What gifts might our Gift Guide pickers pick if they were guided to pick gifts from the lists of the other gift pickers to give? Asking that question aloud might be hard to do (go ahead, we’ll wait), but answering it isn’t. That’s because this year, once our collective of elfin scribes finished sourcing all manner of gifts, goodies, gadgets and gear — organized around the theme of celebrating all that Los Angeles has to offer (and the Golden State at large, too) — we asked them to take one last look at the fruits of one another’s labors and pick some newly discovered bit of holiday wonderment they’d be likely to gift or love to be gifted this year.

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On our first-ever list of curated curators’ curations, you’ll find suggestions of tasty treats (think boxes of mole, bottles of maple syrup, a box of pasta fixings), wishing dolls, lucky beans (no cow trade-in required), herb seeds (to grow both mind-altering greenery and not) and even a few local places to go and browse the shelves yourselves. And that’s just for starters.

So read on to discover what other gifts these L.A. Times gift pickers (and some of their editors) picked to give.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Vanilla-tonka bean maple syrup from Destroyer

I have a friend who’s obsessed with maple syrup — “real maple syrup, no additives!” as he says. He used to carry a tiny flask of it in his man purse to dribble onto meals at restaurants. For years, I’d gift him different types of maple syrup for holidays — golden one year, dark another. But then I stopped, because: predictable. Thank you L.A. Times Food team for tipping me off about the vanilla-tonka bean maple syrup available at Destroyer. I plan to resurrect our holiday tradition this year — and might even gift him a bottle of it over the Culver City cafe’s strawberry French toast. — Deborah Vankin

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Goodies

How does a Southern California retailer survive with a price cap of $25? Especially one whose home goods (made of stone, ceramic, glass and fiber) show so much style? Even though there are five Goodies stores in L.A. and Orange counties, I’d never encountered one before this week (when Lisa Boone illuminated me with her staggeringly thorough guide to 90 local gift shops). Now, with holidays and birthdays coming up, I’m heading out to inspect mugs, spoons, dishes, bookends, coasters, vases and so on at the Goodies location in Atwater Village. — Christopher Reynolds

Mole gift boxes at Guelaguetza

For my longtime best friend Laura, a fantastic cook and former Californian who misses Mexican food, Christmas isn’t Christmas without tamales. So this year, I will send her Guelaguetza’s Mole Jar Gift Box from our Food staff’s gift picks, which includes 12-ounce jars of mole negro, Rojo and Coloradito and comes wrapped in a pretty Oaxacan tea towel. Now, she can replicate the James Beard Award winner’s much-heralded banana-leaf-wrapped mole tamales just in time for the holidays. Sadly, I won’t be there to sample them with her. — Lisa Boone

(Taylor Arthur / Los Angeles Times)

Pasta Club gift box or 3-month subscription at Bucatini

In my opinion, the best gifts are edible, so there was a wealth of temptation in this year’s Gift Guide (salsa macha, pizza, coffee beans, oh my!), and I’m not saying I’m not going back for more. But the Bucatini holiday gift box offers up pasta staples with festive flair, and I don’t even have to wrap it. My Italian mom will be over the moon … well, unless I decide to keep it for myself. (Then there’s a subscription to the Pasta Club, which grants two bags of pasta and other goodies to a lucky recipient for three straight months. It’s a holiday gift that literally keeps giving.) — Jen Doll

Knotwork LA Mini Daruma Wishing Dolls

I’m not a superstitious person. But the stresses of modern life — be it finances, work, vet visits, the news, finding time for so-called “self-care” — sometimes has me wanting to believe there are other forces at play in this universe. And I do love a good knickknack, especially one that doubles as a work of art. So I was immediately drawn to these mini good luck charms from ceramist Linda Hsiao, mainly as a $30 treat to myself. Inspired by the Japanese tradition of daruma dolls, these Altadena-crafted beauties come in an assortment of cozy colors, with their smooshed, hand-crafted faces seemingly cheering us on. And they’re interactive of sorts. Color in one eye when you make a wish. And when that wish comes true — I love that sense of optimism — color in the other eye. And if it doesn’t, just consider it a reminder to never stop dreaming. — Todd Martens

