I live in a great little city within the L.A. boundaries called Eagle Rock, so named for the enormous eagle-head shaped rock that you can see from the freeway. It’s pretty amazing. The city is homey, a strange anomaly in Los Angeles. It has a small town feel and everyone seems to know everyone.
Eagle Rock is super duper kid friendly. I should know since I spend long Saturdays with my two grandkids roaming with a jogging stroller. The stores on Eagle Rock Boulevard in particular, are kid friendly. We have our special favorites and I hope they do well. I want them to stay in business. If you live in Eagle Rock or in the vicinity or are in L.A. for a visit, please stop by and say hi. Tell them I sent you.
SWORK Eagle Rock
2160 Colorado Blvd.
Eagle Rock, CA 90041
t.323.258.5600
Sun.-Thr. 6 am – 11 pm
Fri.-Sat. 6 am – 12 am
Yummy coffee and pastries – lots of healthy organic stuff, a play area for the kids complete with blocks, train tracks and puzzzles. They just put in a nice new foamy floor. Jasmine’s favorite thing is the Princess Potion, a pink concoction complete with sprinkles and a cherry on top. Aiden loves the Mint Chocolate Dinosaur with a big, fat gummy worm on top. I love their non-fat iced lattes using Fair Trade organic coffee. Yum
That Yarn Store
5028 Eagle Rock Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90041
www.thatyarnstore.com
(323) 256-9276
Another one of my favorites is That Yarn Store. Where else can you sit and crochet or knit on comfy couches while the kids sit and play with blocks? There’s classes aplenty and lots of fun activities like Saturday’s 2nd birthday bash. They have some of the softest, nicest yarns ever. I just bought some lavendar bamboo yarn. Yep made of bamboo and a light summer weight. I’m making a shawl of it for my roommate Rachel to wear to Hollywood Bowl nights. Sign up for their newsletter. You’ll love it even more if you stop by and meet everyone. I’ve whiled away many a pleasant hour there chatting and learning and just hanging. Wednesday nights there is Spin a Good Yarn Night. Pop in and say hi to David, Frannie, Jessamy, Lily, Max, Noah, Sarah & Thea. You’ll be glad you did.
Read Books and New Magazines
4972 Eagle Rock Boulevard
This I have to say is my favorite of my favorites. Jeremy and Debbie Kaplan just opened in February a stellar new used bookstore. They have a wonderful collection, are extremely knowledgeable about just about everything book related and are super nice.
Jasmine has rapidly expanded her book collection and they always make sure to save her the Pig books that she loves so much. I do believe my granddaughter has the largest pig book collection in L.A. Aiden at almost two years old loves Judaica and can’t seem to get enough of it. Each week he happily picks out books like My Hannuka Book or a Passover Haggadah written in Hebrew. Does it matter that we’re not Jewish? Nope, but Aiden loves it and that’s all that counts.
Debbie and Jeremy have a wonderful glass case with marvelous things in it like a children’s story by Pearl S. Buck, Jack Palance’s love story, etc. They are listed on Abebooks.com too, so if you can’t get to Eagle Rock (and you’re missing out on a wonderful little store if you can’t), you can still buy books and support keeping them in business.
Imix Bookstore
5052 eagle rock blvd.
l.a. ca. 90041
323.257.2512
Imix has a great kidlit section of bilingual English/Spanish books. They’re a great Latino bookstore that sells cool Latino made jewlery, t-shirts and other stuff as well as books. They have a little art gallery in the back that always has something going on. You’ll find lots of hard to find stuff here. They have great signings by Chicano/Latino authors too. Swing by.
Oh, wow–my mom used to live in Eagle Rock (before I was born), and when I was really little we lived in Glendale. We still try to go to Ernie Jr.’s when we’re passing through!