In between meetings in Los Angeles the other day, I decided to stop by one of my favorite haunts in LA: The Brentwood Country Mart.

Built in 1948 as an open-air market with shops around a central courtyard, the mart has evolved and changed over the years from a strictly farmers market operation into a quaint non-mega mall retail location with one-of-a-kind stores and food stalls.

I love the traditional red and white barn structures mixed with the updated signage, store fronts and interiors.    What could’ve easily been torn down to built non-descript stores and office space has been preserved to give this community a quieter, more intimate place to gather, shop and have a snack.

Even the original barn style doors, with the option to open the top half have been preserved.  Good thing, too!   If you peek inside many of the shops, you’ll find many sleeping and happy dogs inside!

One idea I loved at Calypso Home is, of course, something you can’t buy.  They upcycled a picture frame into a cork board by inserting stiff cork on the inside.    What a nice addition to any home office, right? 

You can really get a sense of the narrow hallways, open-air feel and intimacy of the small stores in this photo.

The florist—Botany—had this nice grouping of air plants and succulents against a glossy painted black piece of furniture.  The whole store featured black painted walls and furniture, allowing the vibrant flowers and plants to really “pop” against it.

And here’s something I bought: refillable lighters.   Instead of those ugly plastic ones at the supermarket, these were sleek and modern and refillable!   There was a big debate if I’m allowed to take these on the plane or not (I opted not to) and then an even bigger debate if they were even mailable!    We finally all walked to the nearby Post Office, lighters in hand, and asked the postal employee together if we could in fact mail these.   The answer is: yes.

DETAILS:

225 26th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90402

www.brentwoodcountrymart.com

This past Earth Day, I was up bright and early in West Chester, PA to help unveil the new Baggu reusable  bag set on QVC. 

I love Baggu bags because they truly are the ultimate reusable shopping bag: super light weight, very strong, holds up to 50 pounds per bag, can easily fold back up into your pocket, and they come in bright, fashion-forward colors.

In the QVC collection, we gave a 3-piece Baggu set and and 2 1-piece sets—perfect either for big grocery shopping trips or just a quick one to the store—and they all come packaged in their own individual pouches.       What I love about the bags is that you don’t need to be a math whiz to figure out how to fold them back up again.   Each bag has what I like to call “memory lines” that refold back up like a map: just fold in half and then let the lines refold themselves in half and half again until you end up with a little square that fits right back into the pouch.

Did I mention the amazing colors they come in?    My feeling is this: a reusable bag does not have to have a giant supermarket logo on the side of the bag.   It can also be non-descript and beautiful, right?   And since many of us are using reusable bags everywhere else, it should be comfortable, roomy, strong and lightweight, too!

But at the end of the day, they should be able to hold lots of groceries, too.    50 pounds per bag!    That’s like 10 five pound bags of flour.   

Check out the QVC video above to see me try my best to express my love for these bags.      And did I mention the great deal they did?  5 Baggu bags plus a reusable produce bag for just $29.87?

More of my Los Angeles adventures continues.  I just got off a plane from LA to NY and I’m so glad to be home, but I’m running straight to work.  Today, I’m working with my favorite Real Housewife of NY—Kelly Bensimon–on a fun green makeover story (“Kelly Green”  Fun!), so these LA posts will end soon, I promise.    But today’s post is about a fun store I visited for the first time thanks to my friends at Apartment Therapy Los Angeles who turned me on to it (Thanks for the lead!).     The store is restaurant supply store Surfas in Culver City.   Open to the public and a must-visit for any foodie–from restaurant chef to home cook.

When I lived in Reading, PA, there was a warehouse restaurant supply store I loved visiting.   I love cooking supplies that are stripped down to their bare, hard-working essentials: no added packaging, no funny colors, no weird finishes: just raw metal, raw glass, raw plastic ready for rough, everyday cooking and use!     These restaurant supply stores are a great place to find hard-working cooking supplies at surprisingly low prices, like these lovely paella pans.

