East Hollywood
Okay so here's the thing about East Hollywood, specifically the stretch from Vermont up through Thai Town on Sunset, it doesn't try to impress you. It just is what it is, and what it is happens to be one of the best eating neighborhoods in the entire city. I've been coming here for years and I still find myself scribbling down new notes every time. Let me just dump everything I know.
Start with Jitlada (5233 Sunset Blvd). If you haven't been, just go. It's the one with the menu that's like 200 items long and a wall covered in celebrity photos and that unmistakable smell when you walk in the door. The Southern Thai dishes are what you actually want, the crab fried rice, the jungle curry, anything with the fermented shrimp paste. Jazz, who runs the front, will take care of you. Go on a weeknight if you can because weekends you're waiting. Street parking on the side streets off Sunset, not in the lot, it fills up fast. Cash and card both fine.
Ruen Pair (5257 Hollywood Blvd) is the one you call at midnight when you're hungry and honestly it might be better at midnight than at dinner. Open till 2am, every night, no exceptions that I've ever seen. The boat noodles are the move. So is the larb. The lighting is fluorescent and it feels like a canteen and I mean that as the highest compliment. It gets full even at weird hours so don't assume you'll walk right in. Cash only, bring bills.
Palms Thai (5900 Hollywood Blvd) is the Thai Elvis place, which sounds like a gimmick until you realize the food is genuinely great and the vibe is its own category of Los Angeles experience. Tom kha, pad see ew, and yes, the Thai Elvis performer on weekend nights. It's loud, it's big, it's fun. Good for groups. Not the place for a quiet dinner date but perfect for everything else.
Mornings in East Hollywood have their own rhythm. Courage Bagels (4120 Santa Monica Blvd) is the one people talk about and the line is real, especially Saturday and Sunday before 10am. Get there early or go Tuesday morning like the rest of us who figured out the secret. The bagels are proper, chewy, New York-adjacent without being precious about it. The schmears are rotating. The space is small. Worth every minute of the wait but know what you want before you get to the front.
For Thai breakfast and early lunch, Sanamluang Cafe (5170 Hollywood Blvd) has been doing it longer than most people realize. It's the kind of place where regulars have their order memorized before they sit down. Boat noodles again, yes, but also the BBQ pork over rice in the morning. Open early, unpretentious, full of people who actually live in the neighborhood.
Sapp Coffee Shop (5183 Hollywood Blvd) is tucked in a strip mall and serves boat noodles and jade noodles and has been doing so for decades. Tiny, cash only, and the jade noodles with BBQ pork are one of the great cheap meals in this city. Don't overthink it. Go before 2pm when they tend to run out of the good stuff.
Down on the Thai Town strip, Bhan Kanom Thai (5271 Hollywood Blvd) is the spot for Thai sweets and snacks, mango sticky rice, pandan things, little desserts you can't name but will immediately want more of. It's a market and a snack counter and a tiny piece of something you can't really find anywhere else in LA. Good for a post-dinner stop.
Hollywood Thai (5321 Hollywood Blvd) is the late-night overflow option when Ruen Pair has a wait and you just need food now. Solid pad thai, good curries, they move fast. Not the most atmospheric place but it delivers.
For Vietnamese, Pho Minh (5018 Hollywood Blvd) is the neighborhood standby, a big bowl of pho on a cold morning or really any morning is exactly what it sounds like. Parking lot in the back. Go early.
If you're doing drinks, Thirsty Crow (2939 W Sunset Blvd) sits right at the western edge of the neighborhood near Silver Lake and has an exceptional whiskey selection and a back patio that feels genuinely cozy. Good for a low-key Tuesday night when you want a serious drink and no attitude. They know their bourbon. Dog friendly patio, last I checked.
The Roost (3100 Los Feliz Blvd) is the cash-only dive bar at the edge of the neighborhood that has been there forever and will be there forever. Pool table, cheap beers, regulars who've had that same barstool for fifteen years. If you want the opposite of a craft cocktail bar, this is it. No frills, all neighborhood.
For groceries and pantry stuff that you actually can't find at a regular Ralph's, Bangkok Market (4757 Melrose Ave) is essential. It's technically just off the neighborhood but everyone in Thai Town treats it as their grocery store. Galangal, fresh herbs, curry pastes, Thai snacks, the whole thing. Go with a list and you'll still come out with more than you planned.
The big cultural moment in 2026 is Songkran Festival on April 26th, the Thai New Year celebration that Thai Town throws every year and that this year is going for a Pad Thai Guinness World Record. That's not a joke. It's on Hollywood Blvd and it shuts down the street and it's one of the best free events in the city. Water fights, food stalls, performances, actual community. If you've never been to Songkran in Thai Town, this is your year.
The neighborhood is dense and parking is a game. For Thai Town restaurants on Hollywood Blvd, the metered spots on the side streets are your best bet, Kingsley, Oxford, Edgemont. The lots off Sunset by Jitlada fill up but the surrounding blocks usually have something. If you're on Santa Monica Blvd near Courage Bagels, the side streets north and south usually have unmetered spots a block or two away.
East Hollywood is genuinely its own thing. It's not Silver Lake, it's not Los Feliz, it's not Hollywood proper. It's this particular strip that's been home to the largest Thai community outside of Thailand for decades and the food reflects that completely. Come hungry. Bring cash for at least half of these places. And if someone tells you there's better Thai food in LA than what's happening on this stretch of Hollywood Blvd, they are wrong.