John Marshall High School

The morning was still young. We were planning to take our Christmas photos on a particular painted flight of steps in a different neighborhood. For now, we were still in Los Feliz, having had some really great pastries from Twenty40...

A few minutes away was one of the most filmed high schools ever...

Blue Bottle Coffee, Echo Park

A few steps away from Woodcat Coffee Bar was yet another coffee place...

We'd been to the Blue Bottle in SF before; the Echo Park location is their outpost in Southern California...

Woodcat Coffee Bar

Whenever we are out of town...

I'm always on the lookout for hipster coffee shops...

Echo Park Lake

We'd seen this lake during previous road trips and TC and her dance troupe performed her for the Lotus Festival during the Summer of 2014.

At the time, the park had undergone an extensive rehabilitation project and was reopened to the community with much fanfare three years ago...

We thought it would be a nice place to stretch our legs...

Lette Macarons and Cafe Dulce

Across the street from the JANM "Hello Kitty" exhibit was the Japanese Village shopping complex...

Unfortunately, Mikawaya was closed, but several other places we wanted to try were open!