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Gaia Guidi Filippi: Executive Editor, Elizabeth Street

Elizabeth Street Executive Editor Reveals Her Insider's List Of Favorite Things

ELAINE SAYS: Here's a great rule of thumb for a well collected lifestyle....You want to know what to buy or where to go? Ask an editor. So I did. As a city girl and mom herself, ELIZABETH STREET'S Executive Editor, Gaia Guidi Filippi is well suited to curate for all the chic mommy's who love her site, but she doesn't often get to reveal her own personal favorites. Knowing that this lady sees tons of great, new things every day, I figured I'd seize the opportunity for the rest of us. As you'll read in her note below, Gaia is a born and bred LA girl, ensuring that her neighborhood "secrets" are truly that. And lucky for us, some of them are shop-able online as well. Speaking of online shopping, her "everywhere finds" are notable and full of great suggestions and surprises. I'll say no more...Shop Gaia's collection and a few original things inspired by her shopping tips: SHOP HERE

A Note From Gaia...

I’m a born and bred Angelena who still gets a major kick out of looking up at the towering palm trees during a pink-and-red sunset. I’ve experienced the city as a child, a single girl on the town, a young professional in the early stages of a career and now, as a wife and mother. Even though I spent many of my formative years abroad, there was always something visceral drawing me back – I guess it’s the feeling of home. One of the things I love most about L.A. is that you can literally find ANYTHING your heart desires – whether it’s a craving for Armenian manti or Ethiopian tibs, paddle-boarding yoga classes or $8 eyebrow threading – it’s all just a short drive away (outside of peak traffic hours, of course).  -Gaia Guidi Filippi

Gaia's Online Finds

1. Seeing Stars: Serena and Lily Zodiac Prints SHOP These Serena&Lily zodiac prints are meant for baby and kids’ rooms, but I’ve bought them for people of all ages – including my teenage niece and fully grown best friend! Their cool, vintage designs are always a hit.
2. Pretty Little Cupcake: Toppers by Kristin Z Kreations SHOPI could spend hours browsing on Etsy. Whenever there is something I just can’t find, I know I will find it there. I recently ordered these with my daughter’s picture for her 1^st birthday party and they were a total conversation piece.
3. Make Your Hostess Happy: Oils from Olio&Olive SHOPWe rarely go to someone’s home without taking an amazing bottle of our incredible private label Italian olive oil or balsamic vinegar from my husband’s business, which includes an online Italian gourmet food store, full of hard to find specialty items. I highly recommend the Primo extra virgin olive oil from Sicily to upgrade any food you put on the table, or the Margai Riserva balsamic, aged 12 years and deliciously sweet.
4. Gimme Five: Fiver.com SHOPHow cool (and slightly bizarre) that you can pay someone $5 to do any imaginable small service?! Need a product jingle? Perhaps you have to send someone a postcard from Australia, but can’t get there yourself? Need to prank call your BF and have it recorded? I have no idea why you would want to do any of these things, but if you did, Fiver.com is amazing!!!
5. Know Your Place: My Favorite Paper Place Mats SHOPI like to keep these paper place mats on hand at home and also always keep them in mind for a fun gift. They are super cute, disposable and also double as entertainment when you have kids over.

Gaia's Neighborhood Secrets

1. Pressure Point Perfection: Bao Foot Spa VISITOn south Beverly Drive. It’s a local hole-in-the-wall massage place, but it is super cute, clean and efficient. 50 minutes in there are you are transported away from thousands of emails and the mess of toys on the living room floor. I am also forever indebted to them because I went there when I was 4 days past my due date with my daughter (and extremely ready to get her out of my body) to see if someone could find the right pressure points to make me go into labor. Guess what happened that night???
2. My Secret Sushi Spot: SHU Sushi House Unico, The Glen Center VISITMy friend Giacomino Drago owns this place and the food is incredible and reliable. The sushi is super fresh and delicious. I also love that it’s tucked away in a place a lot of Angelenos don’t even know about.
3. A Taste Of SoCal Living: Malibu Seafood VISITFried shrimp. Fried clams. Picnic tables. The Pacific Ocean. Need I say more? Always a major hit with out-of-town guests too.
4. An Insider's Mecca For Food & Wine Hunting...Shhh: Guidi Marcello VISITHidden away on 10^th Street (a dead-end off of Olympic) in Santa Monica is my family’s Italian food/wine import business. It’s been around for over 30 years as a wholesale business, but in the last 15 years or so it has become a bit of a mecca for Italian chefs (dropping in to get stuff to take home), which were then follow by their wives, the wives’ friends, then non-Italian chefs, then, pretty soon, everyone who is an Italophile and on a serious ingredient hunting mission. It’s still a bit of a secret, but it’s also got a cult-like following – not just for the products they find, but because they all fall in love with my charming father and sister who run it. Most of what we eat at home comes from here – the burrata, the prosciutto, fresh raviolis, amazing selection of wines from all over Italy, specialty cheeses and much, much more.  And for moms, the frozen pizzas are freezer essentials!
5. Vintage Made Modern: 45 Three Modern Vintage Home VISITStacey, the owner, has an incredible eye and an amazing way of resurrecting flea market finds. Since I am no good at stuff like that, I love to go there and browse her finds.

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