Where to Buy Indian Clothes in Los Angeles

If you are looking for Indian clothes anywhere in Los Angeles, you are looking for Pioneer Boulevard in Artesia — the stretch everyone calls Little India, and the largest South Asian shopping district in Southern California.

We are at 18507 Pioneer Boulevard, in the middle of it. Loveleen Sari Palace has been family-run on this street since 1990. Saris, lehengas, salwar kameez, menswear, kids, and the single missing piece to finish something you already own. Walk in, tell us what the event is, and most people are out of the door in about twenty minutes with a full outfit.

Free parking in our own lot directly behind the store. Open Tuesday through Sunday until 6:45 PM, closed Mondays. No appointment needed.

A mint-green pre-draped sari beside an ivory Nehru jacket over a cream kurta, both on mannequins

What we carry

Everything is off the rack unless it says made to measure, and everything is sold à la carte. If you already own a sari and need one blouse, one petticoat or a length of fabric, that is a five-minute visit and a completely normal reason to come in.

  • Women — saris from $150, salwar kameez from $100, lehengas from $200, bridal lehengas $300 to $500. Anarkalis, shararas, ghararas, pre-draped saris that go on like a dress.
  • Men — kurta pajama $75 to $125, vests from $100, sherwanis from $250, jodhpuri suits and Indo-westerns $250 to $350, bridal stoles around $100, shoes $75 to $100.
  • Kids — boys and girls, $50 to $125, most of it between $50 and $75.
  • The pieces — petticoats $15, sari falls $3, turban cloth for a pagri about $3.50 a yard, blouses fitted individually, dupattas, bangles, tikkas.

A complete guest outfit usually lands between $150 and $250. That is the number to plan around. Alterations are charged separately, and we work with our tailor on the pricing ourselves, so it is not a negotiation you have to have. There is more detail on our FAQ page.

Why people drive here

Thirty-five years on one street means we have dressed a lot of people quickly. That is the thing we are actually good at.

You come in with a problem — a wedding in three weeks, a sangeet and nothing to wear, a kid who has outgrown last year's outfit, a blouse that needs matching. We pull things. You try them. You leave with it solved. We are an in-and-out store, not a two-hour bridal appointment, and most visits really do take about twenty minutes.

We work in English, Spanish, Hindi, Punjabi and Gujarati, so the visit does not have to happen in English.

If you are not South Asian and you feel odd about walking in, please do not. Guests going to their first Indian wedding come through all year. Nobody is going to quiz you, and there is no vocabulary test at the door. If it helps to read something first, we wrote this on wearing Indian clothes as a non-Indian guest.

A navy pre-draped sari with a sequinned blouse beside a matching navy sequinned kurta with white trousers, both on mannequins

Finding us and parking

18507 Pioneer Boulevard, Artesia, California 90701. Put that address into your phone rather than "Little India" — Pioneer is a long boulevard and the district is a small part of it.

Artesia sits where the 91 and the 605 meet, which is why people come from Cerritos, Norwalk, Buena Park, Long Beach, Anaheim, Irvine and Fullerton without it being a project. From the Valley it is a real drive, so people who come down tend to make a day of it.

Park behind the buildings, not on the boulevard. Almost nobody works this out on a first visit. Our lot is free and directly behind the store, there is a public lot behind that one, and street parking on Pioneer is metered and the slowest option on a busy day.

When to come

Weekday afternoons are calmest. Saturdays are busiest, more so through wedding season and around festivals. One honest piece of advice: do not arrive half an hour before we close. The last twenty minutes of the day is the worst possible time to decide about a sari.

What to bring

  • The invitation, or just the date and what kind of event it is. It helps more than you would think.
  • A photo of anything you have seen and liked, or of what others in your group are wearing.
  • The shoes you plan to wear, if length matters to you.
  • Fewer people than you were planning to. Every extra opinion adds time and rarely adds clarity.

If you are shopping for a wedding

Two things worth knowing before you drive over.

Red. If you are a bride set on a traditional red, maroon or burgundy lehenga, message us first. We do not stock those colors deeply — our bridal lehengas are mostly plum, emerald, navy, ivory and gold — and we would rather tell you now than have you spend a Saturday finding out. We do carry red saris, with unstitched blouses you can have made to any shape.

A whole wedding party takes about three months. Matching outfits in one color and one set of measurements are made to order rather than bought off the rail. Bridesmaids are $150 to $200 each on the bridesmaid order form; groomsmen kurta pajama is $100 to $110 with vests at $100 on the wedding party order form. You order online, we confirm every line with you before anything is cut, and it is a 50% deposit to start.

If the wedding is sooner than three months, come in. We carry saris, lehengas and menswear in stock and have dressed whole parties off the floor in an afternoon. That is a genuinely good outcome, not a consolation prize.

If you are a guest rather than family and none of this is familiar yet, start with going to your first Indian wedding — which events matter, and what actually happens at each.

A marigold-yellow lehenga with gold embroidery beside a maroon sherwani, both on mannequins

A few things about shopping here

Little India is a street of small, family-owned shops, most of them narrow, deep and stacked to the ceiling. A few things surprise people on a first visit, ours included:

  • Very little is out on display. Stock is folded, boxed and shelved. If you do not see what you want, ask. Asking is the entire mechanism.
  • You will be shown things you did not ask for. That is not a hard sell, it is how it works. Say out loud what you like and what you do not — it is the fastest route to the right thing.
  • Prices are marked. Some people arrive braced to haggle. You do not have to.
  • A sari is not one item. The petticoat and the fall are separate, and both are cheap, but it is the part people are surprised by at the counter.
  • Make a day of it if you can. There is chaat, dosa, biryani and mithai within the same few blocks. Shop first and eat second — nobody enjoys trying on a fitted blouse after a full thali.

Come in, or message us first

Walk-ins are always welcome and you do not need an appointment, though you can book a time if you would rather lock one in on a Saturday.

We do not publish a phone number, and that is deliberate. A ringing phone pulls somebody off the floor in the middle of a fitting, and the person standing in front of us should win. So message us on Instagram at @loveleensari or email loveleensarip@gmail.com. A person answers, usually the same day. Send a photo of the invitation and we will tell you what to wear.

Loveleen Sari Palace — 18507 Pioneer Boulevard, Artesia, California 90701. Open Tuesday through Sunday until 6:45 PM, closed Mondays. Free parking in the rear lot. Family-run since 1990.