What's Checking: New Faces and Traditional Vibes on Vermont
Call 2011 a year of change for Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles’ Los Feliz neighborhood.
Popular and influential fashion boutiques Oouml;u and Atmosphere shuttered. The former owners of the Bejon&Deheg shop sold the business to the boutique’s managers, and the store’s name was changed to Leap.
Fortunately for Los Feliz fashion lovers, the boutique spaces were not vacant for long. Entrepreneurs in tune with the neighborhood’s bohemian–meets–Main Street vibe quickly moved in and sought to make their mark on the 1700 block of North Vermont Avenue.
For new store Weltenbuerger Store L.A., located in the former site of Oouml;u at 1764 N. Vermont, a sense of experiment guides the boutique’s mission.
“It is a fashion laboratory,” Weltenbuerger owner Bryan Sanderson said of his shop, which debuted in March. “I’d like to carry things that people wear in the future—15 years in the future.”
Co-op 28 owner Marci Siegel moved her store to the former site of Atmosphere, located at 1728 N. Vermont Ave., this summer. The store celebrates crafts, independent designers and art. There is a gallery in back. “It’s a place where people would come and feel comfortable,” Siegel said.
Leap holds a unique place in Los Feliz fashion history. Independent Los Angeles designer Monah Li ran her self-named shop in the space at 1756 N. Vermont Ave. in the 1990s. Many of Leap’s styles have a retro look, but the new store name is focused on the future. “We’re leaping into a new century,” said Sarah Maine, the store manager.
