Joan's On Third

Central and East LA have always been home to Shawna Dawson, an LA native who founded Sauce LA, the Artisanal LA fair and the LA Street Food Fest. Headquartered in Old Pasadena, Sauce LA oversees marketing for many of the city’s best restaurants, including Bestia, Republique and Petty Cash Taqueria. The firm also plans two major culinary events throughout the year: Artisanal LA in spring and fall (April 26-27 and October 11-12) and the Street Food Fest on June 28.

When Joan’s on Third opened on the west side of 3rd Street in 1995, that part of town didn’t have much going for it. Since then, the area between The Grove and Cedars-Sinai hospital has grown into a hub of gourmet restaurants and laid-back cafes, boutiques, art galleries—and cupcake bakeries. In fact, there are so many cupcake bakeries lining this street a cupcake crawl can be organized to sample all of them.