Los Angeles Dive Shop Recommendations

[OnlyWarmWaterDiving4Me]

Hi Fellow SoCal Divers!

I'm in search of a customer oriented brick-and-motar dive shop in the Los Angeles area. I was a long-time customer of Reef Seekers in Beverly Hills (Hi @Ken Kurtis) and have not found a shop where I've felt valued as a customer and a diver since Reef Seekers closed their brick-and-motar operation.

Looking forward to hearing what others have to say.

Warm Water Regards!

 

[aport68]

Ocean safari in temple city is the best. Great team and they put together very special trips. Check out their local trip schedule.

 

[blue steal]

Not sure where in LA you are..
I use Pacific Wilderness quite a bit.
Excellent selection of dive gear and accessories.
They do hydros on site and fills are pretty quick.

 

[OnlyWarmWaterDiving4Me]

Thank you for the answers so far. I'm located in LA in the Larchmont Village area.

 

[SaltyWombat]

I like Zen Dive in Pasadena.

 

[Still Kicking]

Not sure where in LA you are..
I use Pacific Wilderness quite a bit.
Excellent selection of dive gear and accessories.
They do hydros on site and fills are pretty quick.

If you are an LA area diver, it's worth a trip to Pac Wild. An old school dive shop (since 1953). Also, good source of local info and free weekly dives via FB.

Pacific Wilderness | Los Angeles CA

Pacific Wilderness, San Pedro (Los Angeles). Gefällt 4.009 Mal · 7 Personen sprechen darüber · 1.209 waren hier. Pacific Wilderness Dive Shop. Where the Professionals go for Dive Gear & Service -...

www.facebook.com

 

[pauldw]

Pacific Wilderness in Orange was really helpful back when I was in LA quite some time ago, actually.

 

[Still Kicking]

Pacific Wilderness in Orange was really helpful back when I was in LA quite some time ago, actually.

The OC store is gone unfortunately.

 

[Scuba_Oscar]

I can second Zen Dive in Pasadena. Very friendly

 

[dlao]

Depending on what you need from the dive shop.
Retails? Repairs? Gas fills? Boat tickets? Dive courses? Networking and club dives?

A reputable shop may still have some terrible employees and vice versa. I don't know what's your threshold on 'being valued', but most shops in LA are pretty friendly. Why not just go to the shop nearby? Blue Holic in Ktown is probably the one that is close to you.

For making purchases I would go to ECO and PW. They are the cheapest ones as long as you know what you are buying and don't get upsold. For air fills I go to ECO since they offer lifetime free fills if you buy tanks from them. For tank repair/hydro, I go to PW. There are a couple of shops that offer customized Nitrox and Trimix fills, like In2Deep and PW.