I called this place last minute to ask if they could fix my father's reading glasses, where the handles broke. The gentleman who answered said "sure, stop by before 5:30." My dad did just that and that kind man perfectly fixed my dad's favorite pair of glasses for him. This place is wonderful, helpful, and they have a great selection of glasses (all kinds of glasses) if you're on the hunt for some. read more

We tried to fix our glasses and it was missing a screw, the owner didnt charge at all. He could have charge us something. But yet the owner didnt do it. Thank you so much for being an honest small business! read more

Optical Sphere - Sunglasses Near Me - Los Angeles, California

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Stopped into the store to get my glasses fixed. Owner greeted me right away and fixed my glasses immediately! I will definitely be going back if I ever have any issues with my glasses. Highly recommend! read more

Brought my Gucci eye glasses in for repair! Alex fixed them in a heartbeat ! One of the most honest and efficient people that I've met! Very highly recommended store for your optical needs! read more

Everything about this place is the best in town!!! Couldn't recommend it more. My Go-To for glasses and prescriptions.

Been going here for years. Any time I need new lenses this is where I go. Super affordable and always perfect. Love this place!

I'm on vacation from Florida here in L A, loving it but, my glasses broke and I cannot see without them, so we searched for a repair place and found Optical Sphere. He was a God send we tried to figure out how to repair my glasses so he figured out a way to do it. The owner is an incredible person who goes above and beyond for his customers. Please see him for all eye glass repair and glasses read more

Optical sphere will spin you right round to the decades when eyewear was not only of higher quality, but also more pleasing in appearance. In this sphere (actually, it's more of a small squarish room) one will find Alex, Russian optometrist, and hundreds, if not thousands of pairs of glasses--both sun and reading variety--stashed away in cases and folios. Admittedly, I treasure vintage eyewear. A lot. However, looking for it maybe shouldn't be *this* much like a treasure hunt. To see some of the best finds: old Persols, Peoples, Bolles, and Raybans--one must gingerly and hesitantly pick up the folios, sheeted with a fine coating of dust--and open them up, unsure of whether or not it is allowed. I never received a scolding or any attention otherwise from the proprietor, so I assumed I was okay. Ironically, two hours after I began this very review, I sat on my most beloved and likely irreplaceable mint condition pair Revo 1204s. Whatever. The Sphere doesn't seem to carry Revos, so if you're a Revo freak, you may want to look elsewhere. No, I don't know where! So ask someone else OKAY? Anyway, if you're looking for old French stuff or what is labeled "French look" come here--there's a lot of it. There are also some pretty cool costume pieces--there may even be, what--hold it...some lucite or bakelite pieces. It's pretty exciting. As far as pricing goes, I'm unable to comment on how it relates to my treasure hunt analogy. The pricing system seemed to match up with the helter skelter manner of the place, with only a few pieces having prices. However, I will say that if you sometimes find yourself having inappropriate attachments to old sunglasses, like I do...you may find a certain piece that is priceless. read more

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We had been looking for vintage frames and came across this gem of a shop. The previous reviews impressed us and Alex, the owner, is the most down to earth guy and is always welcoming. He has over 5,000 frames from different eras all priced to sell. He complimentary cleans and adjusts glasses based on your head shape. read more

Fun, quirky unique shop for eyeglasses. Most are vintage, dating back decades in many cases --- but they'll well-preserved and well worth a look. The owner is a patient man who knows his stuff. I've been in a couple times. Most recently with a friend who just couldn't make up his mind. It was fun to see them interact to get to some sort of agreement. My friend ended up getting a spare pair of glasses that are a completely different style than his current one. Yet both seem to fit him well. Come here with something in mind, or be prepared to go in a direction you might not have even considered from a spectacles standpoint. read more

Wonderful, friendly and honest service!! I needed two pairs of sunglasses repaired--one pair just needed a screw (a weird size that I hadn't been able to find on my own) and the other pair was missing an arm. The Chloe sunglasses weren't vintage so Alex explained I'd be best off finding the replacement part online, and the other pair he added the screw right there, and tightened both arms without me even asking, free of charge! I'm not accustomed to service like this in LA. While I wasn't a paying customer this time, I will definitely come back again. His selection of vintage sunglasses and eye glasses are also great. read more

