JEBUS I need these shoes or I will surely expire.

So come on, it’s Valentine’s Day – who’s with me?

UPDATE:
The Best Man In The World just informed me that these would make a lovely Valentine’s gift, should I be able to secure them.

Naturally I agreed and what can I say – the Rodeo Drive store is trying to get a pair in my size right now. I should know by noon!

And don’t worry about me at an airport – these are far from the first shoes I own that can double as weapons.

Yeah, I know, I don’t need any more stuff in my house, in fact, I could stand to get rid of a bit of it. But that doesn’t stop me from browsing the Craigslist “free” section. Yeah, there are a lot of free couches and fill dirt out there. But maybe you’re missing some gems.

I feel really bad for some of these people. Won’t you browse around and help them out? Here are some items of interest:

Large Ceramic Sculpture and Free Drink (photos!)

A friend of a friend made this 4 foot, 200 pound ceramic sculpture and I inherited it 3 years ago. I have moved and don’t have room for it, so it’s your lucky day.

4 out of 5 craigslisters agreed that this is the best free, large ceramic sculpture on craiglist this year!! It’s perfect for a garden or foyer or as a bird or rodent habitat, or to re-enact that episode of Star Trek where some poor extra gets melted or something, the possibilities are endless, and you really have to see it in person to really appreciate it and the best part of this run on sentence is that it’s FREE!! It’s also heavy so I’ll help you put in your car and give you a free beer or shot of the liquor of your choice! Please don’t email me with “is it still availble?”, I promise I will delete this ad the second the item is gone.

Read the rest of this entry →

This new store, Liquid, Cigarettes n More opened on Santa Monica Blvd. and promises it all:

Medicinia Natural
Internet Access
Insurance
Phone Cards
Cigars
Pipes
Porn!

I’m just wonder what that LIQUID they’re offering on the marquee is. (Click photo for largeness.)

The folks over at NotNeutral have released a series of porcelain dinner plates featuring 4 cities that were chosen “for their reputations as gateways, and for the way each is dealing with the effects of agglomeration as its population begins to reach critical mass.” In addition to our lovely city, Shanghai, Cairo, and Berlin were also lucky enough to be plated. About the above NotNeutral writes:

The Los Angeles plate is ringed with freeways. A deep green mass represents Dodger Stadium and Elysian Park, and key buildings in the historic core are highlighted in red. The city, thanks to its youth and love of the automobile, has developed in a singular way unlike the traditional condensed urban cores of east coast cities.

If you want one, they are taking preorders now, although the site says they will be available in early Feb. [Thanks Till]

If that’s the case (and I’m still a bit iffy on why that would be), then you’d better head on over to Belly Bella in Beverly Hills right away.

For reasons beyond my cognitive abilities, my friendly letter carrier just delivered their new catalog to me. I do not have a belly button piercing, nor am I likely to get one. In fact they skeeve me and I wish the whole trend would just go away already.

Nevertheless, the existence of Belly Bella tells me that’s not likely to happen anytime soon.

If you like white gold or platinum (and who doesn’t) you can look to spend 7 or 8 Thousand Dollars on a nice belly ring. The cheap ones are about two grand, and if you’re REALLY frugal you can maybe get out of there with a “dangle” for only $700.

Hey, at these prices why not get two?

So I dial a local adult emporium to make my reservation for my friend Polly‘s upcoming (adult) staged reading and am greeted by the cheery, professional, completely non-sexual voice of a woman listing my available options on the voicemail menu:

For accounts payable, press “6″…for store hours, press “blah blah”…

And then, without so much as a hint of a nudge or wink,

For leather, press ’15′;” “For toys, press ’18′.

Which immediately brings to mind two questions: what are items 16 & 17, and why are all other voicemail menus so lame?

Warning: please do NOT start dialing the Pleasure Chest to hear the menu–it only works if the lines are all full and as a responsible citizen and former retail worker, I don’t want some nice counter person losing her mind.