Cafés in Silver Lake & Echo Park

West Sunset in Echo Park: Stereoscope, Woodcat and Stories

The 1500 block of West Sunset Boulevard has two of the earliest openers on the Eastside. Stereoscope Coffee, founded in 2013 by a team of baristas and Q-graders, runs its Echo Park bar at No. 1501, open from 06:00 Monday to Saturday and 07:00 on Sundays, with Wi-Fi.⁴ Across the street, Woodcat Coffee at No. 1532 opens at 06:00 on weekdays and has outdoor seating.

Saadat and Janine Awan opened Woodcat in 2014 after moving to the neighborhood. He designed much of the room, from the furniture to the plumbing, and she drew the branding and painted the rabbit on the window; the first coffee came from San Francisco's Wrecking Ball.⁵ Farther along, Stories at No. 1716 is a bookstore with a café that serves until 21:00, and until 22:00 on Fridays. Eightfold Coffee is at 1294 West Sunset, near the Elysian Park end.

Echo Park Lake and Echo Park Avenue

Echo Park Lake began as a drinking-water reservoir in 1868; the park and its boathouse were finished in 1895. After a $45 million renovation, the lake reopened on June 5, 2013, with swan-shaped paddle boats and a promenade about a mile long, and the Lotus Festival is held there every July.²

North of the lake, Echo Park Avenue has its own row of cafés. Canyon Coffee at No. 1559 opens at 07:00 every day, until 17:00 Monday to Thursday and 18:00 Friday to Sunday, with a patio. Valerie, at No. 1665, serves pastries daily 07:00–16:00, Kien Giang Bakery is at No. 1475, and Lady Byrd Cafe at No. 2100, with outdoor tables, does brunch.

Sunset Junction

Sunset Junction is where Santa Monica Boulevard ends at Sunset, by Sanborn Avenue. It began in 1905 as the meeting point of two interurban railway lines, and streetcars used it until 1954.⁶ A police raid on the Black Cat Tavern at 3909 Sunset in 1967 set off protests two years before the Stonewall riots in New York.⁶³ The Sunset Junction Street Fair ran from 1980 through 2010.⁶

La Colombe opened at No. 3900 in 2017.⁶ Intelligentsia, at No. 3922, opens at 06:00 and stays open until 22:00 from Thursday to Saturday, and Tartine at No. 3921 serves daily 08:00–22:00. Café Kitsuné is at No. 3814, open daily 07:00–17:00, and rōk coffee and tea is at No. 3534.

Café Tropical and the middle of Sunset

Café Tropical at 2900 Sunset started in 1975 as an ice cream shop and became a Cuban bakery known for guava cheese pastries. It closed in December 2023 after a family dispute and reopened in March 2024 under new owners.⁷ A few doors west, Bodega Park at No. 2852 serves brunch Tuesday to Sunday 08:00–15:00, and Dayglow at 3206 West Sunset runs daily 07:00–19:00.

Hyperion, the reservoir and Dinosaur Coffee

Silver Lake Reservoir dates from 1907, and a 2.25-mile path circles it and the Ivanhoe basin above.³ Near the walk, Cafe Nido at 2810 Hyperion Avenue serves daily 07:30–17:00, and Coffee Memes at 1523 Griffith Park Boulevard has Wi-Fi and a patio.

Dinosaur Coffee, at 4334 Sunset near the Los Feliz line, opened in late 2014 in the Solutions Audio Video building, the one with the Elliott Smith memorial wall; Michelle and Ben Hantoot started it.⁸ Its coffee now comes from Woodcat, and Time Out notes there is no time limit on its Wi-Fi.⁹ It opens daily 07:00–19:00.