You can buy virtually anything, anywhere, anytime in LA. The big department stores or the thoroughly exclusive Rodeo Drive will have it if the ubiquitous run-of-the-mill retailers don’t, and if all else fails try LA’s massive malls, which often resemble self-contained city suburbs as much as shopping precincts. The newish CityWalk mall at Universal Studios distills a dozen LA neighborhoods into cutout facades fronting all the national chain stores, complete with a sandy beach – safe shopping for the 1990s. 

At the central seven-acre Beverly Center, bordered by Beverly and La Cienega boulevards, San Vicente Boulevard and Third Street, you’ll find designer stores, fourteen cinemas and ample opportunities for star-spotting. West Hollywood, and Melrose Avenue in particular, hold many of the city’s trendier boutiques, but if you’re after a first edition of Shirley MacLaine’s autobiography, old movies stills or a Buffalo Springfield album in mint condition, try one of the places we've listed.

• Acres of Books, 240 Long Beach Blvd, Long Beach (tel 562/437-6980). LA’s largest, and most disorganized, secondhand collection – well worth a trip down the Blue Line.
• Bodhi Tree, 8585 Melrose Ave (tel 310/659-1733). New and used New Age, occult and Philip K Dick books, in a garden setting along an exclusive section of Melrose.
• Either/Or, 950 Aviation Blvd, Hermosa Beach (tel 310/374-2060). Known for its fiction and New Age sections. Open until 11pm nightly.
• Hennessey and Ingalls, 1254 3rd St Promenade, Santa Monica (tel 310/458-9074). An impressive range of hard-to-find art and architecture books, plus rare posters and catalogs.
• Koma Books, 1764 N Vermont Ave (tel 323/665-0956). Mayhem, true crime, fanzines and neuropolitics; everything the others are too shocked to sell. A small shop with a large mail-order clientele, favored by tabloid TV researchers. Now publishing its own authors.
• Larry Edmunds Book Shop, 6644 Hollywood Blvd (tel 323/463-3273). Stacks of books on every aspect of film and theater, plus movie stills and posters.
• Midnight Special, 1318 3rd St Promenade, Santa Monica (tel 310/393-2923). Excellent for politics and social sciences; open late.
• Norton Simon Museum Bookstore, 411 W Colorado Blvd, Pasadena (tel 626/449-6840). Very inexpensive prices for art books, given the spendy LA market. Good selection, too.
• Sisterhood Bookstore, 1351 Westwood Blvd (tel 310/477-7300). Westside landmark. Music, cards, jewelry and of course books, pertaining to the national and international women’s movement.

Records

• Aron’s Records, 1150 N Highland Ave (tel 323/469-4700). The best place in LA for secondhand discs – huge stock, all styles, all prices.
• Moby Disc, 28 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena (tel 818/449-9975). Secondhand and deletions.
• Music and Memories, 5057 Lankershim, North Hollywood (tel 818/761-9827). 300 Sinatra LPs and 30,000 records that sound like he should be on them.
• Poo-Bah Records, 1101 E Walnut Ave, Pasadena (tel 626/449-3359). American and imported New Wave.
• Rhino Records, 1720 Westwood Blvd (tel 310/474-8685). The biggest selection of international independent releases.
• Vinyl Fetish, 7305 Melrose Ave (tel 323/935-1300). Besides the punk and post-punk merchandise, a good place to discover what’s new on the LA music scene and purchase a cheesy Gen-X T-shirt or two.