Pico-Union sits just west of downtown Los Angeles, bounded roughly by the 10 and 110 freeways, Pico Boulevard and Hoover. It is one of the densest neighbourhoods in the city and it is the historic centre of the Salvadoran community in the United States — which means its morning food is not the same as the Eastside's. Alongside the taco counters there are pupuserías, and the two traditions sit on the same blocks and often in the same kitchen.
The best carts here set up early and pack down before most of the city has had coffee, so this is an alarm-clock neighbourhood. Tell Karpo when you can get there.
Why the food is early
Pico-Union is a working neighbourhood with a large population doing shift work, construction and service jobs that start before seven. The street food economy has organised itself around that: carts appear at intersections in the dark, sell to people on their way to work, and are gone by mid-morning. If you turn up at eleven expecting a street food scene, you will find a residential neighbourhood with a few restaurants.
That timing is the single most important practical fact in this article. Everything else follows from it.
What to order
The Mexican side is the familiar one: egg with chorizo, egg with beans, small corn tortillas, salsa on the side. The Salvadoran side is what makes the neighbourhood distinctive — pupusas, thick masa cakes filled with cheese, beans or chicharrón, cooked on a griddle and served with curtido, the pickled cabbage relish, and a thin tomato salsa. A revuelta pupusa, which has all three fillings, is the standard first order.
Order both. A pupusa and two tacos, standing on a corner at seven in the morning, is one of the best cheap breakfasts in Los Angeles, and the total will be less than a coffee and a pastry in most of the city.
What is around it
MacArthur Park is immediately north-east, with its lake, its bandshell and its complicated recent history; it is the neighbourhood's largest public space and hosts community events and, historically, the Levitt Pavilion's free summer concert series. The Bonnie Brae and Alvarado Terrace areas hold a remarkable concentration of surviving Victorian mansions from the 1890s, when this was one of the wealthiest parts of the city — Alvarado Terrace is a designated historic district and worth a slow walk.
St Vincent de Paul Church at Adams and Figueroa, on the neighbourhood's southern edge, is a 1920s Churrigueresque building and one of the more spectacular pieces of architecture in central Los Angeles.
Getting there
Metro's B and D lines stop at Westlake/MacArthur Park on the northern edge, and the E Line serves Pico and LATTC to the south-east. The 30, 37 and 51 buses run the neighbourhood's main streets. Street parking is available but the neighbourhood is dense and the streets are narrow; if you are only there for breakfast, this is a park-once-and-walk situation.
Practical notes
Pico-Union sits between the 10 and 110 freeways, Pico Boulevard and Hoover Street, and is the historic centre of the US Salvadoran community. Street carts set up early and pack down by mid-morning — going before eight is the practical window. Standard orders are egg and chorizo tacos and pupusas with curtido; a revuelta pupusa has cheese, beans and chicharrón. MacArthur Park is immediately north-east. Alvarado Terrace is a designated historic district with 1890s mansions. St Vincent de Paul Church is at Adams and Figueroa. Metro's B and D lines stop at Westlake/MacArthur Park.
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Ask Karpo first
Pico-Union's street food runs on shift-work hours, not restaurant hours. Ask Karpo which corners have carts this morning, whether the pupusería is open yet, and what is worth walking to afterwards.