The best optical store in town! I have now made 4 pairs of glasses there, and the quality and price cannot be beat. Alex has unique frames that I like - rimless and half rimmed - and they look classy and preserve the facial features. These glasses are mostly European brands, and since they are vintage, their prices are perhaps half or even a third of what I would pay in a doctor's office. They bring an elegance of yore to the town, and the lenses are priceless: all the glasses I made there are polycarbonate, anti- reflective, progressive, and transition. Alex offers the best customer excellence service probably in California, and his humor adds to his store a unique feature: his store becomes alive like in a movie. Everyone I met there loves this store and his owner, and I should only hope Optical Sphere will be here for many decades to come. Thank you! read more

I bought two pairs of glasses here last year. I wanted to find a pair of glasses that were vintage, unique, and fit my face. I couldn't have asked for a better experience overall. The owner was beyond helpful and spent over an hour helping me find a pair of glasses. He then was able to make the glasses my prescription on the spot. Couldn't recommend this place more. The glasses are such good quality and such a reasonable price -I couldn't be more happy. Thank you! read more

I'm a cheap ass bastard. I won't spend more than $10 on any article of clothing or shoes or show or dinner. I have one exception: my eyewear. I have been wearing glasses since the 6th grade. Not only did I have a problem with growing boobs before everyone else, I was the first nerd in my school. Big blue plastic frames. For an idea of the hideousness of them, just walk around Silver Lake or Echo Park and you'll see them being worn ironically by girls trying to recapture a decade they weren't born in. I can understand that concept though, as I prefer decades in my eyewear that I didn't live through. The 50s, 60s. No, I'm not some hippie or rockabilly or whatever. I like cat eye glasses because my eyes slant slightly downward and this particular shape gives the illusion that my eyes are normal and balanced. This has been determined by years of experimentation with poorly shaped frames. I could cheap ass bastard it and order modern barely cat eyes from Lenscrafters. I could buy some pairs from Halloween stores in the section with the poodle skirts. I could rip a pair right off the face of some grandma at the bus stop. But glasses are the only thing I wear on a daily basis. Everyday, the same one accessory, helping me see, part of my physical identity. Of course I choose to spend money on them. One time it was $800 for frames and lenses. It almost killed me but the glasses were so awesome and fit me so perfectly I had to do it. And by I had to do it, I mean I had to make my parents do it as two years worth of Christmas, Hanukkah, birthday, Easter, Quaanza presents. More recently I've been wearing the same glasses for a few years, cat eyes that I bought cheap off ebay and they arrived and were an out-of-control shiny silver that was not demonstrated well in the pics. So I ended up, in a typical money-saving move, painting the frames with acrylic paint. This worked splendidly for a while despite the occasional peeling and paint chips. But my prescription recently changed and I decided I was in need of a new pair. I had found a few vintage glasses over the last year at thrift stores for $4 or less. I carried them around with me for months debating whether I should take them back to Jack at Jack's Eyewear, where I would spend some serious money getting the lenses done (I've got negative a bazillion in one eye and lots of astigmatism and I need anti-glare.) Plus the parking by Jack's is horrible, from 4-7 you have to avoid La Brea and take a scenic drive through ritzy parking-restricted neighborhoods to find a space. Then one day I walked past this new place, next to Quality Restaurant on 3rd, a few blocks from my house. I went in, looked at the walls and boxes and tables and cabinets filled with vintage glasses of all eras. It was like the wonderment of my first time walking down the strip in Las Vegas. And Alex, the owner. Beyond knowledgeable. This guy walked in while I was there and asked, "Do you have that pair of glasses with the gold safety pin on the sides?" Alex went digging in this one set of boxes and came up with it in less than five minutes. I say, "Do you have any cat eyes that match my hair color?" and he starts pulling things out from every which where. I now forward him pairs of glasses on ebay or etsy and he checks his inventory for them or something similar. In addition to the excellent customer service, this store is beyond affordable. My lenses are the cheapest I've gotten in LA. Cheaper than Lens Crafters. He filled the pairs I brought in for $100 a pop and then on Friday I walked out of there with a new pair of cat eye frames and lenses for $150. Ridiculous. In four working days. Just ridiculous. So here's the thing: I honestly don't know how Alex stays in business with the shipments coming in everyday and the price he charges for glasses. So I am imploring you to go buy glasses from Alex at Optical Sphere. Because seriously, this guy cannot ever go out of business. His inventory and expertise are crack cocaine to me and I am in the market for sunglasses. read more

