A Look Inside Hotel de Ville's Vintage Eyewear

In a city where sunglasses are not only a fashion statement, but also a mandatory part of most people's lives, it's no wonder they're booming business. When you need to stand out and you're crazy for vintage, stalking Hotel de Ville makes perfect sense.

My love affair with this quirky and quaint Beverly Boulevard sunglass boutique began after a delightful brunch at nearby BLD restaurant. Walking to my vehicle, I became enamored with the shop's intricate and interesting window displays.

I tried on pair after pair of one-of-a-kind finds. I finally settled on a quilted pair of Gianfranco Ferrè sunnies; and by settle, I mean I begged the manager to put them aside for me. Over the next few days I'd figure out a way to afford them. Make no mistake, less than a week later, they were mine–prescription and all. And so we begin.

Owner and self-proclaimed nerd, Javier Brambila, makes eyeglasses an art. "I have been an optician for several years, and I have always been obsessed with vintage," he said. "As someone who has worn glasses my entire life, I feel like I have always worn ugly glasses, so as an adult it's cool that there is more out there, more of a variety."

And variety is an understatement. It's a parade of beautiful glasses at Hotel de Ville, with designers including perennial favorites Dior, Chanel and Thierry Lasry and new German brand Funk to a French.

It's an eclectic mix and not everything is vintage, but it's all selected with a discerning eye. Brambila travels to Paris once a year to collect glasses for his store, which caters to a clientele that he describes as "people who want to have fun, but also care about quality."

During my visit, I found a new lust-worthy obsession in designer Francois Pinton, who has re-created the classic 1960s glasses that he made for Jackie O.

Pinton, now in his 80s, uses the original blueprint. And it seems that my interest  in Pinton's classic design is right on trend even if the idea of "what's hot now" seems anti-vintage.

Brambila says his most popular designs include "chunky frames; conservative yet stylish and chic; and dramatic, but not clown like."

Before owning Hotel de Ville, he worked at what he described as a very conservative optical shop, where he got inspired to open his own boutique. Five years ago he set up shop at Fairfax and Rosewood avenues and eventually branched out to Los Feliz Village and Beverly Boulevard locations.

Although the purchase of glasses can sometimes feel perfunctory and sterile, Hotel de Ville elevates it to an experience. The décor inside the Beverly Boulevard location contains retro photos, antique casing, velvet couches and chairs, not to mention the hand-selected eyeglasses.

As Brambila said, "If you are going to invest that kind of money on glasses, you want it to speak to you."