6 places to spend an afternoon.
Walk York Blvd from Cafe de Leche to Galco's on a Sunday morning - that stretch is the whole neighborhood in miniature. Highland Park Bowl is a 1927 bowling alley that actually works. Lodge Room upstairs on Ave 56 for live music in an intimate space.
3 things to do, 3 shops, all in Highland Park.
Highland Park's things-to-do list runs on weird history: a 1927 bowling alley that ran a Prohibition-era prescription racket, a 1923 Masonic Temple now booking 500-cap shows under Egyptian-themed ceilings, a grocery store hoarding 700 sodas. Three buildings, three obsessions, no filler.
A soda museum disguised as a grocery store - 700-plus bottled sodas from small-batch and international bottlers line the shelves, plus a creation station where you mix your own. Been in the family since 1897 and still makes the legendary Blockbuster deli sandwich.
A 1923 Masonic Temple on Ave 56 turned 500-capacity live music venue with 18-foot ceilings, cherry wood paneling, and original Egyptian-themed wall paintings. The sound system is state of the art and the room feels genuinely special - check the calendar before you go.
LA's oldest operating bowling alley, built in 1927 during Prohibition with a wild backstory involving upstairs doctors writing whiskey prescriptions filled at the downstairs pharmacy. Eight restored vintage Brunswick lanes under an exposed bow-truss ceiling with original skylights, plus wood-fired Neapolitan pizza and craft cocktails.
North Figueroa does the heavy lifting for Highland Park's shopping: Gimme Gimme for vinyl across every genre Dan Cook feels like stocking, North Figueroa Bookshop for 3,000 titles backed by Rare Bird and Unnamed Press. Sunbeam Vintage rewards anyone willing to dig the racks.
An 800 square foot indie bookshop on North Fig backed by two LA independent publishers, Rare Bird and Unnamed Press, stocking around 3,000 titles with real depth in California literature and books in translation. Staff picks here actually mean something because the people choosing them are in the publishing business.
Vinyl-only generalist shop on North Fig carrying LPs, 12-inches, and 45s across every genre from psych to Latin to country, run by Dan Cook since 1994. One of six record stores within half a mile, making this stretch of Highland Park a serious vinyl destination.
Sunbeam Vintage is a Los Angeles shop stocked with sun-faded finds and era-spanning clothing that rewards patient digging. The racks lean heavy on warm-weather pieces that feel right at home under California light.
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The hotels worth booking in and near Highland Park.
Restaurants, bars, and cafes in Highland Park.