The first thing optician Van de la Plante asks customers when they walk into his tiny eyewear boutique in Echo Park isn't about their eyesight — it's whether they'd like a glass of Scotch and a seat on one of two tattered, turn-of-the-century armchairs. The Scotch, poured from a beveled glass decanter on a wooden side table displaying biographies of Houdini and Tesla, is all part of the macho, vintage Americana lifestyle peddled by Gentlemen's Breakfast. Housed in a one-car garage off Sunset Boulevard, the anachronistic hideout specializes in original, 1960s dead-stock frames from Europe and Japan, all of which can be custom-fitted with either prescription or sunglass lenses. The glasses range in price from about $150 — for thick, nylon “prison glasses,” which were distributed to prisoners in the 1960s because of their pliable and nearly indestructible frames — to upwards of $1,000 for 100-year-old Japanese welding glasses with rose-colored lenses. —Jennifer Swann

1101 Mohawk St., Echo Park, 90026. (323) 306-6766, gentsbreakfast.blogspot.com.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.