Clothes Circuit

It’s a sunny weekend afternoon in North Hollywood, and the vintage vultures are out.

It’s not hard to spot these guerrilla shoppers: Tour the many used-clothing and used-goods stores on and around Lankershim and Laurel Canyon boulevards and you’ll quickly get a feel for who’s who on the bargain circuit.

The same faces turn up from store to store, their brows furrowed as they paw pre-owned clothing and china and tchotchkes.

Oblivious to the pleasant weather outside, these serious shoppers have one mission they’ve chosen to accept: Find that steal of a deal. And NoHo, with its abundance of resale stores and decidedly downscale ambience, is the perfect place to succeed.

At the Stonewall Thrift Store (12135 Victory Blvd., [818] 761-9777), those new to bargain hunting will be relieved to find an atmosphere akin to a retail boutique. Latin rock plays, and walls are well decorated. The store also stocks items not typically found in the vintage world: discounted homeopathic medicines and beauty aids.

Regular Octavio Solorio, 46, an actor from North Hollywood, is bragging at the counter about his best Stonewall find--a brand-new Armani suit someone had mysteriously donated.

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Over at Out of the Closet (6241 Laurel Canyon Blvd., [818]-769-0503), regular JoAnna Scales is practically buried under the huge pile of discounted clothes she is carrying.

Despite being so weighed down, Scales is ecstatic: Today is a good day for someone who “doesn’t see the use” in retail shopping.

“Look at this!” crows Scales, a 33-year-old X-ray technician and mother of one from North Hollywood, pointing to her loot, which includes a women’s jacket for $9 and an Old Navy-brand shirt for $1.50. “In North Hollywood, you can find stuff at reasonable prices, whereas in a trendy area like Fairfax Avenue, they charge more.”

Word is much the same over at Stage 21 (5235 Lankershim Blvd., [818] 508-5944), a resale store specializing in knickknacks and kitchenware in copper and silver. Kelly Gilbreth, 22, of Santa Monica, is happy with her purchase, a vintage eyeglass case for $2. The 22-year-old actress came over the hill to thrift-shop because “there’s more of a smorgasbord here. Santa Monica’s [merchandise] has already been picked through.”

Some veteran vintage lovers, however, are none too happy to hear that shoppers such as Gilbreth are blabbing the NoHo name to the rest of the world.

“You’re putting this in an article?” frets Michelle Garner, 26, a Studio City resident who arrived in a 1957 Chevy and “never buys anything new--ever.”

Garner, inspecting the extensive supply of wearable goods at Goodwill (5855 Lankershim Blvd., [818] 763-1245), says NoHo is not as inexpensive as it used to be because of all the infiltrators from other “thrifting” territories.

That’s why she’s a little paranoid about revealing the town’s thrift secrets, thank you very much.

“It’s still better than stupid Melrose,” she said. “But, you know, I’m not telling you everything!”

A few other NoHo thrift stores are the Salvation Army at 6120 Lankershim Blvd., (818) 985-6098, and the Colony Thrift Store, 6467 Lankershim Blvd., (818) 985-1177.