Your West Coast insider reporting for duty. I am delighted my Los Angeles adventures will now have a life beyond my Instagram. I was born to be an Angeleno — my last name is Angeles, for goodness’ sake. This is the city I will never tire of, and the key is to keep an adventurous and open mind, hungry stomach and camera in hand.

For my first blog I am taking you to ROW DTLA, home to some of my favorite events like Smorgasburg LA, Stranger Things drive-through experience and the star of this feature, Unique Markets. Do you love shopping unique, BIPOC, pop-ups and supporting local small businesses? Then you’re going to enjoy this. This event has been around 2008 and is also in all the major cities around the country.

I went to my first UM in 2019. I confidently walked in with my friend, telling her how I was not spending any money before walking out with two giant bags hanging off each side. I’m a sucker for handmade items; what can I say? Fast forward to May 2021. I have a new house, so I am allowing myself some freedom as I need to decorate, right? The sun is shining and ROW DTLA has a lot of great small shops and eateries that are permanently there, so we had to check those out first since shops have opened up as the city works toward the “before times.” Masks are, of course, still required to enter all shops and even within the bounds of UM. We popped into POKETO, tokyobike and grabbed lunch at Pikunico — we had its fried chicken sandwich and fries; highly recommend! Now for the UM experience. We saw vinyl-covered trays, beautifully printed t-shirts, hats with brightly colored feathers, vintage clothing, candles, handcrafted jewelry, coconut-fiber-made dish brushes, yoga mats and even photo booths! I’m sure you’re wondering about my haul.

THE HIGHLIGHTS

1. Unique Clay by Amanda Winter
Hello, spicy planters! Amanda makes her planters out of her garage in Boyle Heights. I got these two planters, which will be new homes for my peace lily, Daisy, and a cute little cactus named Sam.

2. Ube Pancake mix by ninongsdessertlab.com
Breakfast is one of my favorite meals, so pancakes are centerfold. Ever since going to the Filipino Food Festival a few years ago, I’ve been obsessed with ube. I think Filipino food is now becoming more mainstream, so it makes me really happy to be able to make ube pancakes at home. We also grabbed the last bag of ube cookies, as they made a great dessert on the ride home!

3. Purple snake-print yoga mat by yogastrong
My pup is enjoying it. Need I say more? I’ve already had a few practice sessions on the new mat, and I have to say, the mat is exactly what they claim to be. It has great cushion, and the anti-slip is real. I glisten when I practice yoga, so I usually need a yoga towel to go on top of my mat. I will need to find new use for my yoga towels now. Shoutout to Jason, founder, Yoga Strong, who drove out to my house to hand-deliver my mat because I chose the one print they’d sold out of!

Unique Markets is a great event to say the least. It gave my boyfriend and me the chance to see friends without worry outdoors. I highly recommend it. If you’ve been to one in another city, I’d love to hear about your experience!

Here are a few more photos of the event. P.S. – I love a good photo booth!

— Maria Angeles, account executive