BY DESIGN : A Tale of Two Beverlys

You can’t have a conversation about fashion or cafes these days without mentioning the Beverlys--Beverly Drive and Beverly Boulevard--and it’s nearly impossible to keep them straight without a program.

Where’s Todd Oldham’s store going to be? Or the hip cafe Red and its new lounge, the Red Eye? (On Beverly Boulevard.)

What about the site of the future Bloomingdale’s, the granddaddy of all retailers? (Beverly Drive.)

Beyond the name, and the fact that neither one is a tourist stop, the two sister streets have nothing in common.

Beverly Drive was the first north-south shopping street in Beverly Hills. A sizable amount of it was once owned by Will Rogers. It’s a retailer’s dream--easy parking, a popular place to stroll with babies and dogs, safe as a small-town main street. Although just one street east of Rodeo Drive, its rents (and its designer wattage) are two-thirds lower.

Beverly Drive’s renaissance is decidedly mainstream, with new tenants such as the Limited, Victoria’s Secret and Banana Republic. The Gap and Williams-Sonoma, currently on the street, plan on opening new, doubled versions of themselves here next year.

The tidal wave of chain stores is crowding the remaining mom-and-pops, including the children’s store Pixie Town, and such colorful places as Cristophe and Nate-N-Al’s, giving the street the feeling of a deconstructed mall. While the populist, homogenized direction--an antidote to Beverly Hill’s famous excesses--may bother elitists, others like the mix.

“This street represents the residents of Beverly Hills more so than any other retail area of Beverly Hills. They’re stores for real people,” says Ron Herman, owner of Fred Segal Melrose and Ron Herman in Brentwood Gardens; he’s eyeing a property on the Drive for another Ron Herman store.

“Tourists are great,” Cristophe says, “but I want the residents, and this location works in my favor. I want a neighborhood salon where everybody knows each other.” His elite hair salon is in the middle of all the heavy foot traffic, near the future expanded Gap. “How many times do you go to Armani a month? Maybe once?” he says. “You probably go to the Gap several times.”

The 800-pound gorilla of retailers, Bloomingdale’s, can change the whole tilt of the Drive if it goes through with plans to open its West Coast flagship here in spring 1998. At the moment, nothing is signed on the dotted line. City fathers, store honchos and neighborhood groups are still hashing out zoning, environmental studies and real estate deals.

“It will be like nothing else you’ve ever seen in Los Angeles, in California or the rest of the country,” says Bloomingdale’s Chairman Michael Gould, a former area resident, of the three-story, parking-included Bloomie’s proposal slated for 10 lots in the middle of the 200 block. “It will be open and contemporary, yet fit in with the community.”

Across the street, Guess founder George Marciano owns the entire block of properties--including two banks and the old Tatou--bound by Beverly, Wilshire Boulevard, Dayton Way and the alley behind 2 Rodeo. Marciano is drawing up exterior remodeling plans and mulling potential tenants, one of which could be his own Yes, observers believe. His idea of making the corner Bank of America Building into a new wholesale fashion mart is on hold, but not ruled out, his representative says.

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Meanwhile, over on Beverly Boulevard, the mood is as different as alternative music is from Top 40. The Boulevard runs east-west between the Echo Park area and Beverly Hills, with its most interesting action between Fairfax and La Brea avenues in Los Angeles. The Boulevard has a renegade feeling, as if those who are here are forging frontiers in location and design. Shops have Deco and Moderne facades and inside feel like little galleries.

“Frugal, understated artsy-ness,” is the way Product’s designer Elaine Kim describes the clothes and the SoHo-like stores. “Unless you’re a modern, forward-thinking person, you don’t get it.”

Even hair is high fashion. “We don’t do a housewife look here,” says Reny Salamon, co-owner of the hip Estilo hair salon. “We can’t have our clients walking around with the same haircut for a year.”

The designers creating the cutting-edge clothes and young couture on the Boulevard came from around the globe. Australian Richard Tyler, Thai designer Mark Wong Nark at Tom Mark, Englishman Gregory Parkinson and Italian Elisabetta Rogiani all have modern, original clothes hung like artwork in their sparsely decorated ateliers. Native Californian Henry Duarte, once on the Boulevard, moved his custom menswear design studio around the corner to Martel Avenue.

These are clothes to wear to the Oscars, to a great party, to a new club. Shoppers don’t stroll, but make a beeline for their favorite designer.

Although locals consider the restaurant Muse to be the pioneer in this area, it’s designer Tyler and wife/partner Lisa Trafficante who defined the street’s fashion mind-set in 1988 when they opened Tyler Trafficante. The Jewish Orthodox neighbors call the designer atelier “the dress shop on the corner” and welcomed restoration of the ‘20s Art Deco shop.

Trafficante liked being off the beaten path and felt a good feng shui, or spirit, in the building they chose to showcase Tyler’s collections for men and women.

Indeed, it appears to have spectacular feng shui. Tyler shot to international fame in the last few years and has a stellar list of devotees--Julia, Janet, Denzel, Anjelica--who slip in and out very privately.

Designer Oldham--who also has celebrity customers, including Fran Drescher and Susan Sarandon--hasn’t yet begun renovating his ‘30s corner shop just two blocks away. He’ll open in February, after the chandeliers have been installed and the floor is papered with old book pages. The boyish Texan-turned-New Yorker was also attracted to the Boulevard by the architecture and pioneering spirit.

“I like the ‘Hardy Boys’ aspect,” he says. “It feels like an adventure to go over there. It’s the perfect blend of New York sensibilities and old Hollywood.”