Rancho Gordo black-eyed peas

Rancho Gordo’s black-eyed peas helped save a family tradition. When we bought the “Joy of Cooking” in the 1980s, my late husband insisted we try the black-eyed peas recipe (aka Hoppin’ John) for luck on New Year’s Day. To my surprise, I learned those hard, funny-looking nuggets could cook into a creamy, delicious dish laced with lots of pork fat. The problem was that supermarket dried beans were often old and tough, so the prep time was enormous. Then my husband tried buying black-eyed peas in cans, which cut the prep to nearly nothing. His recipe was so popular that our friends started making it too, until one accidentally poisoned us and the rest of her dinner party by using a can that had gone bad. After 72 hours of horrific sickness, it was a long time before we were willing to eat anything from a can, but we did miss our New Year’s tradition, especially after my husband became a vegetarian. Enter Rancho Gordo’s dried beans! They’re so fresh, every batch cooks up succulent, even without soaking or animal fat. My husband created a meatless version with whole tomatoes, olive oil, onions, bay leaves and lots of garlic that was just as yummy as his old recipe. It’s what I cook today, and at $6.25 a bag, I can afford to give friends and family a pound of good luck from our dear departed family chef. — Jeanette Marantos

(Lisa Boone / Los Angeles Times)

Leanna Lin’s Wonderland

I am on the hunt for a unique Christmas gift for my 8-year-old niece in Oklahoma, and thanks to my colleague Lisa Boone’s list of 90 special L.A. shops, I discovered Leanna Lin’s Wonderland, where my options runneth over. Should I get my niece the stamp carving kit? She loves the little round cat Pusheen, so I could get her one of several plushies, including one that’s strawberry scented. That’s kind of magical! Or I could go with one of several surprise boxes where she could end up with any number of silly cat-themed toys. While browsing, I also spotted gifts for other folks on my list, including my butter-loving friend Bob, who will get a real kick out of socks that honor their favorite condiment. I’m so glad to have discovered a local place with high-quality gifts! — Jaclyn Cosgrove

(The Plant Good Seed Co.)

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The Plant Good Seed Co.’s Culinary Basil seed collection

Does it count as a gift if I aim to be the beneficiary? I have a couple of gardeners in my family who also happen to be great cooks, and this year they’ll be getting the seed assortment from the Plant Good Seed Co. that includes six types of basil. Now, whether these folks invite me over for dinner once that basil becomes pesto or Caprese salad … that’s up to them. Here’s hoping. — Philip Gray

Di An: The Salty, Sour, Sweet and Spicy Flavors of Vietnamese Cooking With TwayDaBae

My best friend, Nneoma, has been in her cooking era lately. Many of our recent catch-ups have included her sharing stories about baking a rotisserie chicken for the first time or mastering some other restaurant-worthy dish. So in the spirit of experimenting with new dishes, I am strongly considering gifting her TwayDaBae’s book, “Di An: The Salty, Sour, Sweet and Spicy Flavors of Vietnamese Cooking With TwayDaBae,” thanks to Bethanne Patrick’s recommendation. Not only is the cookbook filled with pages and pages of delicious looking recipes, the hardcover book would look beautiful in Nneoma’s colorful kitchen. Also, I’m unashamedly looking forward to playing taste tester. — Kailyn Brown

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Try tacos and a Nutty Chi Chi at the Tonga Hut

