You can buy virtually anything, anywhere, anytime in LA. The big department stores or the 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 antiseptic CityWalk mall at Universal Studios distills a dozen LA neighborhoods into cutout facades fronting all the national chain stores, complete with a sandy beach. At the central seven-acre Beverly Center, at Beverly and La Cienega boulevards, you'll find designer stores, fourteen cinemas and ample opportunities for star-spotting, all aboe a giant parking garage. Another local faorite is the Century City Mall, 10250 Santa Monica Bld, Century City, aimed at middle-class and upscale - but unpretentious - buyers. West Hollywood and Melrose Avenue 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 rare Beatles "butcher cover" LP in mint condition, try one of the places we've listed.

Books
Midnight Special 1318 Third St Promenade, Santa Monica phone310/393-2923. Excellent for lefty politics, social sciences and general fiction and literature; open late.

Norton Simon Museum Bookstore 411 W Colorado Blvd, Pasadena phone 626/449-6840. Inexpensive prices for art books, given the pricey LA market. Good selection, too.

Samuel French Theatre & Film Bookshop 7623 Sunset Blvd, Hollywood pone 323/876-0570. Famed for its performing arts selection, the best in town, with a prime selection of cinema books as well.

Sisterhood Bookstore 1351 Westwood Blvd pone 310/477-7300. Westside landmark selling music, cards, jewelry and books, pertaining to all aspects of the women's movement.

Records

Aron's Records 1150 N Highland Ave, Hollywood phone 323/469-4700. One of the best places in LA for secondhand discs - huge stock, all styles, all prices.

Moby Disc 28 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena phone 626/449-9975. Secondhand and deletions, centrally located in Old Pasadena shopping district.

Record Surplus 11609 W Pico Blvd, West LA phone 310/478-4217. Hands down the best spot for used music in LA, or anywhere for that matter, loaded with ancient LPs, out-of-print CDs, new releases and all manner of assorted junk you have to see to believe - even 8-tracks.

Rhino Records 1720 Westwood Bld, West LA phone 310/474-8685. The biggest selection of international independent releases, plus the full selection of Rhino's music catalog.

inyl Fetish 7305 Melrose Ave, Hollywood phone 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 T-shirt or two.

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Books

Acres of Books 240 Long Beach Blvd, Long Beach phone 562/437-6980. LA's largest, and most disorganized and confusing, secondhand collection - well worth a trip down the Blue Line.

Book Soup 8818 Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood phone 323/659-3110. Packed to the gills with an eclectic selection, this shop is as good for spotting celebs as it is for browsing.

Either/Or 124 Pier Ave, Hermosa Beach phone 310/374-2060. Known for its fiction and New Age sections, and once the haunt of Thomas Pynchon. Open until 11pm nightly.

Hennessey and Ingalls 1254 Third St Promenade, Santa Monica phone 310/458-9074. An impressive range of expensive, hard-to-find art and architecture books, plus rare posters and catalogs.

Koma Books 1764 N Vermont Ave, Hollywood phone 323/665-0956. Mayhem, true crime, fanzines and loony conspiracy theories; everything the others are too shocked to sell. A small shop with a large mail-order clientele, favored by tabloid Tresearchers. Now publishing its own authors.

Larry Edmunds Book Shop 6644 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood pone323/463-3273. Stacks of books on every aspect of film and theater, plus movie stills and posters.

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