Frames! Thousands of them! I can't imagine anyone who wears glasses not spending hours in this wonderful store. Aviator glasses from WWII! Eyeglasses in shapes you didn't even know existed! I could have bought a dozen pairs there (and still might...) and still not feel like I have enough wonderful specs. Alex is absolutely wonderful. His passion for eyeglass frames is amazing. Optical Sphere is a museum for myopics: the curator is lots of fun and you come out knowing far more than when you went in. This is hands down the best eyewear shop I've ever been to. You not only get to browse thousands of frames, but Alex will guide you through the history of all the vintage glasses. He's also got an excellent eye for a style (well, styles...) which will look great on you. I'd been looking for round glasses (which I couldn't find anywhere). Alex has (absolutely no exaggeration) hundreds of them. Well, yes, I wanted round glasses, but was not expecting that there were so many TYPES of round frames out there. Yes, I found a perfect pair with his help, but he also found a pair for me in a shape I didn't even know I liked and they looked wonderful. Those will be my next pair... I'm looking forward to getting my next two (or three or four) pairs of glasses at Optical Sphere. Don't go online to buy glasses. Go to Alex. Please don't miss this gem if you need glasses. You're welcome. read more

A year later and I'm back. Need new frames for a new prescription so I went directly to Alex. After 2hrs of hunting I finally dwindled my choices down to 10!! Then 6 then 3! I finally walked out with another gorgeous laid of vintage frames at an incredibly fair price. Alex helped me on my hunt and we had lots of giggles at my expense. He has so many amazing frames it's hard to choose. read more

Optical Sphere - It's all about the vintage here. - Sunglasses Near Me - Los Angeles, California

My favorite optical store in town... He is amazing work is amazing he's a sweetheart and great service... Look nowhere else

Fantastic range of vintage glasses, as well as current models. The owner could not have been nicer - we only stopped in to get a quick repair on some frames, which he did happily and then would not accept payment for. A genuine, friendly, local neighborhood store and an absolute treasure :) read more

I'm so glad I found optical sphere on yelp! I had an old pair of Fendi sunglasses that needed repair. The lens were starting to peel. Alex replaced the lens by cutting and custom making it to the frame. Looks great and he is super friendly, knowledgable, and inexpensive. read more

Optical Sphere - Did a wonderful job replacing Lens :) - Sunglasses Near Me - Los Angeles, California

I read about this place on the Blackburn & Sweetzer blog http://tinyurl.com/y932emt Alex the owner is really helpful and humorous. There is a nice array of vintage and non vintage styles at non vintage prices. I left with a nice pair of eyeglasses for $150. Stop in if you are on 3rd St. right next to Quality. read more

After a "desert phase" for the past couple of years in which I couldn't find any frames I liked, I finally googled "vintage eyeglasses Los Angeles", and up popped Optical Sphere. Eureka! The reviews here prepped me for the fact that it's a treasure trove of all kinds of amazing frames, AND for the fact that owner and eyeglass guru Alex is a treasure, too. So far I've bought two pairs of glasses plus some prescription sunglasses. And I'm not someone who has ever had more than one set of glasses at a time before. But at Optical Sphere, with Alex's very hospitable approach, it's fun! And prices are reasonable. Go there. You'll be hooked. I'm not even sure I'm done buying glasses this year. It's feeling like a brand new fashion hobby for me. And why not, with such ever-changing bounty to choose from? :) read more

Alex is THE guy. A super talented artist and a craftsman, who knows more about frames and lenses than just about everybody, he has done dozens and dozens of pairs for me over many years. He knows how to work with the most difficult and valuable vintage frames, and he is always fun to visit. In Southern California, there's nobody better. read more