In an era of peak materialism, there’s something about giving an experience instead of an object that really appeals to me this gifting season. That’s why I’m taking my colleague Christopher Reynolds’ advice to surprise a special someone with an evening at North Hollywood’s Tonga Hut (L.A.’s oldest tiki bar) for a food-and-grog adventure, complete with a gift card worth a couple rounds of tiki drinks and a few Durango’s tacos. And as an avowed tikiphile, that would sort of make it a win-win for me. Another experiential gift on my nice-list radar is Fig Earth Supply’s cannabis gardening bundle, which you’ll find among the offerings on Jeanette Marantos’ roundup of gifts for L.A. gardeners and plant parents. It includes a pair of classes scheduled for February, a packet of seeds and a copy of Penny Barthel’s book “The Cannabis Gardener.” I’ve taken both of those classes, grown those seeds and read that book, and it’s everything I needed to go from nervous newbie to confident ganja green thumb. And who wouldn’t want to inspire — or be gifted — that kind of confidence? And finally, if I did want to stuff something in someone’s stocking, it would probably be a pair of made-in-Vermont Darn Tough socks (stockings stuffed in stockings is so meta) like the ones recommended by my trail-hiking, wilderness-wandering, coyote-hazing colleague Jaclyn Cosgrove, who offers their full-throated endorsement of the Coolmax Hiker Boot mid-weight hiking sock. I don’t know anything about hiking, but love everything about this brand’s foot-cushioning, wears-like-iron hosiery from my home state. And that means the pals I’m gifting (and their feet) will love them too. — Adam Tschorn

When Billie Eilish first hit the music scene as a teenager, she captivated audiences with her soft, whispery voice. Her 2019 debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, which was produced by her brother, Finneas O’Connell, won Grammys for best record, album, song and new artist.

Billie assumed that would be the voice she’d sing with for years to come: “I thought it was going to be soft, and my range wasn’t going to be very big, and I wasn’t ever going to be able to belt, and I wasn’t ever going to be able to have much of a chest mix in my voice,” she says.

Then, two years ago, Billie began working with a music teacher, which she hadn’t done since she was a kid in the choir.

“It has honestly changed my life,” she says of the lessons. “My voice has just gotten 10 times better in the last two years. … I didn’t really know before I started working with a teacher again that you can always get better and you can train.”

Billie and Finneas have been writing songs and recording together since she was 13, and he was 18. At the time, both were being homeschooled, and songwriting was part of the curriculum.

“Our mom had us go home and watch something on TV or read something and just write down any interesting words that we see, or an interesting sentence and then … try to make a song out of what [we] wrote,” Billie says.

For Finneas, making music with his younger sister meant he always had a “guinea pig” available: “I was an amateur producer trying my best to record anyone. Billie, as a 13 year old who’d basically never sung into a microphone at all, obliged. And it was kind of a good match,” he says.

Finneas produces his own music, and he also produced and co-wrote the songs on Billie’s latest album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, which is up for six Grammys. Nearly a decade into their collaboration, with seven top-10 hits, several Grammys and two Oscars, Billie and Finneas are still partners, finding new ways of pushing and supporting each other.

Interview highlights

On writing music for his teen sister instead of for his band

Finneas: Billie and I’ve always gotten along great. I’m sure being homeschooled impacted that because we had a relationship that might have been more three dimensional than if we were in separate grades and saw each other a little bit on the weekend. … We spent a lot of time together having nuanced conversations. That’s part number one in terms of wanting to spend time with her.

Number two is she had a really beautiful voice. And so I think even in addition to liking her as a presence in my life, I saw her talent and respected her talent.

On finding comfort in her teenage fanbase because of how isolating fame was as a teen

Billie: When I became famous-ish at 14, it was not a good time in terms of keeping friendships. I think when you’re 14, that’s kind of an age where friendships are already kind of rocky. And also all my friends did go to school, so they were all going to high school and your relationships are kind of already rocky right then. And suddenly I had no way of relating to anyone. And I kind of lost all my friends. I maintained a couple, but those were really challenging to keep even still. And so for those few years of becoming this enormous superstar, I was kind of feeling like, “Wait, what the hell is the point? I don’t have any friends and I’m losing all the things that I love so deeply and all the people that I love.” And so, in a way, the fans kind of saved me, because they were my age and I felt like they were the only kind of friends I had for a while.

