Nucleus Studios Inc

Amongst all the restaurants and shops there's an art gallery called Nucleus. The first part is a bunch of merchandise from Strongbad to Yoshitomo Nara to Miyazaki to Don Herzfeldt. They are basically selling t-shirts with little sayings on the front, books, and little trinkets imported from Japan. Then, in the back of the store, is exhibits that change from time to time like "poketo", short animated films, and comics. It's pop art that would be presented in something like Giant Robot or Kid Robot but you don't have to go all the way to Santa Monica to get there. more

It's kind of lower wattage combination of Giant Robot and Kid Robot. While it's nice to have something like those stores in this area, I don't feel it's got the same vibrant and unique personality of the other stores. It's not too bad. They have monthly art shows that are getting better and better. It's mostly an outlet for their art center illustration pals or whatnot, but then, most art center students come out with strong stuff these days anyway. Wheat and chaff. I also like that they've got a magazine rack. Makes me wish there was a small bookstore in the area with the same kind of sensibility. Music, designer toys, video (Pennylane), and graphics, but no books (the traditional text kind, not the graphical ones or the art books). Maybe books are outdated. more