Sip Coffee in Style and Snap Artsy Selfies in Silver Lake This Saturday

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Oh Silver Lake, you've come a long way, baby. It seems like only yesterday that bohemian, French-Moroccan coffee shop Casbah Cafe was one of the only stylish locales near the Sunset Junction area of Silver Lake, but in recent years a crop of cool haunts have steadily been making this neighborhood a dream destination for getting curated coffee, shopping artisanal goods, and generally offering eye-candy to the Instagram community.

In fact, some of the most 'grammed local spots exist over in this creative domain (the Elliott Smith wall must have started the trend), so we thought we'd focus this week's Saturday adventure on hitting up the social media saavy's fave places to stage photo ops and shop eastside-made bits and baubles.

HelloYoungLionsXO/Instagram

Whether it be for the dino-stamped takeout cups, the perfectly executed latte art, the cool, minimal interior design, or the photographed-to-death plant installation emblazoned with the neon phrase "Things will be fine" (obviously spoken by your cup of joe) Dinosaur Coffee (4334 W Sunset Boulevard) is surely the spot to start your SiLa adventure. Pro tip: from 9am-12pm on Saturdays, catch the acclaimed Yeastie Boys bagel truck to fully stage the ultimate breakfast pic. We're pretty sure you'll also enjoy actually eating/drinking your selections post-photo sesh too.

Tilda Dahlgren/Instagram

Like most local fashionistas, the first time we saw Vincent Lamouroux's breathtaking public art piece, Projection (4301 W Sunset Boulevard), we were all, "I can't wait to get photographed in front of that for an #OOTD pic!" We know this whitewashed, abandoned motel sparks an important dialogue about the commercialization of the neighborhood but we can't deny it also makes a pretty badass backdrop. Feel free to go full on photo shoot here (everyone else is!) and strike a pose against the stunning installation. After all, impermanence is one of the messages of the temporarily-existing piece so mark that moment while you still can!

Grazian/Instagram

At nearby Los Angeles County Store (4333 W Sunset Boulevard), tucked-away in an otherwise largely unspectacular strip mall, act like a neighborhoodie and shop killer papergoods, art, and other wares by artists in the area. Stock in this LA-centric spot includes super-popular amethyst stud earrings from Androgyny Design and cool, handcrafted pottery by Half Ceramics—each pretty enough for its own close up.

Madison Leblanc/Instagram

LA's eastside is no stranger to the street art of illustrator/kids book author Dallas Clayton. You've probably seen his smaller works, simply painted board with sweetly inspirational messages (ie: "You should do what you said you were going to do that one time before you got all tired and then got super busy and pretty much forgot. You really should."). Now you can interact with a large mural by Clayton on an exterior corner of the Dangerbird Records' office (3801 Sunset Boulevard). Just a quick jaunt east, you'll find this sentimental piece: a lively background of colorful shapes and squiggles with the words "Stand here and think about someone you love" at the top, and the artist's signature outreached arms on either side. Just standing in the presence of the installation is bound to make you smile so don't be afraid to get cheesy and—yes—think about someone that gets you totally heart-eyed (even if that means your pup waiting for you to get home.) as you pose for a super-cute selfie.

For more Instagram-worthy spots around the city, check out our previous list here.