Melrose: New Era In, DC Shoes Out
New Era's Los Angeles flagship set aside space for different artists' takes on the New Era cap.
Streetwear’s place on the corner of Melrose and Fairfax avenues is assured.
On Dec. 8, one of the favorite cap manufacturers of the streetwear set, New Era, held a debut party for its West Coast flagship store at 8001 Melrose Ave.
The flagship store features New Era baseball caps for every occasion. There are New Era caps bearing logos of almost every sports team in the world. There are New Era caps emblazoned with the logo of ’80s rock bands like Motley Crue, as well as collaborations with Los Angeles-brands Tokidoki, which happens to run a boutique a couple of storefronts down the street.
Melrose is the latest spot on a New Era building spree. It opened a flagship store in Chicago in November. It also will open one in Miami in April. Following the Miami flagship debut, the cap,accessories and apparel maker will open smaller format stores.
Melrose watchers should remember that pioneering streetwear label Bathing Ape ran a store at the current New Era space from April 2008 to July 2010. The 3,300-square-foot store was the one of the anchors in a block of streetwear/skate and sportswear fashion shops. Skate label DC Shoes debuted a flagship store on Melrose in 2008; it was located at 8025 Melrose Ave.
Last month DC Shoes, the skate fashion division of Quiksilver, quickly and quietly closed up its flagship-sized Melrose store.A DC representative said the skate brand would enjoy a high profile in the recently opened Quiksilver emporium called 585 Boardriders Club, located in Los Angeles’ Venice neighborhood.
