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The Scout: Design briefs for Southern California shoppers

It’s a rocking chair for the thoroughly modern porch: Takeshi Nii’s minimal Ny chair, designed 50 years ago and now winning over the tired feet and aching backs of shoppers at the newly remodeled Tortoise General Store in Venice. The reissued piece ($450) has a lightweight aluminum frame with a breezy gliding motion, simple beech armrests and a cotton seat in orange or the newly added charcoal. It all folds for easy storage. A non-rocking version ($430) and a matching ottoman ($160) are available too, but it’s the rocker that grabs shoppers’ attention, store representative Sumiko Watanabe says. “It’s so comfortable,” she says, “you can sleep in the chair.” 1208 Abbot Kinney Blvd., L.A.; (310) 314-8448.

It’s a rocking chair for the thoroughly modern porch: Takeshi Nii’s minimal Ny chair, designed 50 years ago and now winning over the tired feet and aching backs of shoppers at the newly remodeled Tortoise General Store in Venice. The reissued piece ($450) has a lightweight aluminum frame with a breezy gliding motion, simple beech armrests and a cotton seat in orange or the newly added charcoal. It all folds for easy storage. A non-rocking version ($430) and a matching ottoman ($160) are available too, but it’s the rocker that grabs shoppers’ attention, store representative Sumiko Watanabe says. “It’s so comfortable,” she says, “you can sleep in the chair.” 1208 Abbot Kinney Blvd., L.A.; (310) 314-8448.  (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

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In what had been a parking lot for a Monterey-style bungalow court in West Hollywood, four showrooms have established an al fresco design destination they have dubbed the Almont Yard. Standing: Millie Kelly of Claremont Furnishing Fabrics and Joe Lucas of the new store Harbinger. Seated: Nathan Turner, Peter Dunham of Hollywood at Home and Harbinger partner Parrish Chilcoat.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

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A blue Moroccan end table is from Hollywood at Home, one of four showrooms around the Almont Yard.  (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

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Parrish Chilcoat and Joe Lucas, shown in their recently opened one-room atelier, sell one-of-a-kind pieces, decorative pillows and their own furniture designs.  (Bob Chamberlin/Los Angeles Times)

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The original designs at Harbinger include this lattice-front cabinet with a hand-finished mirrored back panel. 636-A N. Almont Drive, West Hollywood; (310) 858-6884.  (Bob Chamberlin/Los Angeles Times)

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