HIGHLAND PARK

Northeast LA is where it's at, yo. As Silverlake and Echo Park get more commercialized and rents have soared, those in the know have been moving farther east. This little slice of LA reminds us of the Pacific Northwest, with a focus on art, music, and great coffee. It's also an incredibly easy neighborhood to get around, and although we spent most of our day on Highland Park's high-street, we promised ourselves to wander father on our next trip...there's so much more to see, eat, shop, and explore in Highland Park.

Stop 1: Cafe De Leche

 

   
This quant cafe is the perfect neighborhood coffeeshop, with a Highland Park twist: comfy couches, a play area for kids, and some perfectly-pulled shots...and the interior is brightly painted in the happiest of colors and you can have horchata in your coffee. We ordered a skinny latte, a soy chai, an horchata con espresso (a definite favorite!), and one drip coffee. Compliments to the barista all around.

(5000 York Boulevard, Highland Park) 

Stop 2: Highland Cafe

 

It was a weekend morning at 11:30am, which means one thing: brunch time! At this sidewalk cafe, bring your dog and your Sunday-cheat-day appetite: the verde chilaquiles were a crowd-pleaser, although the quinoa veggie burger was surprisingly delicious, too. We also ordered a desayuno breakfast burrito, and the vegan sweet potato tostada - both of which were a fantastic alternative to your regular yawn-worth breakfast fare. Order at the front, and grab your number and a table. We can't wait to return!

(5010 York Boulevard, Highland Park) 

 

Stop 3: York Boulevard Shops

Arroyo General Store:

Honeywood:

Wombleton Records:

Social Study:

  

When we arrived in Highland Park, we vowed that we would venture off York Boulevard, the neighborhood's main street. But! There's just so much good stuff on York, and we found ourselves browsing for hours on just three mere blocks. 

Pop-up produce market? Yep, there's even one of those. Arroyo General Store has a selection of fresh produce, home goods, snacks, and fresh flowers. Beautiful hand-crafted bowls and hilarious handmade greeting cards were other bonuses. We then wandered into Honeywood, a small and darling vintage shop with the most incredible cowboy boots, embroidered tops, and old band t-shirts (which were SO soft!) 

And although records have re-emerged in recent years, it's still tough to find a great selection in one place. Luckily for us, York Boulevard has a handful of vinyl shops, and Wombleton Records is one of our favorites. The shop has only been around about 4 years, but they bring in collections from all over the world - both the rare and the popular. And they have some great apparel - absolutely loved their t-shirts and shopping bags. 
If you're looking for a charming and unique present, Social Study is a lovely gift shop - with plenty of adorable toys and games for kids.

Stop 4: Artisan Market at Align Gallery

 

This wasn't originally a planned stop on our day, but we snagged a flyer for a first-ever Saturday artisan market in the back of an art gallery, and after spotting it just across the street, we made our way over.
The gallery itself was impressive, an artist-driven space with bold prints in the most vibrantly beautiful colors (pieces started around $700). The gallery owner told us that her family has lived in Highland Park for decades, and are both excited and trepidatious of the changes underway. She emphasized the neighborhood's desire to embrace innovations while holding on to the history and charm of Highland Park. 
The market out back was relatively small, but featured succulents in vintage coffee mugs, jewelery, and some homemade baked goods.

(5045 York Boulevard, Highland Park)

 

Stop 5: Donut Friend

 

We have to preface this by saying that 50% of our MyBestLADay team doesn't even like donuts (we know, we know. SO WEIRD). 
But these ain't your granddad's donuts. We drooled over the menu, finally narrowing down our choices to the Lemon Weapon (lemon custard with blueberry jam, fresh mint), Javabreaker (coffee-infused cake donut with espresso bean glaze), S'Morrisey (chocolate cake donut with toasted marshmallow and graham cracker crust), and the X-Ray Speculoos (cookie butter inside traditional donut, chocolate drizzle and sea salt. All of them were mind-blowing, but the Lemon Weapon took the cake (ahem).

(5107 York Boulevard, Highland Park)

 

Stop 5: York Park

  The newest park in the neighborhood is going to make many Angelenos very happy: with little in the way of grass or greenery, it's very drought-friendly. This small park was built on the lot of a former gas station, and is full of fun and kid-friendly equipment.

 

The Details:

You can take the Gold Line into Highland Park, and then everything is easily accessible on foot.

A map of our day looks like this:

 

 

 

SANTA MONICA

Santa Monica is probably one of the most iconic neighborhoods in Los Angeles, with its famed boardwalk, shopping promenade, and that neon-glowing, solar-powered ferris wheel seen in oh-so-many TV shows, movies, and aerial shots of the city (it was also named one of the coolest ferris wheels in the world in 2013). But this is our version of Santa Monica, all the lesser-known, locally beloved spots far from the Third Street Promenade and the throngs of tourists. In fact, we didn't step foot on the promenade or Main Street during our Santa Monica day, opting instead for the special spots we favored during our years as residents in this sun-speckled, beachside neighborhood. If you're using our blog as a guide, get ready to discover all the places you won't find in guidebooks or "Top 10" lists.

