Studio City, fully furnished
Studio CITY may not seem like a hub of great design, but on the short stretch west of Laurel Canyon -- just past Pier 1 and Banana Republic -- Ventura Boulevard is home base for the house-proud.
In sharp contrast to the spare and silent showrooms on the other side of the hill in Los Angeles and West Hollywood, the decorating businesses of Studio City feel just like home. Which is to say, they are inviting, cluttered with precious objects and likely to have a dog or two roaming around, sprawling on throw rugs and testing out easy chairs.
Though Bedfellows sells luxe linens, the Studio City furniture store (staffed part-time by pups Ruby and Shorty) carries hundreds of contemporary items for every room of the house. Along with dressers, bookcases, lamps and Lucite designs, there are glass-topped tables that rise from sofa level to dining height through a hydraulic system and vintage spotlights from now-defunct movie studios.
At Utopia Design, owner Darren Frank and resident canine Chopkin preside over an extensive array of Alessi household designs (including the Anna G. wine openers, $62 each, on Page 1) and one of the largest Fornasetti collections in California, which includes tea sets from Rosenthal that are no longer in production.
Frank, an artist who pays homage to Duchamp and Astaire in his $250 framed lithographic “Fred Descending a Staircase,” also stocks other 20th century design pieces like Ted Gall’s elaborate bronze busts and the work of Ojai potter Otto Heino.
If you’ve broken one of your favorite dishes or cookie jars, you’ll probably be able to replace it at Fiesta Specialties pottery shop.
Looking for glasses? Try Hydrangea, a gift shop that sells artist-designed barware by Ritzenhoff, along with striped French glass coasters and trays, reminiscent of the work of Higgins.
If your decor scheme runs toward European and Asian antiques, Ferret offers antiques and reproductions in fine woods, bronzes and fine china, and a room filled with fragrances, candles and tabletop accessories by British floral designer Kenneth Turner.
Should you just feel like browsing, the Ivy, a 15,000-square-foot former 1940s furniture store, is one of the largest antique malls in the Valley, with an exhausting amount of goods, from Art Deco furniture to country-cottage kitchenware.