The best bakeries in Los Angeles, ranked: conchas, croissants, and the pastry counters worth the line

The best bakeries in Los Angeles start on La Brea Avenue, at République, where the pastry case is the most complete in the city and the building has been home to great bread since 1989. Second is Gusto Bread on 4th Street in Long Beach, a panadería that ferments its conchas like sourdough and has twice been a James Beard finalist for it. Third is Proof in Atwater Village, the croissant other LA croissants get measured against.

That’s the short version. The long version covers a city where the best thing on the counter might be a kouign-amann, a guava strudel, a lahmajun, or a strawberry whipped cream cake, depending on the freeway exit. So there’s a top 10, then the croissant counters, the panaderías, the Armenian and Middle Eastern bakeries of Glendale and Burbank, an honest word on Porto’s, the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean bakeries, and a timing playbook.

Everything below was checked in October 2026. A lot of older lists still send people to places that are gone: Sweet Lady Jane closed at the end of 2023, Bouchon Bakery in Beverly Hills closed in 2017, and the Diamond Bakery storefront on Fairfax closed in December 2023 after 77 years. We don’t list hours or prices. Both change too fast, and at most of these places the real closing time is “when it sells out.”

How we ranked the best bakeries in Los Angeles

Every bakery got judged on two things. First, the control: the simplest thing it makes. A plain croissant, a concha, a country loaf, a lahmajun. Simple things have nowhere to hide. A plain croissant either shatters when you tear it or it doesn’t, and a concha is either a tender bun with a crackly sugar shell or a sweet dinner roll wearing a hat.

Second, the signature: the thing people cross the city for. The bakeries at the top of this list do both. The ones at the very top make something you can’t get anywhere else in Southern California.

Three more things moved places up or down:

• Range. Bread and pastry both done well beats one done brilliantly and the other phoned in.
• The line math. A 40-minute wait has to be worth 40 minutes. Some are. We say which.
• Staying power. A bakery that’s been great for ten years ranks above one that’s been great for ten weeks.

What didn’t count: TikTok follower counts, celebrity sightings, or how pretty the box is. And “Los Angeles” here means LA County, which is how locals actually use the word. Long Beach and San Pedro are in. Tustin is not.

The 10 best bakeries in Los Angeles, ranked

1. République (La Brea Avenue, Mid-City)

République sits in a building Charlie Chaplin commissioned in the late 1920s, at the same address where Nancy Silverton and Mark Peel opened La Brea Bakery and Campanile in 1989. Walter and Margarita Manzke opened République there in 2013. Margarita won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker in 2023, after eight straight years of nominations. The case lives up to that: tiered rows of pain au chocolat, Basque cheesecake, fruit Danish on brioche, and a sticky caramel pecan brioche that’s the best single thing on the counter.

Why it’s #1: nobody else in LA does this many things this well under one roof. Gusto has the more original idea. République has the deeper bench. Insider detail: it’s counter service by day, and the line moves faster than it looks. If you’re buying for a group, preorder the bakery box online.

2. Gusto Bread (East 4th Street, Long Beach)

Arturo Enciso and Ana Belén Salatino started baking at home in 2017 with a backyard clay oven and opened the shop at the end of Retro Row in 2020. Gusto is a panadería built on masa madre, a wild-fermented sourdough, and on corn they nixtamalize in-house. The conchas are the proof: tender, slightly tangy, with a thick sugar shell. The Nixtamal Queen, a kouign-amann made with corn masa, is the one you won’t find anywhere else. Gusto was a James Beard finalist for Outstanding Bakery in 2024, a first for Long Beach, then a finalist again in 2025.

Why it’s #2 and not #1: the menu is narrower than République’s, and that’s the only knock. Insider detail: it’s late October, which means pan de muerto. The weekend specials go first, so get there early.

3. Proof Bakery (Glendale Boulevard, Atwater Village)

Na Young Ma opened Proof in 2010 and sold it to her employees as a worker co-op in 2021. The croissants are still the benchmark on the Eastside: deep brown, properly laminated, with an almond croissant that’s worth the extra napkin. The canelés are the sleeper. Crisp shell, custardy inside, and better than most of what gets sold as canelés in this city.

Why it ranks here: Proof’s croissant is the best plain croissant in LA. It ranks below Gusto because Gusto does something nobody else does. Insider detail: weekend lines get long, and most of the morning pastry is gone by noon.

4. Phoenix Bakery (North Broadway, Chinatown)

Fung Chow Chan and Wai Hing Chan founded Phoenix in 1938. It has been on Broadway since 1977 and is now in its third generation of family ownership. The strawberry whipped cream cake is the reason a lot of LA families have bought every birthday cake here for decades. Almond cookies and sugar butterfly cookies have been on the counter since the beginning.