On having a teen audience as Billie’s older brother

Finneas: I’m four years older, so I would say that I didn’t have much of a kind of a feeling one way or the other about the age or gender of the predominant audience. I had a real sense of gratitude for their enthusiasm. And the audience that was coming to the shows that Billie was playing couldn’t have been more engaged and enthusiastic.

On modeling her stage presence more after male performers

Billie: I think a lot of women go through the feeling of just envying men in … one way or the other. And for me, I would watch videos of different male performers on stage and just feel this, like, deep sadness in my body that I’ll never be able to take my shirt off on stage and run around and like, not try very hard and just jump around on stage and that’s enough and have enough energy from just myself with no backup dancers and no huge stage production and the crowd will still love me. And only a man can do that.

And because of that, I think more than almost anything else in my career, I was very, very, very determined to kind of prove that thought wrong — and I really did. I really feel like I did. I didn’t like the kind of pop-girl leotard, backup dancers, hair done thing. I didn’t like that, for me. I liked it for other people, but that didn’t resonate with me. I never saw myself in those people. And honestly, I never saw myself in any women that I saw on stage, but I did see myself in the men that I saw on stage, and I thought that was unfair. And so I did everything that I could to kind of try to break that within myself and the industry. And I’m not saying I’m the only person that’s ever done that at all. But for me, that was really important.
 
On her baggy clothes being inspired by men in hip-hop

Billie: I would watch [hip-hop] videos and instead of being jealous of the women who get to be around the hot men, I would be jealous of the hot men. And I wanted to be them and I wanted to dress like them and I wanted to be able to act like them. And to be fair, I had all sorts of women that I looked up to and artists that are the reason that I am who I am. …

My favorite singers are all old jazz singers that I’ve always looked up to, and I’m always forcing people to watch videos of Ella Fitzgerald singing live and Julie London singing live. And Sarah Vaughan and Nancy Wilson and all these people. We were watching these videos and every single one, of course, because of that period of time, they’re all wearing dresses, they’re all wearing tight, corseted, maybe, dresses with their hair done. But … that’s part of how things were then. And so thank God that those women came before me because otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to do anything.

Finneas and Billie Eilish won the Best Original Song Oscar in 2024 for “What Was I Made For?,” from the film Barbie.

Arturo Holmes/Getty Images

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Arturo Holmes/Getty Images

On having family support

Finneas: I was making music with Billie in my bedroom and trying my best. And [Billie] was kind about it. She was like, “I like that.” She liked the songs I was writing. She liked “Ocean Eyes,” I think that I got so much positive reinforcement when I really needed it, you know?

When I find out people have had careers in the arts, when they were actively discouraged, and when you hear somebody say, “Man, my mom hated my voice,” or something like that, I’m always kind of blown away because to me, I had enough self-doubt and enough imposter syndrome that that if anyone had said, “You’re not very good,” I would have been like, “Correct. I agree.” Let me stop doing this now. And it really took people like Billie and people like my friend Frank to be like, “No, no, no, you’re better than you think you are,” to kind of give me the confidence that I needed.

On studying songwriting as a part of their homeschooling

Billie: Something that I think has always helped in songwriting, is giving yourself permission to write a bad song, because the more you do it, the better you get. … I think that sometimes you have this high expectation for yourself and you’re like, “No, no, no, it has to be really good.” But you can’t just sit down and make something perfect immediately every time you have to try and fail. And that was something that was really hard for me. I’m not good at patience and I’m not good at not being good at something until I am. I want to be really good immediately. Something that helped me a lot is just allowing myself to not be amazing and just make something to make it and not worry if it’s good.

On the validation that fans relate to her lyrics

Billie: My favorite is when we put a song out people are like, “How did she know I was feeling this? Where is she hiding in my room … to write this song that’s exactly my life?” I think that’s like one of the most magical parts about music. And I’ve had that as a fan, too. And Finneas has too. You hear a song and you’re like, “Oh my God, this is exactly my situation. How could that be?” But it’s just that it can be because we’re just all suffering together — and it’s nice to know that you’re not alone in that.

Thea Chaloner and Susan Nyakundi produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Jacob Ganz adapted it for the web.