IMAGE
January 24, 2010 | By Heather John
Sure, buying a Prius is the obvious way to reduce your carbon footprint, but there's a more stylish and sustainable step toward Earth-friendly transportation you might want to consider: resoling your shoes. Los Angeles is home to more than 200 registered shoe repair shops, but not all cobblers are created equal, especially when it comes to men's shoes. So where to take your favorite wingtips, loafers or boots? Here are three top shops where history, quality and craftsmanship combine to keep your shoes a step ahead.
HEALTH
October 5, 2009 | Roy M. Wallack
"Ouch!" "Oooh!" "Oww!" "Omigod, that hurts!" Those grunts of pain and anguish weren't coming from us -- a group of 10 people running barefoot on a concrete pathway at Central Park in Huntington Beach early one recent Saturday morning. They were being emitted by a grimacing group of shoe-wearing, dog-walking women who were staring at us as we passed. But surprisingly, it didn't hurt to run in bare feet. In fact, it felt great. Every step of our 30-minute barefoot run was pure pleasure -- far more natural and comfortable than a run in shoes.
HEALTH
July 3, 2006 | Hilary E. MacGregor, Times Staff Writer
FOR $235 (and up!) you can buy a funny looking pair of shoes to make you stand up straight, work your "core," elevate and shape your buttocks and, perhaps ladies, burn some extra calories to eliminate those dimpled saddlebags. Using technology named after the Masai warriors of East Africa, who have long, lean bodies and superb posture, the shoes are meant to re-create the feel of walking barefoot for miles in desert sand. Introduced in the U.S.
IMAGE
October 14, 2007 | Melissa Magsaysay, Times Staff Writer
DURING the last few seasons, we've seen the return of 1960s patent-leather go-go boots, 1930s-era brogues, the classic 1950s ballet flat and the 1970s platform. But spats? That's right, they're not just for Mr. Peanut anymore. Spat-like flourishes are showing up clinging to high heels, looking like a gladiator's leather armor, and on fall's must-have booties, which are being embellished with ankle buttons and straps. The Hives were onto the trend early.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
June 20, 2000 | CHRIS PASLES, TIMES STAFF WRITER
For most people, ballet automatically means toe shoes and tutus. But both came relatively late to dance, neither appearing until the early 19th century. Before their arrival, the basic elements of the more than 400-year-old art form--exemplified by the Bolshoi Ballet appearing next week at the Performing Arts Center--had long been in place. The five basic positions of the feet, with which ballet steps traditionally start and finish, had been codified by the early 17th century.
BUSINESS
February 13, 1990 | BRUCE HOROVITZ, TIMES STAFF WRITER
Just months after landing the nation's best-known singer, L.A. Gear scored again Monday with football's premiere flinger. Joe Montana, the San Francisco 49ers' quarterback who has won back-to-back Super Bowls, signed a three-year contract estimated at $3 million to $5 million to become a spokesman for the Marina del Rey company. Montana joins a growing list of celebrities, such as pop star Michael Jackson, who became an L.A. Gear spokesman last fall. The nation's No.
NATIONAL
May 14, 2009 | Michael E. Ruane, Ruane writes for the Washington Post.
The flashlight beam lighted up the dark interior of Abraham Lincoln's left boot as if the inside of a tomb, and there at the bottom was the smooth and shiny indentation made by the martyred president's heel. The odor of fine leather still clung to the top of the boot, where the white cloth pull straps were sewn. When the light hit a maroon section of the hide, boot maker Michael Anthony Carnacchi whispered, "Aha. There's your original color."
BUSINESS
February 5, 2008 | Marla Dickerson, Times Staff Writer
Shoes are to this industrial city what cars are to Detroit. And like the Motor City, Mexico's footwear capital is feeling the heat of foreign competition. The threat might not be apparent from the billboards hawking Mexican-made sneakers, boots and dress shoes that line the highway leading into town. Or from the malls devoted entirely to shoe stores. A statue of a cobbler graces a major thoroughfare. A footwear museum is under construction.
IMAGE
September 28, 2008 | Emili Vesilind, Times Staff Writer
MANOLO BLAHNIK became a household name when "Sex and the City" made his sexy stilettos practically a member of the cast. But before Carrie Bradshaw started giving him shout-outs, the shoe guru was already a star to the well-heeled women who wear and collect his designs -- a list that includes Madonna, Bianca Jagger and Diane von Furstenberg. Blahnik's shoes are a perennial on Hollywood red carpets -- as common as Spanx and cleavage tape.
NEWS
October 15, 1993 | WILLIAM KISSEL, SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
When President Clinton's Size 13-D dress shoes from Allen Edmonds begin to show their age, the Wisconsin company will rebuild them for significantly less than their original $230 cost and even pay the postage. But you don't have to be President to get this kind of service.