Hot Rod

I made a over the phone purchase on Xmas eve and the gentleman that helped me was a super dope guy he took my order without hesitation and no attitude! Most shops like «The Hundreds» and «Supreme» etc. are so fucking rude to you that I don’t buy shit from them anymore, just by having a great experience over the phone I will now support this brand and continue to buy, these guys are all about customer service! (wish I got the name of the dude that helped me) shout out to that guy!

Great shop, nice selection, and friendly staff. Very knowledgable, and good Vans selection. Plenty of street parking, and the go to place for: Nike SB, Clear Weather, Chuck Taylor, and Vans on the Westside.

Love the store, love the employees. Don’t love the guy that I’m assuming is the owner that is always sitting on the couch. He talks down to his employees and acts like he’s doing you a favor. It’s quite embarrassing to see him berating an employee right in front of the customers face. I am most likely not purchasing from this store again. It’s fortunate because I’m all about supporting small businesses. Just not small businesses with small minded rude owners.

My kids love this store for their shoes and t shirts. They usually wait until the day after Thanksgiving for their Black Friday sale. The have a lot of of items for teenagers and the skateboarding crowd.

I am absolutely DISGUSTED by the management at this store. As a long time skater and Nike collector, small skateshops like this are a common place I like to visit on the weekends. Recently I tried out Hot Rod, a seemingly lowkey fortified establishment. After entering the store and not being greeted, I managed to find and employee, might have been a manager, and asked about the upcoming Nike SB release. Immediately the worker shifted tones and seemed irritated by my question. Let me pause and say I did in fact buy a product from here too, to show support and to add to my collection of skateshops i visit. After I asked the question I was confronted with a brute and cacophonous tone as he told me they are giving the pairs of this limited shoe ONLY to their previous customers. I don’t know where this guy learnt customer service from but I can only assume from a rock. It was as if he was trying to show off that they have such a large fan base.
This is the absolute worst thing a small shop could do to a new customer like me. I just feel bad for the people who continue to support this pathetic excuse for a store. I will certainly not be returning here and adamantly discourage others from as well. I hope Nike will reconsider supplying such a grimey store like this as I feel as though it represents their brand negatively too.

I’ve been coming to hot rod for at least 10 years now and they really have changed. I used to come here when it was a skate shop and now it is really just more of a boutique. They mainly carry hundreds, diamond, huf and their own signature «LA“brand which I personally like the most. When you go in during normal business hours and no sale it going on they are pretty good with helping you out. When you go during one of their big sales (which is really the only time to go) they are more just worried about you stealing stuff. I definitely recommend stopping in during the sale and getting some fresh clothes

What a chill spot.
When I first walked into HR, I assumed I’d get the service typical of most high-​end shoe stores: employees hanging out, possibly including the owner, ignoring customers for the most part and chatting it up. On first glance, I really thought that was the case. But in just a few minutes, they had really warmed up. I was offered cold refreshment (on the house!), encouraged to try on shoes (even though I was wearing boat shoes with no socks), and generally made to feel at home.
They have an excellent stock, with puma limited release, vans vault, vans Cali, nike sb, and more that I probably missed. They will even ship phone orders for free if I don’t feel like driving into the west side. In a city packed with «luxury» sneaker shops you have to stand out to succeed, and HR definitely does.

Great place if you have a shoe problem. Best selection of Nike SBs I’ve seen anywhere. And I’ve looked around. Prices are slighty inflated. That’s why it gets a 4. But you should defintly check it out if you’re in the neighborhood.

decent collection of Nike SB’s and etc.
they also got a small selection of tee’s and other apparel. currently they got a collabo with a local artist named Rachel Perry. kinda cool and hipster-​y.
store was pretty dead and only one employee attempting to do customer service.

