17 best holiday gifts to celebrate Angelenos and L.A. pride
Merch, swag, loot. The suggestions here go by a bunch of different names, but the premise is the same: They’re things that, in essence, promote other things. Los Angeles, it turns out, has no shortage of products that would be just as appropriate to find under the holiday tree as in a gifting-suite swag bag. Those I’ve included here don’t just rep the museum, hotel, business or non-profit selling them, but also the city of L.A. itself. And that's the kind of promo we can really get behind.
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Alexander Calder Champion sweatshirt
When it comes to gift-worthy merch, museums rarely disappoint, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has a particularly deep bench of giftable-meets-promotional items. Among them is this Champion sweatshirt that champions (see what we did there?) the colorful artwork that sculptor Alexander Calder created for the April 1, 1965, opening of the LACMA's Wilshire Boulevard campus. The print is also available on a T-shirt and tote bag, or as a poster.
$85 at LACMA Store
Go Get Em Tiger Coffee Buddy tote
If you’re on the hunt for something to serve your favorite coffee buddy, consider this tote emblazoned with Coffee Buddy itself, a heavy-lidded, sunnies-sporting cartoon coffee cup carrying an espresso in one hand. (Is this some kind of coffee-on-coffee crime? We’re not sure.) Created by Lauren Bailey, a barista for the coffee roaster Go Get Em Tiger, Coffee Buddy also struts their stuff on a T-shirt surrounded by a cloud that reads “Roasted in L.A. County.” Order online, or grab merch at any of the eight L.A.-area cafes where you might also consider snagging a couple bags of beans to fill out that tote.
$17 at Go Get Em Tiger
Flowerboy Project hoodie
This gray pullover hoodie is worth considering for the flower-bringer (literal or otherwise) in your life — the name sewn across the chest in silver embroidery is short for Flowerboy Project, a delightful Venice flower shop-meets-bodega-meets-coffee shop. If you swing by and pick it up in person at the Lincoln Boulevard store, think about adding a dried flower arrangement for your gift recipient and a signature floral coffee drink like the Dirty Rose Girl (a rose latte) or Lavender Boy (a lavender latte) for yourself.
$198 at Flowerboy Project
Theodore Payne Foundation Superbloom bandanna
Thanks to the fickleness of Mother Nature, seeing a superbloom in any given season is far from guaranteed. Unless it’s artistically rendered in a colorful bandanna, that is. This cotton one, designed by Lesley Goren, is printed with water-based ink and captures a colorful swirl of common sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) and wild heliotrope (Phacelia distans), two plant species critical to the life cycle of dozens of native caterpillar and bee species. Available for shipping or pickup at the foundation in Sun Valley.
$24 at Theodore Payne Foundation Store
Los Angeles Times Plants hat
Is there a plant-obsessive in your life? Then consider something that echoes what they’re always thinking on the inside. Namely: “Plants, plants, plants.” Here, those words are embroidered across the front of an unstructured, six-panel canvas ball cap in a typeface design created by Elisa Wong to brand the L.A. Times’ plants coverage. That, along with The Times logo embroidered on the back, makes this item from Shop LA Times stylish stealth merch at its best.
$35 at Shop LA Times
Los Angeles Public Library paper clip set
The Los Angeles Public Library Store’s website has no shortage of giftable items on offer that sport the library’s stylized open-book logo. You’ll find pencils, pens, socks and stowable tote bags, but there’s something adorably old-school about these semicircular paper clips (25 to a jar) that make them perfect for the bibliophile in your life who might need to keep their piles of free-range paper in better order, but for whom the traditional paper-clip shape isn’t stylish enough to keep deskside. Fun fact: The open-book logo was designed in 1992 by ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi as part of a rebrand in advance of the reopening of Central Library in 1993.
$12 at Library Foundation of Los Angeles / the Library Store
Huntington Blend tea
Made by local company Art of Tea and exclusive to the Huntington Store, this (loose not bagged) blend of black tea, organic green tea, jasmine flowers, organic marigolds, bergamot oil and natural flowers is inspired by the whimsy of the flora and botanicals of the Huntington. The result is a medium-caffeinated cuppa that’s also a sippable reminder of the on-premises Rose Garden Tea Room, where this blend is among those on offer as part of the daily (except for Tuesdays) tea service. If you’re looking for a twofer gift, book a reservation there for sometime in the new year — and let your giftee know by giving them this tin.
$16.95 at the Huntington Store
Pantone x Oscar Gold travel umbrella
Last year, to mark the 95th ceremony of handing out its gilded statuettes, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences collaborated with the gold standard of color-matching, the Pantone Color Institute, to create a signature custom color known as Oscar Gold. The result is a promotional twofer that’s appeared on a range of products including coffee mugs, key chains, rulers and notebooks. This travel umbrella, which comes in a matching case, is small enough to stow in the car en route to an Academy Awards party. So if it rains — as it has in L.A. during 19 of the last 96 ceremonies — you’ll be dry. And (Oscar) golden.
$50 at Academy Museum Store
Hollywood Bowl Woven throw blanket
A couple of decades ago, the Hollywood Bowl started commissioning a different artist each season to design a throw blanket that’s as good to look at as it is to snuggle under. The most recent one, designed by multidisciplinary artist Justina Blakeney, references both the venue’s distinctive shape and some of the musical instruments that have graced its stage — namely trumpets and guitars — with an Art Deco vibe that’s a nod to the 1920s style that was all the rage when the Bowl first opened in 1922. As for those hearts, stars, diamonds and four-leaf clovers floating from the trumpets? They symbolize love, light, abundance and good luck. Who wouldn’t want to be wrapped in all that?
