BAPE Los Angeles

I went to the new BAPE (Bathing Ape) store in Los Angeles on Melrose. It's quite a swanky place. In recognition of the fact that trendy party monsters don't get up early, the store doesn't open until noon. Yep, noon. We watched several people try to talk them into opening up a few minutes early, but the staff wasn't budging. In fact, they opened up a few minutes after noon for good measure.

The good news, unlike the BAPE stores in Japan, this one has clothing in large sizes for Americans of buffalo-like girth. I bought two XXL t-shirts with SpongeBob, Patrick, and Milo, and they fit well; perhaps, if anything, they're too big. In contrast, about two weeks before, I tried on a XXL BAPE Hawaiian shirt in Aoyama and nearly had to be extricated with the jaws of life as XXL means a chest size of about 40" in Tokyo.

The BAPE staff in LA is friendly, but seems very paranoid. I know their stuff is popular and expensive, but it has nearly as many armed guards as Harry Winston or Cartier. And for what essentially a store dealing in t-shirts, sweatshirts, and sneakers. The security presence made me nervous for fear of accidentally being shot by a security guard or being caught in some sort of sneaker-motivated hostage situation.

The selection was good and the prices were comparable with Tokyo. All in all, if you're not prone to panic attacks and you like goofy shoes and shirts, check it out when you're in town.