Santee Alley (Los Angeles, California)

 store / shop, marketplace

 Upload a photo

www.thesanteealley.com/

This open-air market, located a few blocks away from the California Market Center, is crammed with tiny shops filled with the same sunglasses, T-shirts and jewelry sold along Hollywood Boulevard or on the Venice Boardwalk. But unlike those tourist spots, the alley feels like an outdoor market in a foreign country where shoppers hear Spanish, English, Russian and Armenian, among others. Vendors sell pet turtles, colored contacts, underwear, leather jackets and pirated copies of blockbusters currently showing at the megaplex. The seedy Santee Alley is best known for designer knockoff handbags and shoes for as low as $20. Some even come with an authentic-looking dust bag or box. The not-entirely-legal experience can be intimidating to novices, but as long as you don't mind elbow-to-elbow crowds, blaring boomboxes and the smell of bacon-wrapped hotdogs, it’s an interesting antithesis to Rodeo Drive. Even though some of the products look exactly like what you'd find there.

Tip: Bring cash and be prepared to haggle. Watch out for pickpockets.