Nearby, the beloved crumbling landmark Spanish Kitchen, which closed in 1961 with salt shakers still on the tables, might finally see some activity this year. Attorney Amy Forbes says seismic retrofit plans have been finalized and permits to complete the work are pending. Many potential buyers have come and gone, including filmmaker Tim Burton, but the building is still for sale at $895,000.

Both Beverlys, incidentally, have revived institutions not shown on the accompanying maps. At the intersection of the Drive and Sunset Boulevard, the Beverly Hills Hotel recently debuted its splendid movie-set-like renovations. On the Boulevard at La Cienega, the sleepy Beverly Center woke up from its boring brownness with an exterior renovation that looks like a homage to Madonna’s Hollywood Hills home. They’ve copied her striped paint job--only this one’s in champagne beige and green.

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BEVERLY DRIVE in Beverly Hills

Shopping Blocks: Primarily Santa Monica Boulevard to Dayton Way. Future activity: Dayton to Wilshire Boulevard. Scattered boutiques, cafes south of Wilshire.

Customer: Locals, yuppies, neighborhood celebs. “Forrest Gump” producer Steve Tisch strolls with girlfriend and dog; Ricki Lake shops David Dart.

Fashion: Mostly moderate in price and style.

New Stores: Victoria’s Secret, the Limited and shops that sell suburbanized, wearable, California fashion, including Karen Kane and David Dart. New Marithe & Francois Girbaud shop has bipolar personality with famous jeans and upscale European sportswear.

Upcoming: Bloomingdale’s projected opening in spring 1998. Openings now through spring: Club Monaco (casual clothes), bigger Gap store, renovated Geary’s, parking garage in 300 block behind new, larger Williams-Sonoma.

Eats: Bustling bistros Il Fornaio, Louise’s, Cheesecake Factory; takeout joints and coffee bars. Two charmers: the romantic Rustica and new Jackson’s Farm (owned by Alan Jackson, son of radio’s Michael Jackson).

Culture: Under-construction shrine to Lucy, Ethel, et al.: The Museum of Television & Radio, designed by Richard Meier. Opens in 1996.

BEVERLY BOULEVARD in Los Angeles

Shopping Blocks: Alta Vista Boulevard to just west of Vista Street, or the middle blocks between Fairfax and La Brea. Additional scattered shops, cafes going west.

Customer: Richard Tyler’s glamour girls; Estilo salon’s celebs, who are young, creative professionals; cool crowds kicking back at sidewalk cafes.

Fashion: Moderate to high prices, cutting-edge stuff for 20s and 30s hip.

New Stores: Tom Mark, which houses dresses and separates by talented Thai-turned-Californian Mark Wong Nark. Elisabetta Rogiani’s tiny courtyard shop showing custom dresses for sale or rent. Flipside, a shop for skateboard and snowboard purists.

Upcoming: Todd Oldham’s first L.A. store, opening in February.

Eats: Campy, cool or jazzed up on caffeine--Insomnia Cafe, El Coyote, Muse, Red, the Red Eye. Other wildly popular cafes: Revival to the east or the Authentic and King’s Road to the west.

Shoptalk: Interior design gems include Modernica for modern curves, Odalisque for old fabrics and Brenda Antin for vintage wicker and bird cages.

Culture: Slash Records, headquarters of label that produces Los Lobos, L7, Bodeans, Faith No More.

ON THE DRIVE

(All addresses are on North Beverly Drive)

* 200 block, west side: George Marciano’s properties

* 200 block, mid east side: Bloomingdale’s proposed site

* 313 Karen Kane, the California designer’s new sportswear store

* 329 David Dart, popular California designer’s new sportswear shop

* 330 Victoria’s Secret, opened in May, new pink/fuchsia store design

* mid-300 block, west side: future Williams-Sonoma, city parking garage

* 334 Girbaud, famous jeans and European designer sportswear

* 348 Cristophe, famous and infamous hair salon

* 357 Banana Republic, luxury version of the basics shop

* At Brighton Way, site of future giant Gap store

* 401 Club Monaco, casual clothes for men and women, opening in September.

* 409 Gap Kids, basics in miniature

* 414 Nate-N-Al, an old-timers’ deli

* 420 Gap, current store; will be moving one block south

* 435 Rustica, a romantic bistro

* 439 Jackson’s Farm, new upscale/down-home-theme restaurant

* 445 Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, popular java/mocha/ latte stop

* 449 St. Urbain Street Bagels, fresh bagels to go

* 469 Museum of Television & Radio, Richard Meier design, opening 1996

* 475 Baja Fresh, dine-in or take-out Mexican

ON THE BOULEVARD:

* 7278 Odalisque, vintage and luxury fabrics and pillows

* 7286 Insomnia Cafe, artsy coffee shop open to 4 a.m. for true insomniacs

* 7290 Tyler Trafficante, designer Richard Tyler’s lovely tailored clothes

* 7319 Brenda Antin, old wicker, bird cages, china and pillows

* 7360 Muse, the artsy, understated restaurant

* 7366 Modernica, curvy Jetsons furniture

* 7372 Gregory Parkinson, the designer’s all-white shop, custom clothes

* 7374 Product, showcasing Elaine Kim’s popular women’s clothing line

* 7381 Slash Records, the label’s office in a former drugstore

* 7384 Tom Mark, designer Mark Wong Nark’s body-conscious women’s line

* 7386 site of the Todd Oldham shop, opening in February

* 7402 Estilo, hippest hair salon of the moment

* 7410 Flipside, skateboard equipment and clothes

* 7466 Elisabetta Rogiani, custom, r-t-w and rental clothes for women