ShopEatSleep

Nick's Coffee Shop. From lataco.com.

Los Angeles magazine‘s May cover story “101 Cheap Eats” totally skipped over my personal favorite, Nick’s Coffee Shop, on Pico Boulevard just west of La Cienega. Huge portions, low prices, good service. There’s also S&W Country Diner in Culver City (yummy breakfast), King Taco (super cheap) and Don Antonio’s in West L.A. on Wednesday nights, when all tacos are just $1 (I know, Speidi’s appearances here on “The Hills” are annoying and the crowds on Wednesdays are thick, but the potato tacos are totally worth it).

By the way, what’s up with L.A. mag’s obsession with Langer’s deli in MacArthur Park? It makes all their food lists. I mean, it’s good, but when I interned there in 2006 and the mag sent me out there for a story, someone standing outside (not a restaurant employee) tried to sell me cocaine. I wasn’t scared, but it was definitely an experience and not exactly a selling point for the neighborhood or the restaurant.

Empty Stores on West Third Street. Photo from WWD.

Women’s Wear Daily has a story on the increasing number of boutique and specialty retail store closings around Los Angeles, with Robertson Boulevard, Melrose Place, Montana Avenue and West Third Street taking the hardest hits. I covered this for the LA Business Journal back in March when more than 30 storefronts were either empty or in the process of closing up shop. Other parts of the city have been affected as well, including Venice’s Abbot Kinney Boulevard, and a drive down Pico Boulevard between Robertson and La Cienega boulevards yesterday revealed some new empty retail spaces that I hadn’t noticed before.

But not all parts of the city are losing places to shop: Malibu Lumber Yard, the new swanky retail center next to the Malibu Country Mart, just opened last weekend. Good idea or bad idea? Time will tell, but in the meantime, head over to the Lumber Yard for free Crumbs cupcakes on Saturday (April 25). They’re giving out 1,000 freebies starting at 9:00 a.m., per EaterLA.

• More coverage at RackedLA