Things to do in Highland Park

Formerly a cherished music venue called Mr. T’s Bowl, the 1933 Group took over the space in 2015 and transformed it into a gorgeous, steampunk-esque bowling alley and bar. The details here are meticulous, from chandeliers made out of repurposed pinsetters to old bowling banners that line the alley’s eight lanes. Bowlers can wait out their turn on leather Chesterfield sofas and order from a menu boasting Neapolitan-style pizzas, craft cocktails and a rotating selection of local beers.

Get lost in aisles stocked with hundreds of varieties of root beer and vintage soda, from old-fashioned cream sodas to ginger beer made with real ginger oil. Just browsing the bins of hard-to-find vintage candy in nostalgic wrapping evokes delicious childhood memories (sans stomach aches and sticky fingers).

Nothing says childhood entertainment quite like a puppet show, and this six-decade-old marionette theater delivers, big-time. Though the namesake Bob Baker has passed and the theater has moved from Westlake to Highland Park, its charms have stayed in tact: The kitsch factor is high here—original puppets, cheesy old songs and sorbet-colored decor—but that only adds to the legendary vibe. A variety of holiday-themed performances are especially big hits around Halloween and Christmas.

Cruise up Figueroa and eventually you’ll come across this 22-foot-tall burly man perched on a rooftop, giant yellow bucket in hand. Oh yeah, and he has the head of an anthropomorphized chicken—wattles, comb, beak and all. Chicken Boy started his life atop a Downtown fried chicken shack in the ’60s. Like many other Muffler Men at the time, this outdoor ad was fabricated by International Fiberglass in Venice and then chicken-ified by its owner. Chicken Boy was dismantled in 1984 and sent into storage, until art director Amy Inouye revived him atop her Highland Park design studio in 2007.

Eastside buzz bands, cult-favorite singer-songwriters and surprise stand-up sets mix at the Lodge Room, an intimate concert hall housed inside a former Masonic lodge. You can grab a drink or a bite at the adjoining Checker Hall, a casual upstairs spot with a Mediterranean-leaning menu and a narrow but transportive terrace above Figueroa.

Though it arrived well after L.A.’s initial burst of arcade bars, Brooklyn’s Barcade brand has brought craft beer and old-school arcade cabinets to Highland Park. The retro-inspired spot has over 70 arcade and pinball games in rotation, from Frogger to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Windjammers.

Though York Boulevard’s rent-raising gentrification can be a hot-button issue, this colorful park seems like an objectively positive bit of fallout. The park—really a playground—sits on a third of an acre that was once a gas station, hence the “self serve” Highland Park sign at the entrance. After a $3 million renovation, the park now boasts the coolest kid-friendly space in Northeast L.A. thanks to its snake slide and tree stump-themed playground.

Escape from the gridlock on the 110 at this hillside santuary for wildlife and quiet-seeking humans alike. The Audubon Center sits within the larger 282-acre Ernest E. Debs Regional Park, where it hosts night hikes, nature walks and opportunities to spot more than 140 species of birds.

It may not be Colonial Williamsburg, but L.A.’s own living history museum chronicles the development of the region from 1850, when California achieved statehood, to 1950. Situated just south of Highland Park, this collection of five homes, a barn, a train depot and a former church—all built before 1900—form a miniature community that provides a glimpse into day-to-day life during the Victorian era in L.A. The museum’s many on-theme events are a highlight, too.

The over-achieving Charles Fletcher Lummis founded the Southwest Museum and was an editor at the L.A. Times, and he still managed to design this house (the name of which means “the Sycamore” in Spanish) on the banks of the Arroyo Seco, just south of Highland Park. Its exterior is made almost entirely from river rock and the interior is heavily influenced by Pueblo Indian dwellings. The hand-crafted wood details once hosted bohemian parties around the turn of the 20th century, but today you’ll only see weekend tours there.

Closed for visits.

You unfortunately can’t visit the Southwest Museum anymore, but we still added it to this list in case you’re wondering what that hilltop castle is just south of Highland Park. Founded in 1907 by legendary activist Charles F. Lummis, the Southwest Museum of the American Indian moved into this Spanish castle in Mt. Washington in 1914. For decades, it housed an impressive collection of Native American ceramics and other artifacts (second in size only to the Smithsonian) that’ve since been moved to an off-site facility in Burbank operated by the Autry. So why can’t you visit? The 1994 Northridge earthquake jeopardized the structural integrity of the building, and its tight confines don’t really fit modern exhibition standards. Though the Autry has sought proposals to revitalize the spot, nothing’s been announced quite yet—and the site, now vacated of its collection, completely closed to the public in 2022.