A Guide to the Best of Southern California : SHOPTALK : Scanning the Globe for Gifts

SHOPPERS WHO NEED a break from their neighborhood mall but are not quite ready for Melrose Avenue might want to try the Guildhouse. Housed in a converted men’s dormitory next to Barlow Hospital in Elysian Park, the Guildhouse doesn’t stock the dusty trinkets found in most hospital gift shops; retired doctor-and-nurse couple Arnold and Margaret Freed scour the world for treasures, from hand-carved wooden birds from China to hand-carved ceramics from Uruguay.

“Every place I go--all over the world--I stick my nose in shops and see what they’re selling,” Margaret Freed says. The beautifully handmade Polish boxes finished by chip carving are one such recent Guildhouse addition. “The government put sanctions on these things years ago,” she explains. Now, with the changes in Eastern Europe, tariffs have been lifted, and the boxes are once again available. “This is the first shipment we’ve been able to get in a long time.”

Gifts from the Guildhouse (open weekend afternoons only) are priced to suit even the tightest budgets, and proceeds benefit Barlow Hospital.

Guildhouse, 2000 Stadium Way, Los Angeles; (213) 250-3894.