You gotta hand it to Nikki Nalepa. She said she was going to do something, and she did it, and she's been doing it, and that's a lot more than a lot of other people can say. Her not so little shop in the infamous Windward Circle has been pumping in and out of some of the best and original vintage clothing, vinyl, pins, watches, glasses, and found objects in general in West L.A. for a solid three years now. It has all the makings of "that shop in Venice, you know, the one thats been there forever." I hope that's what my kids say anyway, and I'm confident they will. Because Nikki is just the gal for the job, kicking vagrants and punk kids to the curb everyday as they try to steal her merchandise in the only area left in Venice that still has that kind of mess going down. God knows I wouldn't have the courage for that. Not to mention the eye for valuable and sellable vintage pieces sourced from all over.
In this monthly mix tape edition we asked the L.A. Loc to put together some of her favorite tunes for us in what is certain to be an enjoyable 90 minutes for all of us. What I love most about this is that about a month ago I went into Gotta Have it to pull some clothing for a shoot I was doing and Nikki was listening to one of our mix tapes. When she told me she loved the mixtape series I was flattered, and we were like, wait a second, you gotta make one, and I GOTTA HAVE IT!