I really believe that all reviews of this shop prior to ²⁰⁰⁹⁄₂₀₁₀ need to be purged from here, because they are definitely not the same shop back then as they are now.
The only reason I gave Hot Rod more than 1-​star is because of their crazy big sales that they have multiple times a year. Everything is pretty damn cheap at these sales and it really is the only time to ever go to the shop.
Customer service is extremely lacking at Hot Rod. I have been in there many times and more often than not when I have been «helped» by one of the employees, they always end up disappearing and then I see them in the back/​store room doing nothing or they are wandering around the store talking to their friends. The only saving grace to this is who I believe is the owner of the store (black hair with a beard), he is a really friendly guy and willing to help out a customer.
Now, lets get to the sneakers. WORST PLACE TO BUY SNEAKERS, EVER!!! Yes, I understand it is a business and they need to make their money in order for them to survive. But, when you are charging double MSRP, thats just plain messed up. All new and especially hyped up releases are marked up to exorbitant prices, which is the secondary reason I stopped going here regularly.
In the end, this place does not care about its customers nor does it care about customer loyalty. The only reason this place survives is because people are too lazy to do their due diligence to find better prices, which is unfortunate.
DO NOT SHOP HERE!!! There are plenty of other stores in the Greater Los Angeles area, where you will be treated well by employees and the box price is the price you pay.

Muchas Gracias to the crew at Hot Rod, they hooked it up when I was in need.
I love me some Hot Rod shoes, but frankly I can’t afford to drop loot on new kicks on a weekly basis. So, I get their email newsletter, keep up on the new releases, and wait until I see something I really want.
A few weeks back my lady and I booked avacation during ⁴⁄₈ to ⁴⁄₁₀ and I shit you not, 5 minutes after booking the whole thing, I get an email from Hot Rod saying they have a BLOW OUT sale of up to 75% off EVERYTHING… during ⁴⁄₈ to ⁴⁄₁₀.
I believe the comment I sent my GF was «FUCK, of COURSE we book a trip and then we’re going to miss this! FUUUUUCKKKK!!» Something like that.
But we checked into it and the cool folks at Hot Rod let us come in late on 4/​7, after close, to take a shot at the sale. Now THAT is a hook-​up, and a damn fat one at that. I walked out with two new pairs of Cons and a dope Nike SB Backpack, all of it 50% off.
Wow, huge steal. I’m sure they had a great turn out for the sale, they didn’t need to let us get in on it. But they did and for that, I thank them.

A few months have passed since having visiting Hot Rod, and i have felt guilty for taking so long to review.
These guys awesome! Super friendly, great footwear selection and very honest. My pup and I ended up hanging out in the shop for a couple of hours as it raining outside and the staff didn’t mind one bit.
They have a great selection of exclusive kicks, and i picked up two pairs. They were also extremely helpful in providing other stores that have comparable styles, which I thought was awesome.
They even through in a free T-​shirt. Support Local!!!
Adrian

My #1 shoe store to hit up on a monthly basis, excellent prices, great sales, great location, great service and I love the bags and store set up. The fact that they also have their own clothing line that is fresh is a plus when you picking up sneaker you can buy a fit or hat all in one quick stop.

Came all the way from Tennessee to hit this place. Guys that worked there were extremely helpful. Told them we were from out of town and the immediately started giving us info on LA and what we needed to do/​see. Even gave us a quick rundown of his store and a little history behind it.
Selection of shoes are great. I went to four other shoe stores after Hot Rod and no one came close to their selection. Their brand of clothes are awesome too. Ended up walking out with a HR shirt but unfortunately no shoes. Went in looking for Koston dunks and they didn’t have them. But they immediately put me on their email list to let me know when they came in. Next day I had an email and within 15 minutes the shoes were on their way to my house!!! You can’t get better service than that!
If you com to LA and don’t go to Hot Rod then put the mouse down and punch yourself in the face. You’re welcome!

