Why I love the Fabric district in DTLA

Recently a friend came to visit. We met on Facebook but only met in person on this trip. It felt like we had known each other forever – which in a way, we had. Having only a few hours we rushed downtown. This was our first stop.For over 30 years this store has been offering everything for the Sewist in downtown LA. They have a separate Home Decorating store. A garment fabric store – which includes yarn, findings and a lot of notions. The loft – where they get remnants from local jobbers and sell everything for $2 a pound. Which btw, adds up very quickly.Here we are, of course we made some purchases. this just gives you an idea of how large the place is.

Then we just hit the streets and walked around looking at all the other wonderful stores in the area. According to Karen, this is a much larger fabric district that New York, could be, our garment industry is quite large. These are the fake animal prints out on the side walk.  From cow, to leopard to pink tiger.More fur, I think these might go indoors soon. Interesting how they are chained. Is that so they don’t fall down or so no one walks off with a bolt?Party fabrics!Beads and sparkle.

The really good quality fabrics are all inside and yes, one can find some very expensive quality fabrics here.

This is the first post of many. I love this part of town, started coming here 22 years ago when I first moved to LA. It is amazing to me how the district has grown and changed.  I will have to share some of the bead stores as well. Oh and don’t get me started on the party stores, or actually do, that is a subject for a different post.