A Guide to the Best of Southern California : BROWSING : Nothing Fancy
Y-Que Trading Post--pronounced e-kay (Spanish for “so what”)--is from another place and time. On the front porch is a Royal Crown Cola cooler, a rocking chair and two old sleepy dogs. Inside are the treasures of truck-stop gift shops: African fly whisks ($20), singing-frog key chains ($4), tin light-switch covers ($9) and rock candy on a stick (59 cents).
On one wall, owner Rae Chavira has grouped Haitian love drops and voodoo dolls, Pledge-size containers of patchouli-scented Aerosol de Amor and bottles of Love Me Triple-Fast-Action Bath and Floor Wash.
No general store worth its salt (and Y-Que has black salt in $1 bags for warding off bad neighbors) would be without a dry-goods section: Housewares, clothing, jewelry, fabric and cowboy boots cram the shelves.
Y-Que Trading Post, 713 Heliotrope Drive, Los Angeles; (213) 664-0021.
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