The Top Shopping Streets & Neighborhoods

Studio City (Ventura Blvd. between Laurel Canyon Blvd. and Fulton Ave.)

Long beloved by Valley residents, Studio City is where you'll find small boutiques and antiques stores, quirky little businesses (many dating from the 1940s and 1950s), and less congested branches of popular chains like Gap, Pier 1 Imports, and Blockbuster. Melanie Shatner, daughter of William, stocks Marc Jacobs and Joie at her chic boutique Dari, 12184 Ventura Blvd. (tel. 818/762-3274). Fashionistas flock to T.V. personality Lisa Rinna's Belle Gray, 13812 Ventura Blvd. (tel. 818/789-4021). Actress Kirsten Dunst's mother has a day spa, Belle Visage, 13207 Ventura Blvd. (tel. 818/907-0502; www.bellevisage.com), that caters to the young and the beautiful -- or at least those in search of youth and beauty. Parking is a cinch on the street except during holiday season, when stores team up to decorate these blocks and often observe extended evening hours. The 4 blocks of Ventura Boulevard between Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Whitsett Avenue are the most concentrated.