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It's time.
As much as we hated seeing silver stars and winter white wonderland at the Beverly Center as early as October (did they completely gloss over Halloween or did we just miss it when they were promoting it back in, say, July?), we must accept that Holiday shopping is indeed upon us now that it's December. To make it easier on us all, LAist has toiled, worn out our mouse clicking fingers, scoured the web for all of the 15 minutes it takes to find anything on that there Internets to put together a little list of gifts perfectly suited for the die-hard LAist-ist.
Some of them scream LA, others are slightly more subtle, but no matter what, each one is somehow related to this sprawl that we {heart}. Click the images for details, or read on after the jump.
Fashion-ist
For the love of your life, girl-ist or boy-ist, you can't go wrong with anything from American Apparel, made sweatshop-free in LA, particularly the girlie boyshorts or the unisex track jacket. However, we warn you against the shiny leggings, which may permanently scar your retinas if you take a peek. If shiny is your girl's thing, then Nippies, based out of Venice, make for great stocking stuffers. Despite what they say, it can get a little chilly in LA, and there's certainly no need to advertise it.
Food-ist
For the foodish LAist, a restaurant guide is appropriate, but if it's Jonathan Gold's Counter Intelligence, it's also far more interesting than reading between a series of quote-unquotes. Make it a package deal with a Cozmo Deck to make all those meals affordable. If he like to stay in every once in a while, serve up dinner on a map of downtown LA, have a cup of luxurious LA Mill Coffee, and start the rest of the evening fun with a syrah from San Antonio Winery, one of the last remaining wineries in the LA Basin. After this past Saturday, we couldn't resist these UCLA and USC colored tortilla chips. If she's a Trojan, we're sorry. Really, we are. And not just about the game either.
Freeway-ist
We know you know how to get from the Westside to Silver Lake without ever once touching the freeways, but not everyone is as navigationally blessed as you are. For them, the Garmin StreetPilot is awesome, since it also comes traffic ready. You can't wait for traffic every six minutes from Sky Captain.
Fire-ist
'Tis the season to be jolly, fires la la la la la la la. We make fun, but fires have become a serious matter for those of us who live in certain areas. Show them how much you love them by encouraging them with safety in every room. Snapalarm attaches to any hanging lamp, and will not shut without a battery inside.
Fun-ist
When they come at you with a taser, we suggest you get them back with a Marshmallow Shooter. No real harm, even if you use really, really stale marshmallows. We didn't do too much music on this Gift Guide, since LAist covers music quite a bit already, but we had to make mention of the Meshugga Beach Party - 20 Songs of the Chosen Surfers. They may not necessarily be from LA, but Chosen People and surfers are so very LA. So is roller-blading, but, like how much cuter will she be in hot pants and regular roller skates on the boardwalk?!? From sun to snow we go, and not only are these boards as pretty as the trees we don't have, but Arbor is based out of LA.
We could have done an entire list for the Fan-ist, but we wanted to spare ourselves the pain of seeing your whole family decked out in gold and purple jerseys. Instead, keep the natives happy with a Lakers controller. Yes, it's for the PS2, but we know you had better things to do than to camp out in front of Best Buy for three days.
The rest of the Guide is strictly for entertainment purposes, whether it's aural pleasure or full, explicit visuals. Sirius Satellite's SL100 may not be exactly what she was expecting of Stiletto, but she can still trot up and down the avenue with it because it's portable and stores up to 100 hours of programming. Since we're geeking out a bit, we know that no one in LA who commutes actually makes it home in time to watch their favorite shows, so we all have TiVo. However, we need the TiVo Wireless Network Adapter because really, who still relies on a land line at home? Add the Slingbox to the gift package and not only will you never miss your favorite TV shows, you can watch them wherever you go.
Finally, we couldn't round out an LA gift list without the obligatory DVDs of a few LA-based TV shows and movies. We don't need to list them all, but if there's one that is a particular favorite of yours, remind us again in the comments, won't you?
That's it for now. There's only so much shopping we can do in a day, but stay tuned to LAist in the next few weeks for more holiday gift ideas.
