Think just because you don’t have a handlebar mustache or a pair of adult overalls that you’re not hip enough to hang in Highland Park??

Well, I’m with you!! 

Here’s my non-hipsters guide to Highland Park because let’s face it, we don’t all roll out of bed looking effortlessly and cool and dirty all at once. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t know where to go.

A brief history of Highland Park

For those of you who don’t know, Highland Park is a neighborhood in North-East Los Angeles (NELA) that is north of the 110 Downtown and South of Pasadena. Its gentrification began around the year 2000 and 18 years later this hipster enclave has never been hotter. The streets to be on for exploring are York Blvd and Figueroa Street.

Begin your Day with Breakfast 

Head on over to Donut Friend for some decadent donuts done right with flavors like you’ve never seen before. My personal favorites include the Angry Samoa which is a vanilla cake donut dipped in chocolate, and topped with caramel, toasted coconut, and chocolate stripes; and the Strawberry Lab which is a raised donut filled with whipped cream, fresh strawberries, and topped with chocolate glaze.

Open daily from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Next, you’ll want to wash all that down with a coffee from Tierra Mia Coffee, one of the originals on the block with Latin-inspired drinks like a Cafecito Cubano con Leche ($4.50) and a Horchata Latte ($4.50).

They open as early as 7 a.m.

Lunch is all about Small Bites

Choose between lunch by the piece or by the slice! Mason’s Dumpling Shop on Figueroa is run by the son of Monrovia’s popular, Luscious Dumplings, and focuses on dumplings and pork buns over the noodles available at Luscious. Plan to spend under $10 and be pretty full!

Hours are 11-4 weekdays, 11-9 weekends, and closed all day Tuesday.

Make your way down the street and order your food, by the ounce, at Nancy Silverton’s Triple Beam Pizza. Open 7 days a week from Noon-10 PM, Triple Beam isn’t of Pizzeria Mozza caliber, but it’s great for a light and affordable bite.

Happy Hour

La Cuevita, or little cave, is the perfect place to hide with a glass of your favorite bevvy. And with a daily happy hour until 9 p.m. you know there’s a reason why it’s dark in there. They also have an outdoor patio if you happen to arrive when the sun’s still shining.

Hours are 5-9 p.m daily!

Dinner 

While Hippo, James Beard Award-Winning Chef Matt Molina’s new restaurant on Figueroa Street does have “hippo hour“, I urge you to sit for a meal in the dining room and be reminded what a good dinner out in LA should feel like.

The prices at Hippo (which is a riff on the Highland Park Post Office space on which it stands) level off at $25 for entrées. And while this isn’t a cheap date by any means, you also don’t have to give up sending your kid to college for a plate of lamb.

Start with the kind of cocktails that make you think about life. Like a Paris is Burning made with bourbon, peach, salted pistachio orgeat, and fernet ($12).

Next move on to a refreshing burrata from the First section; made with rye berries, fresh green plums, torpedo onion, and mint ($9) or a Griddle’d Cauliflower with cauliflower “tahini” and walnut raisin caper relish ($12).

Doesn’t the back of the cauliflower almost resemble a skull?? Perhaps that’s why Vegans can qualify this as material for steak…

I skipped over the Crudo section and went straight to Pasta. After all Molina won his Best Chef West award while at Osteria Mozza. The Sweet Corn Cappellacci with funghi misti and thyme is definitely one of my best bites of the year ($19)!

From the last section: Meat, Fish, and Game, order the Cedar Smoked Ocean Trout with sweet corn succotash and green goddess dressing ($25). It will melt your heart as is it’s melting in your mouth. And slow time down for just a moment to remind you to enjoy it all.

Number 1 Way to Be Cool in Highland Park…HAVE A KID!

If you haven’t noticed yet, you can’t swing a vintage bag without knocking into someone’s Nuna Stroller in Highland Park. Therefore the restaurants are SUPER kid-friendly. Case in point, our dinner at Hippo where a special “kids pasta” was prepared before the rest of our food was brought out. While us parents ate most of it, it definitely made my son feel like he was part of the “in crowd”.