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Shrine of Hollywood
Rating Details »
Categories: Women's Clothing, Men's Clothing [Edit]
Neighborhoods: Mid-City West, West Hollywood7305 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 655-1485
- Hours:
Mon-Sun. 12:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
10 reviews for Shrine of Hollywood
Suburbia is full of teenage rebels who shop at Hot Topic. It's laughable, considering that, logically, you can't buy rebellion at your local shopping mall. These poor, hapless kids don't fully understand why wearing all black and Mohawk are symbols of a sub-culture that is fading in Los Angeles. Maybe all those corporate chain stores are taking away the mystique.
Alas, on our jaunt on Melrose to raise the American economy from the ashes, we arrive at Shrine. We are ignored by two sales people in the corner, tattoos, piercings, and full of contempt. Ah yes, my people; I feel at home here. There are some very interesting and unique pieces for men hidden on the walls and on the racks. In the back, there is a British guy trying on long coats comparing quality of the garments to the ones back home.
The lioness, Kristen B., picks up a gorgeous dress with lacey strap, outside darts, all on a skull print. She also tries on a similar silhouette dress with polka-dots, but I'm rooting for the skull dress.
Behind the counters, in a store dominated by dark red, black and silver, are other nick-nacks, including pieces for ceremonies: chalices, pentangles, and pendants. As I continue to scour the place for treasure I find Egyptian statues, even a cool vampire zine. After asking, I find out that the store owner designs most of the clothing in there. Wow! This shop is unique. Although, I don't see myself ever wearing a t-shirt with safety pins in it. Who knows. Never say, never, right?
Shrine of Hollywood is NOT like Hot Topic, because the former is about quality gothic clothing for adults, whereas HT is about mass production of cheaply made and overpriced clothing primarily geared for 12-18 year olds. I've done a lot of price-comparing and shopping across different brands, and Shrine offers some of the highest quality clothing for relatively reasonable prices. If you want higher quality, you'll need to have someone custom make your clothing by hand in Canada or the UK, and you'll likely pay at least a third more than you would at Shrine. The ballet dress style is amazing; I have two and they are worth every penny. I'll be getting one of their operetta skirts soon; haven't decided between the high quality velvet, or the high quality pvc version! Their clothing for men is also some of the best I've found; the tapestry-like brocades and satins are simply lovely, and most companies neglect male clothing. They also have a number of high quality men's coats, which look amazing on a guy who can pull it off. And Shrine certainly has somewhat more casual clothing as well, which is generally less expensive than their formal wear, but its quality is proportional to the price. I recommend trying everything on, so you can feel for yourself how the price is worth the quality for so many of their products.
This place is ok, got a super cute skirt here, the dress version was 100$ and they tried to charge me the same price for the skirt wtf?
Overall some people might come here thinking their cool for not shopping at hottopic like everyone els, but here and hot topic you'll find someone wearing your outfit XD :(
Helpful and friendly staff open to helping us find what we wanted even though they didn't have it they told me where to go and were making suggests for their products too. Kinda a hot topic type store but at least better staff and not quite so commercial.
I bought one of my favorite dresses of all time at this store last spring!!! Shine brand is simply the BEST in quality among contemporary gothic clothing. That being said, Shrine also has a lot of nice jewelry and fun accessories.
On the downside, it's a 35-40 minute drive to LA from the SGV, and there aren't a lot of other stores on Melrose that make the drive worthwhile.
Still love Shrine but their designs are not what they used to be.
As far as I can tell, this is the last gothic clothing shop left in LA.;the last place left on Melrose since the Retail Slut closed down. Being as old as I am, I still remember the days of Nana's, Lip Service and Melrose being the LA equivalent of London's Camden:-( I do believe that The Electric Chair is still open in Huntington, if you want to drive to the OC.
This wonderful little boutique specializes in gothic fashion. Cute stuff although there isn't a huge variety. They carry their own label as well as other brands such as the usual Lip Service. I've even spotted some Cyberdog in the racks.
i loved coming in here in the mid-late 90s to gaze at the velvet dresses, frock coats and jewelry. they played jane's addiction and the employees were cool. i was in college and couldn't buy anything, but oh did i love to come in here and drool...
Lovely place. The quality of the clothing was great and so was the selection. To top it all off, everyone was very friendly and not at all angtsy. lol
