The Eat Shop Play campaign supports and promotes local businesses located in project areas impacted by construction of the Crenshaw/LAX Line, the Purple Line Extension and the Regional Connector. This month’s Eat Shop Play business spotlights feature some cafes that serve up tasty food and drinks!

Photo by Amparo Rios, courtesy of Café Dulce.

From Little Tokyo, we have Café Dulce! Located in the Japanese Village Plaza in Little Tokyo, Café Dulce is a neighborhood café and bakery focusing on specialty coffee and teas, sandwiches, cakes. They have a variety of unique baked goods, including signature donuts like the very popular green tea donut. I myself have not tried the green tea donut (yet!), but I am a HUGE fan of their mocha roti bun.

To get to Café Dulce, take the Metro Gold Line to Little Tokyo/Arts District Station, or Metro Bus 30 or 40 to Judge John Aiso/1st. The DASH A bus also stops nearby.

If you’re traveling along Wilshire Boulevard, make sure to stop by Black Dog Coffee for breakfast or lunch. They have a lot of healthy veggie and vegan options — the black bean breakfast soup looks amazing! — and they’re very dog friendly, so if you’re strolling by with your furry pal, definitely stop for a biscuit. The small cafe is located right by La Brea Tar Pits, which makes it a great place to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee after exploring the museum.

To get to Black Dog Coffee, hop on DASH Fairfax or Metro Bus 20 to Wilshire/Masselin.

Photo courtesy of Leimert Park Book Fair.

And if you’re going to sit and chill at a cafe, you ought to have some good reading material with you…and you might be able to find what you need at the 2015 Leimert Park Village Book Fair. The fair will take place Saturday, Aug. 1 at Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, and besides books, the event will feature authors, poets, film screenings, book-signings, food vendors and more!

To get to the book fair, take the DASH Leimert/Slauson or Metro Bus 40 to MLK/Crenshaw.

For more routes and connections to any of these businesses, use the Trip Planner. Now…walk, bike or Go Metro to support your neighborhood businesses!