This place is great! It's NOT one of those over-priced chains were every employee just wants to sell you the most expensive set of frames that management wants to move. It IS a small boutique run by a knowledgeable, honest proprietor who wants to help people. Alex is the man. Nice and charming. I discovered Alex after my friend hopped into my car and sat on my prescription sunnies which I'd left on the passenger seat. SNAP!, and they were toast. My guilt-ridden friend had been to Alex before and made me drive over there. We went in, explained what happened and Alex took a moment to study the lenses in my broken frames. Then he went through a box of empty frames and pulled out a few, comparing them and produced a choice for me. My broken sunnie lenses fit them perfectly! Alex could just look at the old lenses and match them up without so much as a ruler. Awesome. In under 15 minutes I walked out with my old lenses in a new frame and all for under $30. What big-ticket chain store would ever do that???? Thank you again, Alex! read more

This optical is wonderful and SO reasonable. Alex is really helpful. My eyes are terrible. They seem to get worse every year. One doctor told me years ago that my eyes would never change again.LOL. Alex's prices are so reasonable! I got plain frames not vintage. I am sure that I paid less for this year's prescription than I have paid in 28 years since I started to wear progressives. I highly recommend this place to everyone. I called three Places before I went here because of the distance. Two of them wanted $300 and $325 just for the lenses at their lowest price. Alex quoted $160.00. Last year,my lenses cost $365.00. read more

You know how pleasant it is when someone really knows their craft? It's an entire different experience. He is the go to guy for glasses. He knows the face so well and out of his multi thousand pairs will have a group of glasses he says will fit just right. I kid you not, out of this 10 pair or so of glasses, you will end up purchasing not only one, but at least two. read more

In case you feel adventurous, going back in 14th century, sitting on an electric chair, or just buying a cool pair of glasses, you should definitely try this place. Alex is as funny as passionate with his collection of thousands and thousands of glasses. read more

Excellent customer service, amazing stock and fair prices. LOVE this place. More selection than my usual mainstay Old Focals. Really enjoyed my buying time and honest opinion from owner... read more

SPECS-TACULAR! 100 STARS out of 5! Walking through the door of Optical Sphere is like stepping into a time machine for a one-of-a-kind, world class shopping experience. Alex has put together an astonishing museum of fantastic eyewear from across the ages. He has a pair once worn by the Last Emperor of China (Made from actual Tortoise Shell). He has 5 or 6 pairs from the Revolutionary War. These aren't for sale. But if you think you'd look good in the designer frames of any decade from the 1920's to the Right Now, he has thousands of pairs laid out on shelves and stored in display boxes. Do Not be intimidated. Alex has a well-honed sense of facial geometry and personal style, and a gift for guiding you to choices that will make you shine. Plus his prices are brilliant. You'd be amazed at how reasonable vintage stylin' can be! Then there is the man himself. Alex is hilarious and warm. Whether you're a movie star or a student, he'll treat you like Royalty and one of the family. He's super passionate about his craft, and super expert in the art and science of lenses. He caught an error in my prescription, called the optometrist, and got them to send the proper numbers. Thanks to his awesomeness, I can see for miles and miles! So, skip the malls and the boutiques on Melrose or Rodeo Drive, and get yourself on down to Optical Sphere. High Style, Fantastic Prices and a Timeless Experience. You'll not only SEE GREAT, but you'll LOOK LIKE A STAR! read more

I purchased a pair of round vintage glasses from an Etsy seller and needed prescription lenses. I found out about this shop via Yelp & was so happy I did. It was pretty easy to find. As soon as I walked in, I was amazed by the amount of vintage specs that were available. The owner was so kind and said it would only take 2 days to fill the lenses. The price was very reasonable. Service was great. I will definitely be back. read more

Overwhelming large selection of stylish frames dating back centuries. It's a museum. Impeccably procured selection. No prop or wardrobe house in la compares. Anyway, My glasses broke after my son, ever adorable and curious, tested the flexibility of the ear piece. Oleg found another amazing pair of vintage frames to pop the old lenses into. Price is reasonable. His jokes are good. His glasses are better. read more

This is by far the best & most reasonable vintage eyeglass store in LA. Alex is unbelievably knowledgable, helpful and funny, and his selection is fantastic! Unlike many other boutiques that look like art galleries, and have prices to match, Alex's stock is just as desireable, but found in a more fun & exploratory manner & and at a fraction of the price. I've bought 5 pairs of glasses from him already & my friends have purchased many more. We're all happy campers. You have to go - you will not be disappointed! read more