Why it ranks here: no bakery on this list has done one thing this well for this long. Insider detail: look at the logo of a boy hiding a pastry box. Tyrus Wong drew it in the 1940s. He’s the artist behind the look of Bambi.

5. Porto’s Bakery & Cafe (Glendale, Burbank, and four more)

Rosa Porto sold cakes from her home in Cuba, came to LA with her family in 1971, opened the first storefront on Sunset in Echo Park in 1976, and moved to Brand Boulevard in Glendale in 1982. Today there are six locations: Glendale, Burbank, Downey, Northridge, West Covina, and Buena Park. Get the potato ball, the cheese roll, and the refugiado, a guava and cheese strudel. We break down the line question further down.

Why it’s #5: it’s the bakery most Angelenos have a relationship with, and the savory pastry is genuinely great. It ranks below the top four because the sweet case is broad, not deep.

6. Friends & Family (Hollywood Boulevard, East Hollywood)

Roxana Jullapat and Daniel Mattern opened Friends & Family in 2017. Jullapat wrote Mother Grains, a cookbook about baking with whole and heirloom grains, and you can taste that thinking in the bread. The pastry case is the best-dressed counter in East Hollywood: pistachio croissants, white cheddar biscuits, and Danishes built around whatever’s good at the farmers market that week.

Why it ranks here: it’s the best bread-and-pastry combination east of La Brea. Insider detail: take a loaf of the sesame sourdough home. It’s the best thing they sell that you don’t eat on the spot.

7. Fondry (York Boulevard, Eagle Rock/Highland Park line)

AJ Kim and Scott Sohn, the people behind the Kumquat and Loquat coffee shops, opened Fondry in 2024. It’s the newest bakery in the top 10, and it earned the spot with one pastry: the kouign-amann, which pulls apart in spirals and crackles at the edges. The yuzu cruffin and pistachio Danish are close behind.

Why it’s not higher: two years isn’t ten, and the wait can be long. Insider detail: lines have formed before opening, and Fondry has had a per-person pastry limit. Plan your morning around it or go on a weekday.

8. Furn Saj (Balboa Boulevard, Granada Hills)

Furn Saj is a family-run Lebanese bakery that makes more than 70 different things. It looks more like a casual counter-service restaurant than a bakery, and that’s part of the point. Get the cheese boat, the za’atar mana’ish, and the labneh and honey flatbread.

Why it ranks here: it’s the best savory bakery in the Valley, and it’s worth the drive up the 405. There’s also a location in Calabasas.

9. Jyan Isaac Bread (Ocean Park Boulevard, Santa Monica)

Jyan Isaac Horwitz, a Gjusta alum, started selling bread from a window on Ocean Park Boulevard in March 2020, at 19. The full shop opened in 2021. The seeded sourdough is the Westside’s best loaf, and the rye, the challah, and the bagels all hold up.

Why it ranks here: it’s a bread bakery first. If bread is your thing, move it up. Insider detail: it also sells at Westside farmers markets, so you don’t always have to drive to Ocean Park.

10. Colossus Bread (San Pedro and Belmont Shore)

Kristin Colazas Rodriguez, who was born in Long Beach, and her husband Nicholas opened Colossus on Alma Street in San Pedro. It now has a Belmont Shore shop on 2nd Street and a sit-down spot in San Pedro’s Waterfront Arts District. Everything is naturally leavened. The country loaf is thick and moist, and the kouign-amann is salty-sweet in the right proportion.

Why it rounds out the top 10: it’s the best bakery in the Harbor area, and it gives Long Beach two spots on this list. Insider detail: order the assorted pastry box and let the kitchen choose.

The croissant counters: République and the laminated-dough crowd

Ten years ago, a great croissant in LA meant a drive. Now there’s a serious laminated-dough counter in most parts of town. Beyond République, Proof, and Fondry, these are the ones to know:

• Des Croissants Paris (Washington Boulevard, Culver City). Samuel Manar was born in Paris, trained at Ferrandi, and worked at Spago before opening this storefront in 2023. It’s the most traditional French bakery on the Westside. Croissants, baguettes, and a kouign-amann that’s worth the trip on its own. A Santa Monica location is listed as coming soon.
• Petitgrain Boulangerie (Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica). Clémence de Lutz, who founded Gourmandise School in Santa Monica in 2011, runs it with Tony Hernandez, a Friends & Family alum. The croissants have delicate, lacy layers. The sleeper is a concha made with heirloom corn masa.
• Artelice Patisserie (Sawtelle, Burbank, and Studio City). Brothers Farid and Saeed Azarang opened Artelice in 2017. Big, buttery croissants and a case of tarts, macarons, and mousse cakes that’s the most Parisian-looking in the Valley.
• Clark Street (Echo Park, Brentwood, and Grand Central Market). Zack Hall started it in his apartment in 2014. Get the Swedish cinnamon bun and the kouign-amann.

