Jul 29, 2007

High TeaBy David LansingLATimes.com

Call this the Eloise part of the story. You remember Eloise—the precocious imp who lived in New York’s Plaza Hotel and often ordered room service when she couldn’t sleep.

Like Eloise, Gail Baral was a bit of an insomniac as a child. With no access to room service, she did the next best thing: She summoned her mum and requested a bit of toast and a cup of tea. Together the two night owls would sit in a room lighted by the silver-blue glow of the TV, sipping Lipton’s and watching Johnny Carson until little Gail would nod off in her mother’s lap.

Flash forward 40 years. Gail has abandoned one coast for the other and now owns Algabar, an upscale gift shop on La Brea that specializes in tea. But she’s moved on from Lipton’s. Instead, many of her teas come from the celebrated Paris tea salon Mariage Fr