The ideal Saturday afternoon in Glassell Park

Park on Verdugo Road anywhere between Lemon Poppy and Little Ripper, there's usually street parking by 11am if you're not pushing noon. This whole afternoon is basically a slow walk up and down that corridor with a taco detour thrown in.

Start at Lemon Poppy Kitchen (3324 Verdugo Rd) around 11:30. Grab a window seat or the little patio out front. The seasonal pasta is the move, they do something simple with whatever's good right now and it lands every time. Coffee, too. You're not rushing.

Walk north on Verdugo about ten minutes to Jairo's Bike Shop (4120 Verdugo Rd). Yes it's a bike shop. Yes there's genuinely good coffee inside. It's one of those places that shouldn't work as well as it does. Grab a shot, look at bikes you don't need, linger.

Right next door is Little Ripper Coffee (4155 Verdugo Rd) if you want to keep the coffee going or switch to a midday Aperol situation, they do cocktails and the back patio gets good afternoon light. This block has a neighborhood-just-woke-up energy that's really hard to find anywhere else in the city.

By now it's probably 1:30. Head down to Eagle Rock Blvd and find Tacos Manzanillo (3810 Eagle Rock Blvd). The truck is parked and ready. Get the al pastor, get the cabeza, get one more than you think you need. Eat on the hood of someone's parked car like everyone else does.

Walk it off by looping toward the LA River bike path access at 3643 Verdugo, it's a five-minute detour and worth it just to stand by the water for a second and remember you live in a city with a river.

Now the afternoon is yours. If the sun is still high, duck into E-TRAIN Music Group on Toland Way, it's a coffee shop tucked inside a music space and it feels like a secret even though it has five stars. Chill there a while.

As things cool off, make your way to Verdugo Bar (3408 Verdugo Rd). Get there by 5pm before it fills up. Grab a spot on the back patio under the string lights with a cold beer and nowhere to be. This is the whole point of the afternoon right here.

If you want to close the night properly, walk two doors down to Wife and the Somm (3416 Verdugo Rd) for a glass of something interesting and maybe one more small bite. They know wine and they're not weird about it. Reservations help on a Saturday but walk-ins sometimes get lucky at the bar.

That's your Saturday. You barely drove anywhere.