If you’re choosing one croissant: Proof for the classic, République for the full case, Fondry for the kouign-amann, Des Croissants Paris for the most French. Skip any croissant sold already packaged in a plastic clamshell. Lamination doesn’t survive a lid.

Planning a north-south croissant comparison? Our ranking of the best bakeries in San Francisco covers the other half of that argument.

Panaderías: conchas in Boyle Heights, East LA, and beyond

Most “best bakeries” lists treat panaderías as an afterthought. That’s backwards. The panadería is LA’s original neighborhood bakery, and some of these have been on the same street for more than 70 years. Here’s how they work: grab a metal tray and tongs, pick from the cases, and pay at the register. Bring cash just in case.

• La Mascota Bakery (Whittier Boulevard, Boyle Heights). Ygnacio Salcedo founded it in 1952 and moved it to its current spot on the same street a few years later. The conchas and bolillos are excellent, but locals come for the tamales and a cup of champurrado. It gets busy, so order ahead online if you’re picking up a dozen.
• El Gallo Bakery (Cesar E. Chavez Avenue, East LA). Magdalena Martinez-Huerta and her brother Lauro opened El Gallo in 1949. The first shop stood where the 710 runs now. Her son runs it today, the wooden display cases date to the 1940s, and the cuernitos de mantequilla are the order.
• Sonora Bakery (Whittier Boulevard, East LA). An Argentine family opened Sonora in 1986, and it now bakes Mexican, Salvadoran, and Cuban breads, plus Argentine empanadas. It’s also where you order a sub sandwich long enough for a quinceañera.
• Santa Canela (North Figueroa, Highland Park). The newer-school panadería from Grupo Apapacho, the group behind Loreto, with pastry chef Ellen Ramos. The tall concha filled with vanilla chantilly is the order. Weekend sellouts are real, so go before 11.
• Pan Estilo Copala (Atlantic Avenue, Compton). A family bakery doing Guerrero-style bread from Copala, in the Costa Chica, shaped by hand with a little sourdough tang. Get the gusanitos and an empanada de camote, then pour a cup of café de olla.

And Gusto Bread is the bridge between the old school and the new. If the 4th Street trip turns into a whole Long Beach afternoon (it should), our Long Beach International City Flag T-Shirt puts the city’s flag, scallop shell and all, on a soft tee.

This week specifically: Día de los Muertos is November 1 and 2, and LA panaderías sell pan de muerto through late October. That’s the round sweet bread with dough “bones” across the top, sometimes scented with orange blossom, sometimes sesame-topped in the Oaxacan style. Buy it now. It disappears the first week of November.

Pan dulce pairs with a taco run better than with almost anything. Our best tacos in Los Angeles ranking has several stops within a few miles of these counters.

Glendale and Burbank: Armenian and Middle Eastern bakeries

Glendale is home to one of the largest Armenian communities outside Armenia, and its bakeries cover two traditions: thin, meat-topped lahmajun and boreg from the ovens, and syrupy Middle Eastern pastry from the cases. A morning here beats almost any bakery crawl in the city.

• Sarkis Pastry (South Glendale Avenue, Glendale). Brothers Vazken and Sarkis Kolanjian opened it in 1983, after their family’s pastry shop in Lebanon. It was one of Glendale’s first Armenian and Middle Eastern bakeries. Get the bourma with whole pistachios, the kataifi, and the maamoul.
• Taron Bakery (South Glendale Avenue, Glendale). It’s right next door to Sarkis, which makes a two-stop morning easy. Taron’s lahmajun is soft, meaty, and milder than most, and the spicy cheese beorek with jalapeño is the sleeper. Regulars stack flatbreads at the outdoor tables.
• Sasoun Bakery (Glendale and Little Armenia). David Yeretsian opened the original Sasoun on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood’s Little Armenia in 1986. There’s a Glendale shop on East Colorado Street. It’s the go-to for lahmajun and cheese and spinach boreg.
• Old Sasoon Bakery (North Allen Avenue, Pasadena). A different business from Sasoun, despite the name. Haroutioun Geragosian opened it in Aleppo in 1948 and moved it to Pasadena in 1986, and his son Joseph runs it now. No music, no TV, just lahmajun, za’atar manaeesh, and khachapuri. Eat yours hot, right there.
• Tun Lahmajo (Glenoaks Boulevard, Burbank). More restaurant than bakery, but everything comes out of two ovens to order, including a very thin lahmajo and an adjarian khachapuri.
• Kouzeh Bakery (Wilshire Boulevard, Miracle Mile). Not Glendale, but it belongs in this group. Sahar Shomali, who grew up in Tehran, opened her first storefront this year after years of selling bread. She bakes about 25 Iranian breads, each tied to a region, and all of them sourdough. It’s near LACMA and the new D Line stop.

