Realm
Categories: Arts & Crafts, Antiques, Home Decor, Bookstores, Flowers & Gifts [Edit]
425 Gin Ling WayChinatown Central Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90012 (213) 628-4663
- Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
11 reviews
Neighborhood: Hollywood
"After a billion experiences of shopping at poorly stocked and needlessly snobby underdog art stores and gleaming, soulless corporate art…" read more »
9 Reviews for Realm
You know all those home decor stores I review and say, 'this is the perfect place to buy a gift'? Well fuck them-THIS is the place to go. This is seriously the most carefully curated shop I've been to, where clean and modern items are mixed in with items clearly inspired by the Chinatown location and the two perfectly compliment each other.
I picked up the most beautifully detailed porcelain parasol mushroom and an olive dish resembling a circular half pipe that is the perfect size for an apartment of two. Are these necessities? No. Are they awesome? Hell yes.
The store had penguin shaped martini shakers, silver pig statues with an etched flower pattern, gorgeous wrapping paper with metallic koi fish, a wonderful selection of design and Asian travel books, teapots, and tons more, some a bit too expensive, some very reasonable. Make sure to look up while there though-the store's original and very detailed ceiling is as impressive as their fabulous stock.
Also, don't bother paying for parking in one of the millions of lots-there is ample street parking a few blocks down on College past Hill.
People thought this was:
Useful (9)
Funny (8)
Cool (9)
If you're a silverlake hipster, a hip daddy, a hip mama, a hip sisi, a hip whatever, you need to stop at Realm for decorative goods. Here you'll find things that is considered an absolute KNOCK OFF for its price. I made some research a jelly fish paper weight that is sold in the market for 200 dollars is only sold here for 45 dollars. This place is no joke. They have stuff ranging from cheap to expensive.
Again, if you're decorating your apartment and have a few hundred bucks to spend. Stop here at Realm, and you'll find East meets West kind of furniture pieces and fine porcelain that everyone will be wondering where you got it from.
Sounds like an advertisement ... not really. Out of the many furniture store i've been to in silverlake, this one is one of my top three.
If you venture into the Realm, it brings neo-retro-modern-futuristic-contemporary-chinese-c outure-culture into reality. This is "the" shop that every other shop in Chinatown would dream of becoming oneday but never will. It only seems different, because it stands out from the rest of the mom'n'pop shops selling the same-different great things because Realm is way ahead of the retail game.
"Realm adds mad Futuristic Chinese Flavors right in the heart of the innercity-oldtown-Chinatown."
Enough said check it out, and then go next door to MunkyKing and support the underground art scene and Urban Vinyls.
People thought this was:
Useful (2)
Cool (2)
This store has a ton of stuff to make a awesome pad.
It's pricey, but it looks damn cool.
3 starts for nice home decor items and collection of books, but I was able to find similar if not identical items from this store for much less at cost plus world market, target, ikea, and crate and barrel for much less.
This store doesn't seem like it really belongs in Chinatown, it seems like it would fit in much better on the Third Street Promenade, or somewhere where gullible people wouldn't miss the extra money they throw away for these splurge items. Some of these items don't seem like they are even remotely related to Chinese culture in any sense, except maybe made in some sweatshop there.
The book collection is comparable to those found at Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie, and easily purchasable at Barnes and Nobles for at least a 10% discount.
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
Cool (1)
Oooo, modern with Asian twist accessories.... I hurried over here, thinking the style is totally me - then I almost run into the only other customer in the store who's yapping to the clerk about how much she Luuurves this place. Which was ok - cept for this customer was an "older" lady with giant lips, cheek implants, and her skin pulled back so far - well, her face was kinda gruesomely fascinating. Geez - she and I have the same style? Huh. Well, fortunately the cute little housewares they sell here were able to divert me from rudely staring at the medical oddity. I couldn't hold back from the little animal shaped ceramic soy sauce/vinegar/liquid dispensers - yes I had to have the elephant. And the dog. And maybe the cow too. I'm currently trying my best to resist the cool lotus shaped candleholders.... but who knows how long I can really hold out?
People thought this was:
Useful (3)
Funny (3)
Cool (2)
If you probably stopped by Chinatown Central plaza, you probably seen a lot unique gift shops surrounding their central square. This is one of the most unique store I ever seen located in tourist trap portion of the gift shops nightmare.
The front of the place is very unassuming and looked like antique shop, but when you walk in, it turn into a posh exquisite shop. The front did not indicate or gave away any clue on how different it is on the inside.
This is a fascinating shop where it meshed the old style Chinese silver wares and put some fusion on it to make it more chic. The silver wares and hard wares has traditional Chinese imprints on it, but look like it belong on a trendy upscale Chinese eatery instead of a low end dim sum place.
Very stylish on many of the products that was inside of the place. Check out the website and you'll see some of the items that is being sold both on-line and at the store. Some of the silver wares was very elegant. Probably I can improve my home's decor by adding some of those pieces.
A cool find in middle of a tourist trap destination. Definitely better than Ikea. OK OK, leave me alone.
How did I find the place? Oh.... I saw one blonde walked in and then soon another blonde walked in. Just got curious on why that place is attracting such a certain clientele while the others are getting squat.
People thought this was:
Useful (9)
Cool (8)
Awwwwwwwwwwww man! Mike beat me to it! I had taken some photos of the place but had somehow accidentally deleted them and so I forgot the name of this place. Damn you Mike!
Anyway, yes, this place is just too cool for words. You'd expect to find it in a trendy mall such as South Coast Plaza, but in the middle of dinky Chinatown???
COOL, COOL, too COOL for words!
People thought this was:
Useful (3)
Funny (5)
Cool (8)
This place is an oasis. After seeing countless shops full of knock off merchandise and tourist garbage this random place was sitting in the Chinatown Central Plaza. It has art books, graphic novels, novelty books, design heavy furniture, miscellaneous items, stationary.
Just a lot of cool contemporary and interesting things. I walked all of Chinatown, and this was by far my favorite store.
People thought this was:
Useful (1)
Cool (2)
People Who Viewed This Also Viewed...
Related Lists
-
Thanks to me!!
I got the ball rolling and people have follow.…
Hot and New
- Angel City Drive-In
17 reviews
Neighborhood: Downtown
- Rogue Territory Custom Jeans…
3 reviews
Neighborhood: Mid-City West
- Gloria's Cafe
123 reviews
Los Angeles, CA
- Restaurant Komasa
100 reviews
Neighborhood: Downtown
- Eyetailor Optical
11 reviews
Neighborhood: Wilshire Center