$105 at LA Phil Store
La Brea Tar Pits 'Mazelsloth' holiday card set
I’ve had a thing for the slow-moving sloth ever since my first to visit the La Brea Tar Pits in the mid-1990s. (Maybe it reminds me of my speed to file a story on deadline.) I’m also an unabashed lover of puns. So imagine my sheer delight at discovering that the gift shop at the George C. Page Museum stocks cards that combine both. Blank inside and eight to a set, the cards have a design on the front that is reminiscent of a holiday sweater, with clawed critters a plenty accompanied by a couple of candles and the punny greeting, “Mazelsloth.” The same design also appears on pint glasses (for the drinking sloth in your life) and youth-sized T-shirts (for the aspiring sloth), available at the gift shop, too.
$30 at Natural History Museum
Beverly Hills Hotel Signature coffee mug
No, these aren’t the mugs used in the iconic Fountain Coffee Room downstairs (at least not as of the last time I was there snapping into a breakfast of silver dollar pancakes), but that hasn’t stopped them from becoming one of the more popular items at the famed hotel’s on-premises shop as well as on its website. Available in the signature pink shade of the hotel’s façade or a green hue that references the exterior accent colors , both versions are emblazoned with the hotel’s fancy, crest-like logo. (According to hotel reps, the pink one, pictured here, is one of the most popular items in online gift shop and often sells out, but it's routinely replenished.) Gift it as a reminder of the fun that awaits at the pink palace on Sunset Boulevard— or of the fun your gift recipient has already had.
From $20 at Dorchester Collection
MOCA x Rewilder: Art for All upcycled zip pouch
What happens to those street-pole banners around the city once they're done flapping their messages to passersby? If they're lucky, they get a second life as a usable item made by L.A.-based upcycler Rewilder. In this particular instance, Rewilder has partnered with the Museum of Contemporary Art for a collection of zip-up pouches that not only keep the banner material out of the landfill, but also highlight (via an explanatory tag stitched to the front) the museum's free-general-admission-for-all policy. There's also a larger MOCA x Rewilder tote bag in the mix, with handles made from upcycled seatbelts.
$40 at MOCA Store
The Magic Castle salt & pepper shaker set
Salt and pepper can work magic on a bland meal, so it’s only fitting that one of the themed items available at the Magic Castle’s gift shop is this pairing of an adorable white bunny rabbit with perky ears (that’s the salt shaker) and a magician’s black top hat stamped with the Magic Castle logo (pepper). Even more magical? The ceramic shakers are designed so the base of the rabbit fits neatly in the top of the hat, referencing the classic illusion. Perfect for the kitchen magician or dinner-party prestidigitator on your holiday gift list. (Note: This is an online-only option unless you’re a member — or magically have access to the on-site gift shop.)
$24 at the Magic Castle
Hammer Museum soccer club scarf
In Europe, where soccer is called “football” and teams are called “clubs,” one of the ways football fans show their support is by sporting a woven club scarf. Italian visual artist Maurizio Cattelan, who has earned a reputation as an art-world prankster thanks to works like his banana duct-taped to a wall, uses those football team scarves as the inspirational starting point for his Museums League collection, which envisions art institutions around the world as deserving of similar fan fervor right down to picking team colors and a chant (presumably to be shouted in unison in the gallery by art hooligans). The blue-and-white design for the Hammer includes the museum’s name on one side and, on the other, the chant “Art Will Save Us” — flanked by a pair of flaming volleyballs. Showing team spirit never seemed so cultured.
$59 at Hammer Museum Store
Re: LA Alex Prager leather pouch
Although this navy blue leather zip-up pouch isn't technically merch, the quote printed on the lower-right corner in eye-catching pink conceptually qualifies it as an unbashed promo for the city of Los Angeles. By artist, screenwriter and director Alex Prager, it reads: "Los Angeles is still the wild west. There's no plan or rules dictating what you can or can't do. It's a city ripe with endless possibilities." If the city had a gift shop, this would be a bestseller.
$165 at Re: LA
The Original Farmers Market children's coloring and activity book
This thin book, a collaborative promo between the Original Farmers Market and Kip’s Toyland, which opened there in 1945, gives crayon-wielding kids (or adults — we’re not judging) an opportunity to add their own color to some of the historic market’s oldest tenants (Magee’s Kitchen, Marconda’s, Kip’s) as well as doodle on stickers, draw in a table full of diners and unscramble words. (Those unscrambled words spell out some of Kip’s bestselling toys, which the unscrambler might then lobby for.) While you could easily order this online, I heartily recommend making the purchase in person next time you’re nearby. Although the activity book is (oddly) not stocked at Kip’s, you’ll find it in the Farmers Market offices on the second level above gate 1 (the stairs are across from Bryan’s Pit Barbecue), which is open 363 days a year. Not only will you find other Original Farmers Market merch for sale — like T-shirts, coffee mugs and water bottles —, you’ll also be able to score a fun freebie: a cartoony, action-packed, vintage-looking, full-size promotional poster of the market filled with so many details that taking them in is an afternoon’s worth of activity all by itself.
$6 at the Original Farmers Market
The Uplifters 'LA Madre' T-shirt
At first glance, this T-shirt looks like it it could be riffing on Dodger merch thanks to the stylized "LA" logo, but it's got less to do with highlighting the team that plays in Chavez Ravine and more to do with showing the love to the moms of this great and sprawling city. The Uplifters is one of a handful of brands created and designed in Staci Woo and Mike Badt's downtown L.A. Arts District workshop and studio, where they've been based since 1997.
$68 at the House of Woo
Prices and availability of items and experiences in the Gift Guide and on latimes.com are subject to change.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
