Help - Los Angeles uke shops?

ukeinfused

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I'm on a short weekend today, tomorrow, Monday morning in LA with my 21 year old neice.
Since we have so little to look at in MN, I want to steal away to a couple shops to look at mid and higher end stuff. Used instruments always good too.
Looking for something near where we'll be, including Pasadena, Venice Beach and Santa Monica Pier, downtown (Sunday), and the airport (Monday morning).
Recommendations?
Thanks for any help!
 
Ukulele Space is located in LA. Give them a try.
The Fretted Frog in Pasadena has a few interesting brands. They have Hozen instruments, which are luthier built instruments from Singapore but the builder was trained by Somogyi in the US. They are not open on Sundays or Mondays, so you should go there today by 5pm.

Check out their websites for their selections. I would say they fall in the mid range, not high end.
 
McCabe's in Santa Monica! Although their high-end selection may be a little sparse right now, if you're in the neighborhood it's worth a stop just because the place is legendary and there's a ton of stuff to look at.

Normally, I'd agree. However, I was in the store earlier this week and inventory across the board for ukes and guitars is very low at the moment.
 
Normally, I'd agree. However, I was in the store earlier this week and inventory across the board for ukes and guitars is very low at the moment.

McCabe's was robbed recently of a good part of their inventory. I assume it will take a while to recover. https://www1.mccabes.com

U-Space is in Downtown at the Japanese Cultural Center on San Pedro St. between 2nd and 3rd. http://www.uspacela.com

Boulevard Music on Sepulveda and Culver Blvd. in Culver City http://www.boulevardmusic.com

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U-Space is worth the trip, but....
Its a long ways from SM and don't even consider traveling to or from during rush hours.

Have fun in LA, but be safe!
 
Thx to all.
I only made it to McCabe's. And you were right, very low inventory. They only had a soprano Koaloha, a Martin S1, and a bunch of Mainlands and Cordobas (why the latter - so dead). (Also said everyone is low right after NAMM.)
It was fun to meet the Mainlands - a cedar/rosewood pineapple sop was my favorite. Pretty impressive for the price, but I'm looking a little more upscale...
 
Thx to all.
I only made it to McCabe's. And you were right, very low inventory. They only had a soprano Koaloha, a Martin S1, and a bunch of Mainlands and Cordobas (why the latter - so dead). (Also said everyone is low right after NAMM.)
It was fun to meet the Mainlands - a cedar/rosewood pineapple sop was my favorite. Pretty impressive for the price, but I'm looking a little more upscale...
Gonna be a cold and crazy weekend here. Hop a plane to Hawaii. KoAloha? Kamaka?
 
I just returned from a trip out to LA to visit my mom and went to four shops:

U-Space - downtown LA in Little Tokyo
Kaye's Music Scene - Woodland Hills
Anacapa Ukulele - Ventura
McCabe's - Santa Monica

U-Space was wonderful. Everyone there was so nice and helped me create, as they put it, my Ukulele Bubble so I could try literally every uke they had. So nice, so low key and no sales pitch at all. I'm quite sure I will revisit them on another trip out.
Anacapa was also very nice. I tried several ukes - though they had a smaller collection to choose from.
Kaye's was more of a typical music store uke experience. The ukes are all displayed up high and not easy to "test". Didn't spend much time there.
McCabes was great. An old time music store. Beautiful guitars everywhere. Musicians in and out all day. A real "hangout". One of the guys I talked to sold a uke to George Harrison. They have mostly Ohana and Mainland (which was great since I had not seen one of those anywhere). I ended up buying a Mainland Tenor Mahogany.
 
It's a little out of the way from the areas everyone's talking about, but my favorite shop is Island Bazaar down in Huntington Beach.

Definitely a long drive away from downtown/Santa Monica et cetera. When I was there recently, there was a great selection of Kamaka, Kanile'a, Koaloha, Kala Elite, and Romero instruments. Plus, lots of good Kala and Ohana instruments as well. I'd definitely recommend it, good people.
 
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