Riviera Village Shopping and Dining in Redondo Beach, Calif.

Redondo Beach, Calif.--Riviera Village is an old-fashioned shopping area of one-of-a-kind shops ranging from boutiques, salons, and gifts to services and restaurants. You can tell you are in the Riviera by the pink street lights and banners that adorn the village with colorful images of the Pacific Ocean.

Give yourself several hours to explore the many unique stores such as Nu Shuz where no pair of shoes costs over $20, the sign advertises. Then there's Harmony Works, selling unique gifts, candles, wind chimes, books, music, scented oils, glass, ceramics and art. Offering weekly seminars and lectures, the store is a meeting hall of sorts for those seeking information minus the formal setting of a classroom.

With several hundred businesses spanning nearly a square mile, Riviera Village is truly the anecdote to the traditional shopping malls such as Galleria, another option in Redondo Beach that includes popular chain stores.