Shopping in Claremont

Born after founder and clothing designer Renee Claire recognized a need for well-tailored sleepwear, BedHead Pajamas fills online and boutique stores with evening accouterment and accessories for children, teens, and adults. Men's and women's cotton-knit and flannel pajama sets vie for the attention of balloons craving static charges alongside loungewear, underwear, and robes. Many garments bear animal prints and seasonal designs, and print patterns by guest artists serve as camouflage during games of hide-and-seek in high-class paint stores. On gleefully crowded shelves, accessories such as candles and hot water bottles beg to complement bedroom décor and lure in the aloof sandman. Bedhead's boutique locations feature playful window displays and outdoor gardens, and the company works with charities including Inner-City Arts and Esperanza, a nonprofit benefitting communities and workers in the garment industry.

Since lighting its first candlewicks in Berkeley in the 1960s, Stone Candles has crafted a colorful array of bright-hued and delicately scented candles. In the shop’s new Culver City location, Stone’s father-son team imbues candle pillars and wax-free luminaries, with scents ranging from cucumber-melon and red currant to jasmine and vanilla. Here, you can find candles ranging in size from hefty 6-by-12 inches to petite 3-by-3’s, an ideal size for illuminating one’s miniature model of Thomas Edison’s house.

The shop’s special environmentally sustainable COCO candle collection comes in pleasant scents such as gardenia, green tea and fig, and lavender. Pick up one of the shop’s candle holders, hewn from slices of ebony wood or slices of agate, to help display individual candles.

Just like the organism from which it takes its name, Amoeba Music’s stock of tunes has no definite form. At each location, expert music gurus amass thousands of new and used CDs and LPs from the most mainstream artists to the most obscure underground bands around. LPs, posters, and memorabilia surround the musical inventory, which, like Ringo Starr’s pants, changes every day. Amoeba buys goods from customers, meaning that on any given day the store might usher in a rare vinyl LP, DVD, VHS, or even LaserDisc. Visitors can sign up for any number of contests while admiring Amoeba’s enduring dedication to its green practices and community outreach. Amoeba couples its huge selection of entertainment with visits from the artists themselves, welcoming past guests such as Paul McCartney, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords, and Elvis Costello to play in-store.

Jacqueline Collen-Tarrolly's fascination with fairies and the fantastical runs throughout her many businesses, which include a horse farm, a bath-product line, and an online gallery of original fantasy art. Likewise, a reading corner, a wishing well, and ornate armoires add a touch of magic to Toadstool Farm Vintage, her boutique of whimsical vintage and vintage-inspired clothing and décor.

Inside, shoppers can browse smokeless soy candles, wall art, and glass, china, and ceramic containers or try on an abundance of vintage dresses, which allow classically-minded beauties to style themselves after the fashions of yesteryear. They can also introduce themselves to the store's resident dog, Ella, whose classic name brings to mind the jazz singer famous for her dulcet voice and responsible pet ownership.

The new incarnation of Los Angeles’s popular Eyewatch sunglasses shop, Lux Eyewear offers a constantly updated inventory of more than 2,000 designer styles. Friendly staff members guide customers through a cornucopia of high-end brand-name shades by design houses such as Ray-Ban, Celine Eyewear, Chanel, Tom Ford, and Tiffany, prompting customers to retire the tinted SUV windshields they may have been holding in front of their faces.

Golden light pours from a crystal chandelier onto rich wooden furniture and polished marble floors in Rocky Chugani’s Sherman Oaks showroom. Under that warm glow, tailors lend their discerning eyes and deft fingers to fitting suits to precisely align with each client's build and style, from flashy, broad-lapeled pinstripe blazers to exquisitely cut tuxedos ideal for a black-tie job interview. Celebrity clients include Jay Leno, D. L. Hughley, Jeff Probst, and numerous athletes such as Chris Kaman, Kenyon Martin, and Baseball Hall of Famer Andre Dawson—as clients can verify by gazing at placards of them on the walls as they lounge on the showroom's soft couches.