Dorothy’s Surrender

«The Wizard of Oz» was my childhood movie. I must have had 3 pairs of ruby slippers growing up. Thank you, Dorthy Surrender, for taking away my childhood innocence and giving me some adult entertainment! No really, thank you. This place is like a playground with its tacky but fun gag gifts, Wizard of Oz memorabilia, arts/​entertainment items, and yes… of course, being in the center of WeHo and inside the French Quarter restaurant, it sells gay novelty items and other fun trinkets. I spend most of my time in the card corner, debating which cards I should get for my friends. Nakedness everywhere! Woohoo.
This place will definitely leave you feeling «Somewhere Over The Rainbow»!

I came here looking for something for my mom, but of course only found things for my sister– and really, what did I expect at a Wizard-​of-​Oz-​themed boutique? You would almost think this place is a Hallmark except for the small corner of naked men pictured on cards and giftbags, the gay marriage paraphenalia, and the Wicked soundtrack blasting while the cashier, wearing big yellow Elton John glasses, flips through a magazine. If this is a Hallmark, it’s the most awesome Hallmark ever.
The stock is varied– everything from a Tiffany’s knock-​off lobster lamp to Desperate Housewives dolls, from costumed pug figurines to incense. Of course there is tons and tons of Wizard of Oz and Wicked merch as well, and for some reason, dogs in costume were as prevalent in the store as Wizard of Oz merch. Clearly they go hand in hand and I am the last to know. We wandered through the whole store and quickly did find something for my mom (a book of pictures of costumed dogs with sassy captions).
Totally worth coming to browse, and you’ll be laughing so much at the novelty items it’s hard to leave empty-​handed.
PS: The store is in the French Marketplace, which is confusing because all the shops are situated around the restaurant, and from the outside looks like it’s just the restaurant. Just look for the French Market, park in its lot, and you won’t be confused once you walk in, I promise.

This shop has, at times, given me the sneaking suspicion that I might really be a drag queen trapped in a woman’s body. (BTW, there is no truth to that MySpace rumor that I am a trannie, but it has made for a fun addition to the certain je né sais quoi that is Veronique CheVALier, The «Weird VAL» of Cabaret, my performance persona).
But, anyway, the first time I walked in this little retail establishment, was to kill time whilst awaiting a friend whom I was meeting for lunch at the nearby French Quarter Market Restaurant. Upon entry, the place practically screamed «Tackeeeeeeeee», but upon closer inspection, I found some really amazingly useful, and of course, aesthetically pleasing items.
My most coveted has been the pink anodized aluminum notepad holder with a compact yet ergonomic pen that also serves as the lynch pin to keep the cover closed. (I never fail to get compliments when I pull that puppy out in order to take down the driver information of whatever person whose obscenely over-​sized SUV has plowed into my much more sensible station wagon in one of the many crowded parking lots across our fair metropolis).
I also use it to take notes for my reviews here on Unilocal,as well as for my monthly column in
.
I just love the stuff at Dorothy’s. I am especially looking forward to getting a battery operated scale model of a cardinal, whose bird calls are triggered by a motion detector. Tweet!
Their display windows are a hoot also. You absolutely must check out their current arrangement of «Desperate Housewives» action figures. I’ve only seen that abominable show once, accidentally, but I think that the shop’s merchandiser captured the high camp perfectly by having one of the wife figures swinging from a noose, with a little scale model chair perfectly pitched over on its little side under her, and one of her petite shoes hanging precariously from the end of her teensy foot.
Oh, and also worth special mention, the shopping baskets of assorted hue, stacked right outside the entrance. They are meticulously ordered by color of the rainbow. I just love the way the minds of gay men tend to such minutiae so effortlessly!
And of course I love to stock up on those blank cards featuring naked pix of guys with hot bods to give to my girlfriends for assorted special occasions. Who cares if the models are all gay? Or maybe my friends and I are all really homosexual men trapped in women’s bodies???

One of the most fun places to shop. I recently picked up a Jesus action figure for a friend. I am waiting for the Nun catapult to came back into stock, I have many friends who are Catholic School alumni and this would be a perfect fun party gift. Tons of other great novelty items. I come here to purchase all of my birthday cards. And for all of my hard to buy for gifts.

Where else but WeHo? I’ve spent many hours wandering through Dorothy’s Surrender over the years due to my predilection for bland food in tacky settings (I say that with only love, dear French Marketplace) and the shop has a little bit of everything. Tons of cards (especially of the naked men variety — this is WeHo after all), arts/​entertainment books, novelty items, and strangely, a bunch of Hallmark tchotchke type Oz memorabilia (is there really a market for this?). I don’t always leave with something, but it’s very easy to kill time here.