On a recent Monday morning, Paola Russo made her way through the Tartine bakery in the heart of Sycamore, Hollywood’s newly trendiest neighborhood, a few blocks south of Hollywood Boulevard’s Pantages Theatre. The place buzzed with the energy of the fashionable and fabulous, sipping tea and eating pastries. As Russo walked out of the bakery, people couldn’t help but clock the European whose Dries Van Noten flared pants seemed to bounce perfectly above her Salomon sneakers. Her sense of style is effortlessly cool.
Russo’s excitement about the neighborhood is infectious as she rattles off the names of businesses now firmly entrenched in the area. “Over there is the Jeffrey Deitch art gallery, the record store Supervinyl, Gigi’s restaurant, Mr. T, and Pause, a wellness center.” The one store the humble retailer doesn’t mention is her own, Just One Eye, which opened in 2011. Its success is arguably why all the others are thriving.
“Just One Eye is the heartbeat of the street,” says Barry Perlman, owner of the record store Supervinyl, which is across from the boutique. “I’m proud to be on the same block as her.”
What is now Sycamore’s crown jewel was once an old light-bulb factory. Russo spent two years gutting the building—while still preserving its classic industrial bones—then rebuilding it and adding large windows to the façade. Russo dispenses with traditional window displays; they’re just for the natural light.
The impeccable structure is a museum meets highly curated retail space. Upon entering through the 18-foot-high steel doors, shoppers see a John Chamberlain sculpture that scatters light throughout the store. A Damien Hirst cherry-blossom painting pops against stark white walls. The 13,000-square-foot retail space includes furniture designed by Brad Pitt, a hair salon (some brave customers shop with foil in their hair), and a studio that offers private Gyrotonic and Pilates sessions (run by Russo’s daughter, Luna). Then there’s the fine jewelry, housewares, and clothes.
The eclectic edit includes the Row’s full collection (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have even collaborated with Russo to create one-off products for the store), Paco Rabanne’s 60s-inspired bags, and Christian Louboutin shoes. The retailer champions new lines by placing power brands, such as Cartier and Prada, next to up-and-comers, such as Au Boulot, a French workwear line that’s upcycled in Los Angeles.
Most retailers that carry luxury labels would have set up shop in Beverly Hills or West Hollywood. After all, the Sycamore neighborhood was a desolate, run-down industrial zone before Russo became an integral part of the landscape. The only well-known fashion name in the area was Chrome Hearts—not the store but the factory.
“The safe thing for Paola to do would have been to open on a street like Rodeo Drive,” says Shaul Kuba, the co-founder of CIM Group, a Los Angeles–based real-estate firm. “But Paola knew what this area could be. I just followed her to create the neighborhood around her.” Thanks to the popularity of Just One Eye, Kuba has recruited retailers such as Officine Générale, Lizzie Mandler, and Jacques Marie Mage to open shops in Sycamore.
Russo knows just the right moment to trade one charmed spot for another. While her family is Italian, she grew up in France. She moved to the United States some 30 years ago, landing in Big Sur at the age of 19 to live with her aunt. From there, she moved to Los Angeles. After rising through the retail ranks as fashion director at the upscale Los Angeles store Maxfield, Russo went out on her own in the early 2010s.
The original Just One Eye was in an old Art Deco building where Howard Hughes once ran his aviation empire. In late 2019, Russo moved around the block to the shop’s current location. It was an instant success, but within a few months of the opening the pandemic hit. With the store shuttered indefinitely, “we focused on the Web site, sent out clothes, and eventually made one-on-one appointments,” Russo explains. “I thought, If I close this machine, I’m not going to get it back on.”
With the end of the pandemic, Russo feels like she can plan freely again. She frequently hosts pop-ups, movie screenings, and fashion parties at the store. Earlier this year, Just One Eye put on an event for 600-plus guests to celebrate the store’s Giorgio Armani pop-up. “When she does an event, it’s great for Just One Eye. But she also provides exposure for everyone else on the street,” explains Kuba.
The collaborations aren’t limited to just fashion—they are more about Russo’s varied inspirations. In the past, she has hosted a screening of Ode to Summer, a 2003 indie dance film. (Russo was once a dancer.) Next, she’s planning an in-store event with the Brazilian jiujitsu instructor Alberto Crane.
While she is too modest to take credit for transforming one of Hollywood’s last industrial areas, even Russo can’t help but marvel at the neighborhood’s transformation. Leaving Just One Eye at sunset, she stepped onto the street and said, “It really is the best neighborhood in Los Angeles at the moment.”
Susan Campos is a Los Angeles–based journalist and a former anchor for the Today show