La Puente

If your looking for a homey place with a small town feel outside of the city of Los Angeles, La Puente is the place to go. It has a strong influence from the Mexican-American community that makes up the majority of the city and boasts bakeries that sell delicious sweet breads, small catholic-influenced shops, and some enticing antique shops. It's that type of place where you can walk easily from one street to another without a car for an adventurous day. 

My Bucket List

Go to a La Puente art walk 

 

Bands such as this one played at different locations around the streets

An artist creating masterpieces on the street, a common site during the art walk

Emphasis on love and togetherness of the community put into the festival

Every few blocks, there were stands with clothes, jewelry, and art like this hand-knit hat

Go antiquing in La Puente

The Last Book Store

Located on Spring St. in Los Angeles, The Last Book Store is one of the most unique locations you will ever wander into. With an artsy, bohemian quality and creative edge on literature, this business offers us not only books, but art galleries, knitting supplies, and old records. It also holds events such as open mic nights, knitting lessons, and the ever present opportunity to see some unique art work, whether you want to walk through a room of balloons or simply under the store's own art piece of arches and windows made from, you guessed it, books! 

My Bucket List

Attend a knitting lesson

Attend a open mic night

Attend an Art Walk

Get a job here

Frog Town

Frog Town, otherwise known as Elysian Valley, is a tiny community jammed in between the 5 and the Los Angeles River. It is a post industrial landscape being transformed by the ever present process of gentrification, with old factories like Hostess developing into art studios and trendy businesses. What makes this neighborhood different from many other "renewed" locations is the ties that it maintains to those that created it's culture, from artists to poor immigrants. The community is determined to maintain a balance that both accepts the growth of a trendy new culture and maintains the homey community of those who first loved it. 

My Bucket List For Frog Town

See "The Unfinished", a sculpture by a LA Artist, Michael Parker

Visit Elysian- attend an event here

Visit the LA River next to Frog Town

Buy a Vegan Dish In Frog Town

Visit an art gallery

Attend a Cheap Talk

For More Information on Frog Town, Go to clockshop.org