Stop 1: Sweet Rose Creamery

 

Josh Loeb and Zoe Nathan are Santa Monica heroes: the couple who were both born and raised in Santa Monica, and slowly and thoughtfully opened a handful of restaurants, bakeries and café’s (mostly along Wilshire Boulevard) throughout the neighborhood, capitalizing on local ingredients, handmade products, and delicious ideas. You can’t really go wrong with any of their spots (Milo and Olive is one of our favorites in the entire city for pizza), but Sweet Rose is our place for coffee. This small and bright café is barely more than a walk-up, with seasonal ice-cream offerings and coffee drinks written on giant chalk wall behind the counter. We ordered two iced versions of the cold-brew with homemade vanilla syrup and a splash of cream, and then ogled the pastries (the strawberry walnut scone in particular).

(826 Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica)

Stop 2: Virginia Avenue Park Farmer's Market

 

We’re certainly not lacking for farmer’s markets on the Westside (and the one in downtown Santa Monica is epic), but this sweet market in the Virginia Avenue Park has long been the locals’ favorite. There’s a fantastic selection of flowers, with many of the bunches $10 and under, a shaded food court with tables and chairs, and so much juicy, fresh, and ripe pieces of fruit and vegetables, you’ll never want to enter your local Albertson’s ever again. We ordered the beef quesadilla (probably one of our favorite breakfasts in town) for $6, and grabbed a bulbous, crisp apple for $1.50 for dessert.

 

(2200 Virginia Avenue, Santa Monica)

Stop 3: Bergamot Station 

 

By the time we pulled out onto Pico Boulevard, temperatures were over 90 degrees and we needed somewhere we could cool off, stat. We headed to Bergamot Station, an old train station (the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad operated its line here from 1875 to 1953) turned art gallery complex. Passenger service at the train station ceased in the 1950s, and the sprawling complex was purchased by the city of Santa Monica in the 1980s and converted into artists’ studios. The art gallery and cultural complex now house over 30 galleries and a darling (and delicious!) café. We scoped out original photographs of Marilyn Monroe, the eclectic and whimsical gift shop, walls of floral artwork, and some Dali-inspired sculptures. Who says the Westside is lacking culture?

Insider’s tip: there’s a vast parking lot with free parking for gallery visitors.

(2525 Michigan Avenue, Santa Monica)

Stop 4: Vintage Shopping on Wilshire Boulevard 

Santa Monica is a neighborhood with great shopping - every single chain store you can imagine, an outdoor mall, sweet boutiques. But its vintage shopping is a lesser-known treasure, and there are some fantastic finds along Wilshire Boulevard. Haute Seconds is any designer-lover's dream: a meticulously organized shop brimming with Chanel, Prada, Oscar de la Renta, and so many more. Pieces are in impeccable shape, and they have the prices to prove it. We did find one rack on the left-hand side of the shop with options from $25 to $95, and these included a few lovely DVF and Tracey Reese dresses. Drool.

Great Labels is another shop featuring designer threads, and although the clothes skew a little more mature, the price-points are much lower than Haute Seconds. The shop is easy to navigate, and we saw many a pair of high-heels we would love to teeter around in.

(2629 Wilshire Boulevard and 1126 Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica)

Stop 5: Caffe Luxxe

 

The coffee at Caffe Luxxe is no joke. This adorable neighborhood coffeehouse handcrafts their artisanal coffee with beans they roast at their own facility in Gardena. The baristas also receive one year of training, so clearly take their technique seriously. Sounds fancy, right? Fortunately for the local regulars, this seriously delicious coffee comes without a serious attitude. They specialize in cappuccinos (they boast that their beans are the best, so their cappuccinos are also the best) and because it was still smoldering outside, we got ours over ice. We also ordered the vegan banana walnut chocolate cake, which was sticky, dense and chocolatey. OH MY.

(925 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica)

Stop 6: Pono Burger

 

 The burger is a big deal in Los Angeles. A really big deal. Tacos, French Dip, and burgers - these are the food items we brag about, the dishes that we know are better here than anywhere else in the country. And in Santa Monica, you have some of the best burgers to choose from: Umami, Father's Office, Rustic Canyon. 

But we didn't visit any of those joints on this day. We beelined to one of our favorite new hamburger restaurants, where organic grassfed burgers are served with a Hawaiian twist. Pono Burger embraces everything great about Santa Monica: the materials and ingredients of the restaurant are all locally sourced, down to the firewood and the fresh flowers from the farmer's market. The menu changes seasonally, the beef comes from a family-owned California ranch - and did we mention you can eat your meal in a World War II bunker? 

We ordered the Piku "Fig" Burger, The Paniolo Burger, the Russet Potato Fries, and a half-order of the Seasonal Farmer's Market Salad. The Piku was a clear favorite, because the combination of brie cheese and fig was other worldly, although the sauce on The Paniolo was something we wanted to eat by the spoonful. The folks at Pono have perfected the details of their menu - the meat is juicy, the burger bun is fluffy and sweet, and their condiments are divine (the aioli! the guava rum sauce! the coffee Bourbon barbecue sauce!)

"Pono" most definitely has to mean DELICIOUS (it actually means "to do the right way"). Umami what?

(829 Broadway, Santa Monica)

 

    

The Details:

Santa Monica is very walkable, but we highly recommend getting around on bike. You can rent bicycles here.

A map of our day looks like this: