Week No. 19 | Coffee + Pie at Brite Spot

 

*once a week, every week, I embark on a new adventure to check off one of my many LA bucket list items. Follow along my journey being a tourist in my own town and get in on the action!*

 

 

Brite Spot has been near and dear to LA’s heart since 1949. For years Echo Park’s little neighborhood diner has been serving up warm cups of coffee, delicious diner food, and some of the best baked goods in the city. Brite Spot has unofficially (but officially in our hearts) been anointed as an LA institution and a city landmark. So naturally if a landmark is home to delicious food, rich history, and some of the greatest hipster watching in town, you can bet your bottom dollar I took some time to investigate.

Brite Spot may have been recently updated and partially renovated within the past few years, but the “old school diner” feel and its funky charm still remain completely in tact. Brite Spot has been polished with a bit of wood shiner, some new seats, a patio, and most importantly, vegan options, but few places truly feel more “neighborhood” and well preserved than Brite Spot. Hashtag, memories. There are people there dining at the counter alone, regulars stopping in for coffee and pastries, heards of hipsters with a varying shades of hair, couples with their kids, and everything in between who come to hang at the spot. What we all have in common though is the goal to enjoy a great casual meal at an amazing local spot filled with so much history.

The menu at Brite Spot is typical diner food with a few recent vegetarian vegan options, but what I was told I needed to go for was a slice of their incredible banana cream pie, so the pie(s) I did have. It’s places like Brite Spot keeping LA neighborhoods actual neighborhoods, and having been open now for almost 70 years they’re clearly an aspect to the city we should be proud to have as a part of our community.