When the eight-story Beverly Center opened on L.A.'s Westside, there was more than a bit of concern about the impending "mallification" of Los Angeles. Loved for its convenience and disdained for its penitentiary-style architecture (and the "no validations" parking fee), Beverly Center contains about 160 standard mall shops, including the wildly popular H&M, and even a few boutiques that are open by advance reservation only (so L.A.). It's anchored on opposite sides by Macy's and Bloomingdale's department stores. You can see it from blocks away, looking like a gigantic climbing wall.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Los Angeles 2009, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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