2013 NEWSMAKER: ABBOT KINNEY
2013 Newsmaker: Abbot Kinney, ‘Coolest Street In America,’ Stays Eclectic
Change has been a long time coming for Los Angeles’ stylish Abbot Kinney Boulevard.
A decade ago, it was a funky, beachside neighborhood lined with vintage shops, cafes, metaphysics bookstores and a few boutiques selling new fashion.
By 2008, a Steven Alan Annex boutique moved to the street, and some thought that Abbot Kinney would lose its unique character.
“It’s going to be a high-end designer road,” Claudia Milan, owner of now-shuttered Abbot Kinney shop Claudia Milan, told California Apparel News in 2008.
Five years later, Milan’s prediction was right—and it was wrong.
Garrett Leight Optical sells $325 pairs of sunglasses on the street. Internationally acclaimed boutique Satine sells designer clothes such as Yigal Azrouël dresses, which retail above $1,450. More fashion boutiques moved onto the street in 2013. Northern California–based boutique chain Ruti opened on the street adjacent to a new shop by San Francisco designer Margaret O’Leary. Canadian brand Roots Canada Ltd. opened a shop for its leather jackets on Abbot Kinney this year, and even a fast-fashion retailer, Heavenly Couture, took a bow on the street in 2013.
Stores often seen in malls, such as Lucky Brand, opened on Abbot Kinney. Prominent national boutique names such as Robert Graham, Scotch & Soda and Gant opened on Abbot Kinney recently. In 2012, GQ magazine called Abbot Kinney “the coolest block in America.” In November, merchants produced a GQHQ event celebrating the magazine’s distinction. Protesters crashed the party and protested with placards, demanding an end to the gentrification of the street.
However, the street has kept much of its eclectic cool. The Alternative Apparel boutique held a party in May for Ron Finley, the “renegade gardener” who advocates cultivating gardens in low-income neighborhoods. Boutique Left House offers artisinal chocolates by Zenbunni and 19th century hats by Westbrook Maker. Veteran boutiques such as Ananda, Minnie T’s and Enda King, which had pioneered retail on the street long before Abbot Kinney was the coolest block in America, continue to do business adjacent to the stores with national names. Plenty of the old landmarks such as Abbot’s Pizza, the 2nd Community Baptist Church and Roosterfish, a gay dive bar, remain on the street, keeping Abbot Kinney’s eclectic character with its new retail prominence.