Sometimes you find things that you aren’t sure what the original function was for, but you love it anyway.   These were in the baking section—baking pans with perforations throughout—that I thought would be great to use as a small tray in the bathroom to keep bathroom essential organized.   Or maybe by the stove holding a tray full of cooking essentials like olive oil, vinegars, spices and more?

These large plastic trays have matching lids are prep containers for restaurants that can hold everything from meats marinating to vegetables cut for crudite. I love them for use at home because they are shallow, see-thru and inexpensive.   And aren’t they better looking than Tupperware?

One of the best looking cake stands I’ve ever seen.  Cast iron base just gives it a real, durable, sturdy look. 

And what one food item did I immediately gravitate towards?   Frozen cookie dough of course.  Costco isn’t the only place to find food in bulk…restaurant supply stores have an unusual selection you can’t find at warehouse clubs or even your normal supermaret: garnishes, purees, oils, finishing salts and more are everywhere.

Again, my thanks to the Apartment Therapy LA team for giving me this suggestion during our recent shoot.   I loved every minute I spent there!

One of my favorite stores in Los Angeles is a landscaping center out in Culver City called Rolling Greens.    I love it so much, that I did a photo shoot there for Elle magazine a few years ago with my pal actress Kerry Washington for their annual green issue.

Well, I was pleasently surprised to see a former automative repair shop in Beverly Hills converted into an outpost of Rolling Greens.  I skidded by Prius to the side of the road to see what they did to transform this space and I think you’ll like what you’re about to see.

The store is divided into several lifestyle areas ranging from houseplants to flowers to bedding/home to food (where I naturally spent the most time figuring out what fattening treats to stock up on).    In the kitchen area, there was a great selection of these glasses, all made from old wine bottles expertly cut and sanded into tumblers.

Who would’ve guessed this building used to change tires and motor oil?   They did a great job keeping the open space of the former space without tearing it down.  That’s a rarity in sleek and modern Los Angeles.

The overhead lighting fixtures were great inspiration pieces for me.  I imagined simple wire baskets turned upside down and covered in unbleached linen or even burlap as pendant fixtures for the home.   As lovely as these were, the $700+ price tag was a tad high for something someone with a good set of crafting skills could replicate.   But this is LA after all: many people here are better at shopping then crafting.

It’s no surprise this was my favorite fine at Rolling Greens: glass mulch.  Maybe mulch isn’t the right word, but it’s tumbled recycled glass of all sorts of shades and colors to use on top of soil for plants.   Bling for plants.

I am tempted to grab an old glass bottle, shatter it, and tumble it in one of those rock tumbling kits I had as a kid to make my own gemstones.

Details:
Rolling Greens

7505 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036

www.rollinggreensnursery.com.

If you read Daily Danny on a regular basis, you know I tend to trek over to Adamstown, PA a lot to shop for, well, everything.  I find great pieces of artwork, furniture, glassware, gifts and so much more in this quaint part of Pennsylvania that’s right in the smack middle of Amish country.

One store I’ve been hesitant to write about is a small five-and-dime type store that seems to be stuck in the past, selling old feedsacks, children’s toys, hardware, fabrics and so much more in a very quaint old time kinda feel of a place.     I find so many inspiration pieces here that I’ve been saving for my home collection (that’s in development) and love just rooting through all the dusty boxes to uncover something new every single time.

In the back of the store, for example, they had a selection of mint condition turn of the century model shoes used to show customers the types of shoes available for sale.   So, no, you can’t buy a complete set of shoes but you could by the floor model samples that they somehow found and decided to re-sell at the store.   I have no need for something like this, obviously, but it’s really interesting that it just kinda just showed up one day and it’s for sale.

And the rooting begins: old brackets, tin cans, cookie jars, glassware, cigar boxes, pillows, bolts of fabric, ribbon..you name it.  I once found the greatest looking glass peanut butter jars that I thought would be great to use as containers for homemade soy peanut butter scented candles.

While everything in the store may be mint condition old school products, the owners are very involved and can help you find things throughout the packed store.   Note to potential shoppers: Cash only.

To find the store, just drive through the Antiques Miles road in Adamstown; it’s across from their only supermarket and Blockbuster video.  I know, random.  

Have fun!