I began shopping here long before their renovation and chic re-​branding. I have purchased some awesome SBs here as well as a Sector Nine City Crusher board, which I keep in the trunk of my car. They carry a great line of Nikes as well as Vans and the occasional Chuck Taylor and Spring Court. I do wish they carried Spring Courts in smaller men’s sizes because I am dying for a pair but can’t find my size! I am on their email chain and I enjoy seeing the items they have in stock as well their limited edition pieces.
I really enjoy shopping here because the guys are laid back, knowledgeable and actually remember me! I always make it a point to shop during their annual blow out sales and purchase several pairs of shoes for my brother. Hot Rod makes some incredibly cool and soft shirts that my brother loves to death. They wash and wear well and he feels really cool when he wears them. I told him to keep Hot Rod a secret so that no one at school can copy his style.

This is probably one of the best shoe stores in LA. Keep in mind that this is a primarily a skate shop, so don’t expect to see Jordan’s and AF1’s here. If you’re into Nike SB, Converse, Adidas, and Vans then you’ve came to the right place.
I came across this place in search of the Nike SB «Gucci» RESN Dunks. Surprisingly, I heard that they were one of the very few stores that received a shipment of these very limited shoes. Unfortunately I found this place too late, or so I thought.
By the time that I called to check it they still carried these shoes, they were sold out. They told me to join their mailing list to receive the latest updates on new shoes. So I did, and within a week or so they sent out an e-​mail about an extra shipment on these shoes.
I came the following day and waited in line for them. They were so organized with distributing the shoes. You would also think that any shop with such limited stock would try to sell their stuff at a higher price, but not this place. Their great shoe selection keeps me coming back for more.

i used to hang out at this shop when i was 14, so that was 13 years ago. this was when they had a tv in there, and a couch… and all the little kids used to hang out there and never buy anything :)
the guys who worked there were really nice too, i remember one guys name being wes or something? he had red hair… short…and this other tall dude… with kinda grey-​ish hair… kinda looked like MCA from the beastie boys, KINDA.
anyways, yea, nice guys, they used to give us stickers and nail polish… when your a girl, and you go to hang out at a skate shop, and your FOURTEEN, its sad to say, but most of the time everyone just looks at you like your a slut, and everyone, even the 30-​something year old owners, try to bone you. that was NOT the case at hot rod. these guys were nice, the store was cool, they used to have BBQ’s in the back… i havent been there in about a decade, it looks too fru-​fru for me now… but it was a really cool spot back in the day :)

I’ve driven down Westwood hundreds of times but have never seen Hot Rod. Evidently they’ve been there for 13 years! I popped in today while running errands, because nothing captures my attention like a cool pair of shoes.
They had a small selection of great clothes– your basic black, grey button downs, sweaters, a few cool jackets and some skateboarding. The guys running the place were pretty cool too– which always earns mom and pop type shops some bonus points in my book…

This is more than just a skateboard shop. Hotrod is probably hands down one of the most popular skate board /​shoes shop in LA. For you shoe whores, this is the place to be. They have an extensive collection of Nike SB, Puma and Vans. The selection of Nike SB at Hotrod is freaking awesome. So many rare and hard to find SBs. It’s a Nike heaven. Also with many fakes going around, you can count on the quality and authenticity of shoes that they offer.
The manager Cameron and his sales people are cool and knowledgeable. They really good about updating their customers with new arrivals. I have been looking for Nike SB Milk Blazer of my size ever since its first release. So two weeks ago, I received an email update and informed me that a new shipment has arrived. Being a professional, I quietly and quickly excuse myself from a conference call. Went inside to a server room, called them and purchased my shoe over the phone. And yes, I managed to get back in time to finish up the conference call too.
Misc. Note: They used to throw demos in the store but not certain if they still do that. They have a small parking lot in the back, otherwise, just park on Westwood blvd.

Consignment sneakers, and carry cool stuff, Modern Amusement, Nike SB, Stussy. etc. real nice guy that owns it, just never seem to carry my size. Waiting for Unilocal to update, the shop is on westwood and not stoner.