When Echo Park Lake reopened in 2013, after a two-year renovation, it felt like a gift. With a walking trail around the lake, a fountain in the middle and swan-shaped pedal boats for rent, this park attracts people of all ages, and it’s fun to see everyone together enjoying something so simple. In midsummer, the lake’s lotus flowers bloom pink and white, and the city celebrates with the annual Lotus Festival in July. Park admission is free, but you’ll pay to rent boats.

Started through a Kickstarter campaign by sisters Bea and Leah Koch, the Ripped Bodice is the only romance-specific bookstore in the country. Whatever your favorite subgenre, or even if you don’t identify as a reader of romance, this place will charm you. The shop emphasizes diversity in its inventory and through its annual State of Racial Diversity in Romance Publishing Report.

The tiny storefront of this family-owned taco counter could be easy to miss if not for the crowd always gathered in front. Tacos Villa Corona has been in Atwater Village since 1993 and grew in popularity when Anthony Bourdain gave it a shout-out on his show “The Layover” in 2012. Co-owner Maria Flores died in 2019, but her son and daughter continue to run it in her absence, making breakfast burritos whose fillings are perfectly proportioned inside elastic tortillas.

Though it has a small section of “sweet stuff” on its menu, Kismet is particularly for those who love savory breakfasts heavy on vegetables. Two people can split the “Turkish-ish” breakfast, which includes toasty barbari bread sprinkled with sesame seeds, surrounded by small servings of olives, dates, labneh, cucumbers, soft-boiled egg and more. For breakfast alone, the shakshuka makes a complete meal, with runny egg yolk cooling the warming tomato-based stew, and barbari bread providing crunch.

Born in France to Algerian parents, Revolutionario’s owner, Farid Zadi, delivers North African dishes, like falafel and tagine, in the form of tacos and burritos. The duck hash taco is a tender, savory harmony, the potatoes soaking up the duck’s flavors and fats. Try the briks, thin, deep-fried pastries stuffed with egg, with crisp, salty edges.

As Little Tokyo quickly fills with trendy, expensive restaurants, Suehiro’s lunch special remains an oasis of affordable, homestyle Japanese food. For as little as $6.50, you can have a full meal of miso soup, rice, salad and an entree like a whole broiled pike or karaage-style fried chicken.

Located in a busy part of Silver Lake near Sunset Junction, this Taiwanese Chinese restaurant often has a line out the door at dinnertime, even on weekdays. The food is worth the wait, but if you want to avoid it, go early — or have your food packed to go and eat it just outside on the Sunset Triangle. Go with a group to try as many of the small dishes as possible. The mix of warm and cold, cooked and raw, is what Pine & Crane does best.

A bar, restaurant and old-school arcade, Button Mash is a good place to gather with a mix of people — drinkers and non-, hungry or not, even with kids (it’s all-ages until 9 p.m.). Before starting this place, two of the owners, Nguyen and Thi Tran, previously ran Starry Kitchen, an Asian restaurant with a playful menu. Some of their original dishes have carried over to Button Mash, like the bright-green crispy tofu balls and the lychee panna cotta.

A third-generation family-owned shop, Saffron & Rose makes Persian-style ice cream in flavors like orange blossom, cucumber, date, and saffron with pistachio. The creamery is part of Persian Square, one of the hubs of L.A.’s massive Iranian community. Nearby restaurants include Cafe Glace, which specializes in Persian pizza, single-serving, bubbly breads with toppings like beef and mushroom. From here, it’s a short walk to UCLA, where you can walk the hilly campus.