B.Whitlock PhotoblogThe words behind the pixels.

I’ll be honest – a lot of my time here has been focused around shopping in many different areas around Southern California. I’m grateful for it because it has taken me all around the area with Brittany, but the downside is that this my view most of the time, as I’m not that interested in women’s jewelry.

This was taken in the LA Fashion District, which is a whole other world than any shopping experience I’m used to.

This photo shows a glimpse into the area that we went through, called Santee Alley. Here’s my breakdown: the streets are littered with small shops selling clothes, shoes, bags, accessories and jewelry. Many of the places sold the exact same items too (such as purses and electronics). Though, there were no designer or name brands anywhere, but not to say that the stuff was cheap to the point of being useless.

Santee Alley, shown above, was more of a bazaar style alley, selling mostly to retail customers. Since this district is the center if the LA fashion industry, they say, most of the shops are geared towards selling to wholesale buyers as well. Therefore, most items had two prices: retail price was usually half the sticker price (so about $6-8 for jewelry, $30-ish for purses); the wholesale price was anywhere from 20-35% of the sticker price, with the kicker being that you had to have a minimum purchase amount, usually $100 or so. Thus, boutique shop owners would come to the district, see the items in person rather than a catalog, and buy items for their stores.

The whole experience gave me a glimpse into the “fashion world” that I don’t have much interest in besides photographing.

The entire area (about 20 square blocks at least, was in downtown LA also, making it a little dirty, pretty crowded, and somewhat sketchy. But the prices made it worth it (not like I actually bought anything).

Here’s a final shot of the street markers that notated the district you’re in, similar to what I’ve seen at Epcot, and the Houston airport.