Echo Park Time Travel Mart

Time Out says

At first glance, the inside of this storefront resembles any other market in the area—but look closer and you’ll find a collection of funny “time travel” curiosities that one needs in order to visit the past and future. Oddities include Robot Toupees, Aeon Bottled Time (i.e. sand in a bottle), Barbarian Repellent, Primordial Soup In a Can, and a whole bunch of books. What’s going on? The market is a ruse: everything in it is indeed for sale, but the store is actually a front for 826LA, a nonprofit organization which tutors kids ages 6 to 18. Founded by author Dave Eggers, 826LA gives free creative writing classes to kids. All the books in the store? They’re written by those children. Many are professionally published in tandem with publishing houses around LA and some are actually sold on Amazon. The classroom is located through a door in the back of the shop, and only the kids who take classes even know it’s there. Shoppers can buy cool gifts, or volunteer to teach the kids. If you come up with an idea for a product to sell in the store, the employees will help you design it and the store will sell it. Which might spur others to drop some money and add to the financial support of this amazing nonprofit. How cool is that?

By Andri Antoniades