A New Feature: Patch Picks

Today we launch a new feature, the , which will be written by me, your trusty North Hollywood-Toluca Lake Patch editor. 

Patch Picks will feature unique, cool, independent businesses that I think my readers should know about. There will be a lot of restaurants featured here, but also many other types of places. This area is filled with some of the most amazing, odd, special and awesome independent businesses and shops in the world. Often times it seems that if it exists in the world, it can be found for sale in the North Hollywood-Toluca Lake area.

I know this place well. Very well. I've spent many, many hours driving and walking every nook and cranny of the area. I know every corner, every shop, every alleyway. I know where you can find a 24-hour pawn shop if you are in a real jam for cash at 3 a.m. I know where you can buy sausage at a wholesale market at retail sizes and prices. I know where you can get the best french fries in the entire San Fernando Valley. I know the best pet store in the Valley where the goldfish won't die in a week and the shop owner offers great, sensible advice on tank care. I know about a women's clothing store where the clothes are manufactured and dyed right in North Hollywood. I know where you can get great soul food, great sushi and great Mexican food. I know a shop where you can make your own candy. I know a salon where they only use natural, botanically-based products. I know about out-of-the-way coffee houses and cafes that have great open mics and poetry readings. If you are in the market for a feather-based product, I know a shop that has been around since the 1940s and has supplied feather costume pieces to stars like Marilyn Monroe and Mitizi Gaynor. If you're looking for ostrich plumes, marabou, flats, plumage, hackle, pheasant skins, boas, or peacock feather products, they are the place to go. 

I know about all these places, and many more, and now I want you to know about them, too.

Case in point: .