A day out in northeast LA.

Growing up in New Jersey, weather provided a great excuse to avoid unpleasant functions, especially during the winter. Swim meet? Boring church event? Oh, but the rain is forecast to become sleet later...and you wouldn't want me to drive back in those dangerous conditions, would you? Plus, there's no guilt or FOMO, because everyone else is using the same excuse. It's not as if anyone else is doing anything or enjoying themselves.

That excuse is null and void here in coastal California, where there is no such thing as weather. The easiest way to learn how naturally lazy (or active) you are is to move here. And although I probably belong to the former camp, I couldn't spend my Fourth of July weekend languishing at home, so I spent a day visiting the hipster neighborhoods of northeast LA.

Houses along the western bank of the Silver Lake Reservoir.

Hillside homes surrounding Echo Park.

I was pleasantly surprised at the state of Echo Park. Friends from the area had told me it had turned into a massive homeless encampment over COVID, but it had been cleared out in March. With just 17 of the 183 evicted placed in long-term housing, high fences still surround the park, evidently to keep them from coming back at night.

You can rent a swan-shaped pedal boat and pedal around the lake for $11/person/hour.

I learned that ducks like watermelon with tajín.

About ten minutes east is the recently gentrified neighborhood of Highland Park, which went from gang territory to café central in the span of about ten years. We had come for a trendy Taiwanese restaurant, Joy.

Assimilating into the neighborhood with a Chinese BLM sign.

With Chinese places there's typically a tradeoff between service/atmosphere and food quality, so I feared the worst when I saw the trendy interior and well-designed English menu, but was pleasantly surprised by the food. I guess no one can afford to sacrifice Instagrammabilty in this day and age, especially in a place as superficial as LA.

Chicken, rice, ginger.

A walk down York Boulevard revealed a neighborhood of surprising ethnic and socioeconomic diversity. Dirt-cheap taco trucks and Mexican fruit stands set up outside plant shops and record stores, and the pretentiousness that suffocates the West Side was nowhere to be found. SoCal at its realest.

Found inside a Mexican supermarket.

Found outside a Mexican supermarket.

A speciality store that carries every beverage under the sun.

Closing out the day in true LA fashion with an al pastor burrito.

song of the day: Laufey - Fragile - making ii-V-i progressions great again.