HIGHLAND PARK GOES UPTOWN

Anyone who heard reports of Highland Park’s revitalization a couple of years ago and headed to York Boulevard likely would have noted all the auto-body garages and the marijuana dispensaries operating with varying degrees of legality and asked, “Really?”

The York gastropub and Café de Leche coffeehouse that set anchor on York Boulevard years ago have, at long last, been joined by new home décor boutiques, a glass studio with classes for Diyers and the vinyl music shop Wombleton, which draws DJS from coast to coast.

Indie furniture maker Jay Dunton augments his Meridian Mercado Deseño with vintage design and inexpensive accessories. Another furniture maker will be doing something similar at Sawhorse.

New restaurants include HPK (short for Highland Park Kitchen), which held its opening party last week, and the forthcoming country French spot Ba, which has been putting the finishing touches on its baroque-meets-’80s-punk interiors. Times restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila recently offered praise for the new Maximiliano down the street.

Pop-hop, a bookstore and print studio, and the Highland Cafe also are prepping to open. And though the street’s vibe is still ruled by urban grit, not one but two storefronts have been claimed as the future homes for that definitive symbol of neighborhood renewal: the wine bar. You’ll find an expanded photo tour at

latimes.com/home. If the gentrification gets you down, you still can get a sad face inked on your arm at the Vintage Tattoo Art Parlor. Better yet, submit to change. Head to York tonight for Second Saturday, when food trucks roll in, no-name art galleries throughout northeast L.A. open their doors, and stores on York keep late hours to accommodate crowds. Really.

Photographs by Ricardo Dearatanha CAFÉ DE LECHE, the coffeehouse that has anchored York Boulevard’s renaissance, has a Highland Park mural conceived by architect David Freeland of Freeland Buck. A customer checks out fliers for neighborhood events.

JAY DUNTON, furniture craftsman and formerly owner of the Beverly Boulevard décor store Shelter, opened his York Boulevard store, Meridian Mercado Deseño, in November.

DAN SANDVICK moved from selling vintage clothes at Melrose Trading Post to fitting old shades with new lenses in his Highland Park store, Possession Vintage.

THE NEWEST ADDITION to York Boulevard is HPK, short for Highland Park Kitchen, which held its opening party last week.

BA, a country French restaurant opening soon, has a baroque-meets-’80s-punk vibe.

PLATFORM features work by local artisans, including Rachel Craven’s hand-blocked linens.

MATTERS OF SPACE sells Highland Park potter Lily King’s work for just $15 to $40.