Curbed Cup Elite Eight: (3) Highland Park vs. (6) Leimert Park

Highland Park

The long artsy enclave in Northeast LA overtook eclectic Compton in the first wave of matchups, winning more than 70 percent of the votes. (So popular!) The neighborhood has a stop on the Gold Line and at least one easily walkable main street (York Boulevard) full of restaurants and small businesses. Architecturally blessed, the neighborhood is home to the city’s largest historic preservation zone, with 4,000 structures ranging in styles from Queen Anne to Craftsman, with the latter making a particularly strong showing.

Leimert Park

Leimert Park is another community with a long artistic legacy, and it also beat out its first competitor—another Northeast LA neighborhood: Frogtown—by a wide margin. The quiet neighborhood is slated to get a stop on the new Crenshaw/LAX light rail line and already boasts a great central, downtowny area with art galleries, a much-beloved independent bookstore (Eso Won Books), and more. The neighborhood’s charm extends beyond its local businesses. As one commenter put it, Leimert “has really cool architecture that wasn’t screwed up over the years.”