Highland Park
Story, Photos, and Design by Michael Quintero I remember about a year or two ago after a night of partying with a new group of friends, and the next morning they all said they wanted to get ramen and a beer in Highland Park. I said, “You want to go to Highland Park for ramen?”
at in the 70’s and 80’s. My mom went to Franklin High, embarrassed to say where she lived, she would tell her friends she lived on the border of South Pas, so it seemed like she lived in Pasadena.
Given I haven’t been to Highland Park since my mom showed me the house she grew up in, and that had to be in the early 2000’s. They replied with something along the lines of “Yeah HP has so many vegan spots.” I never thought I’d hear that phrase in my life.
So, when I heard ramen and they had vegan burger spots in Highland Park, I had to check it out for myself. Apparently a lot has changed since my last visit, including a barber shop/record store, Owl’s drug store turned into a bookstore, and Franks camera turned into trendy butcher shop.
I remember hearing stories of White Fence gang hanging around Highland Park and typically wasn’t the spot to be
My mom was actually in tears seeing her whole childhood stripped down for tofu burgers and high end thrift shops.
32 | Basement
Gentrification at its best huh? There are ups and downs to gentrification, but to the point where you need to have a $20 black bean burger stand to take over a mom and pop bakery, I think that is a problem. Even visiting my moms old house resulted in a “yeah right you used to live here” from a white entitled family. Which is the vibe I got from most people in Highland Park now. It went from White Fence or the Avenues walking the streets to hipster couples walking Golden Doodles. So here’s some photos of the places I remembered as a kid.
