Thread: L.A. and San Francisco Garment Districts?

Hey!
I am heading to CA tomorrow (have NEVER been, so VERY stoked!) and would love to know if there are any stores in L.A. or San Fran similar to M&J, Spandex World, etc. which are in N.Y. Also, any bellydance costuming shops?
Thanx : )

Hi Safiya,

San Francisco doesn't have a garment district like NYC does. We do have some good fabric shops. My favorite is Discount Fabrics (the one on 11th Street between Howard and Folsom). It is a big warehouse, decent prices, and you can score some great deals there.

Other fabric shops to try (in SF):
Mendels on Haight Street. Can be pricey, but has some funky finds.
Britex near Union Square. Expensive but inspiring.
General Bead (not fabric but beads and fixings galore).

That should get you started. You can find some good stuff in Japantown, and our Goodwills sometimes have okay fabric (if you are in the mood). There is a store called Stonemountain and Daughter in Berkeley that I like a lot , should you find yourself in the east bay. There are also a lot of Indian shops in Berkeley along University Avenue, good for saris. Cost Less Coins is out there, too, you can still score an old school coin bedlah if you have mad cash.

No full time belly dance stores in SF proper. Fat Chance Belly Dance have a shop attached to their studio, Magana Baptiste sometimes sells stuff out if her spot (or she did 15 years ago), Reda Darwish owns a store called Multikulti on 16th (at Valencia) and carries some dance items among the goods (let him know you dance, and he'll pull out the better stuff).

There are full shops with complete costumes in Walnut Creek (east of SF) and in San Jose (south of SF), I can get you links if you will be mobile.

Have fun!

Hi there!
For LA shopping check out these articles:
LARaqs - Los Angeles Belly Dance Shopping

Oh thank you so much! Both posts, helpful links!

Hi, make sure to check out this article on LARaqs, it's got details on a lot of the fun stuff downtown:
Shopping in Downtown Los Angeles

oooh ooooh that's my territory! I live in the downtown LA garment district - well almost! you should PM me when you get to CA let's go shopping!

Originally Posted by Monica

There are full shops with complete costumes in Walnut Creek (east of SF) and in San Jose (south of SF), I can get you links if you will be mobile.

Sorry for the thread hijack, but I will be in San Jose next spring and would love information on the costume store you mentioned. Would like to know if it's worth saving some extra cash for. ..g.:

Thanks!

Originally Posted by Anjela

Sorry for the thread hijack, but I will be in San Jose next spring and would love information on the costume store you mentioned. Would like to know if it's worth saving some extra cash for. ..g.:

Thanks!

Sure!

Adira's shop is in San Jose.
Adira Dance and Costume

Lunatic Fringe is in Sunnyvale (somewhere between San Jose and San Francisco, which are about an hour apart by car and seemingly forever apart by train).
http://www.lunaticfringebde.com/