A note on one name you’ll see on older lists: Panos Pastry has closed, both its Hollywood Boulevard shop and its Glendale location. And Furn Saj, #8 above, is part of this same tradition, out in Granada Hills.

Porto’s, honestly: is it worth the line?

Yes, with conditions.

The line at Porto’s looks like a theme park queue and moves like a well-run DMV, which is a compliment. The savory pastry is the reason to go. A potato ball is mashed potato around seasoned picadillo, breaded and fried, and nobody in LA makes a better one. The cheese roll is flaky and barely sweet. The refugiado, guava and cream cheese in puff pastry, is the Cuban bakery classic done right.

Where Porto’s is weaker: the big decorated cakes and the fancier sweet pastries are fine, not great. They’re built for volume. If you want a cake that’s the point of the party, Phoenix’s strawberry cream cake is the better call.

How to do it right:

• Preorder online. Pickup orders go to a separate counter and skip the main line entirely. Next-day orders close the evening before, and pickup slots do fill up.
• Pick your location. Glendale on Brand is the flagship and the busiest. Burbank on Magnolia is the other big one.
• Buy more potato balls than you think you need. They’re the first thing gone from every box, and they reheat well in an oven. Not a microwave.

The verdict: Porto’s is worth the line once, and worth a preorder forever. It’s #5 on this list, not #1, because the best things there are savory.

Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Koreatown, and the San Gabriel Valley

LA’s Asian bakeries run from a mochi shop older than Hollywood to a fruit-tart counter that opened this summer. Beyond Phoenix at #4:

• Fugetsu-Do (East 1st Street, Little Tokyo). Seiichi Kito founded it in 1903, and it’s the oldest business in Little Tokyo. His grandson Brian Kito runs it now. Get the mochi, the manju, and the peanut butter mochi. The storefront has barely changed since a 1956 remodel.
• Baker’s Bench (Alpine Street, Victor Heights). Jennifer Yee started it as a kiosk in Chinatown’s Far East Plaza and opened this storefront, on the edge of Chinatown, in 2024. It’s known for vegan croissants, and the furikake croissant is the one to get. The New York Times put it on its 2024 list of the best bakeries in the country.
• Coin De Rue Bakery & Cafe (South Western Avenue, Koreatown). The Korean bakery to know in Koreatown. The green onion pesto loaf, with cheese, scallions, and pomegranate seeds, is big enough for four.
• Modu Cafe (York Boulevard, Highland Park). Jiyoon Jang’s Korean American pastry: a perilla leaf and lime tart, black sesame mochi cake, and miso-honey cinnamon rolls. It sells out on weekends, so go on a weekday morning.
• Pinecone Bakeshop + Cafe (West Main Street, Alhambra). Pastry chef Joyce Hsieh opened it in July 2026, and it does almost nothing but seasonal fruit tarts. The mango sticky rice tart is the reason to drive to the San Gabriel Valley.
• Cream Pan (Narbonne Avenue, Lomita). The LA County outpost of the Tustin French-Japanese bakery, founded in 2002. Get the strawberry croissant, which sells out fast.
• Okayama Kobo (Miyako Hotel lobby, Little Tokyo). A Japanese bakery using Hokkaido flour. Get the curry pan, plus the bear-shaped Kobo Kuma if you’re with kids.

Little Tokyo is also a good coffee neighborhood. Our best coffee in Los Angeles ranking has the cups to drink with all this.

Beat the line: timing, parking, and what sells out first

The best bakeries in Los Angeles share one problem: they’re popular, and they bake a fixed amount. Some rules that hold across the city:

• Weekdays beat weekends, every time. Proof, Fondry, Modu, and Santa Canela all have weekend lines and weekend sellouts. On a Tuesday morning, most of them are just a bakery.
• Before 11 is the real deadline. At Santa Canela, Proof, and most of the croissant counters, the morning pastry is mostly gone by late morning. Bread lasts longer than pastry.
• What goes first: kouign-amann everywhere, Gusto’s weekend specials, Cream Pan’s strawberry croissants, and Porto’s potato balls. If you came for one of these, lead with it.
• Preorder where you can. République, Porto’s, and La Mascota all take orders ahead. For a group, it’s the difference between a 5-minute stop and a 45-minute one.
• Parking: La Brea, York Boulevard, and Little Tokyo are street-parking neighborhoods, and Little Tokyo Village lots don’t validate for Fugetsu-Do. Read the parking signs on La Brea twice.
• Stack your stops. Sarkis and Taron share a block in Glendale. Modu and Santa Canela are both in Highland Park, with Fondry farther west on York. Phoenix and Baker’s Bench are a short walk apart. One bakery is a treat. Two on the same block is a morning.

One line on pie: Fat + Flour’s Nicole Rucker left Grand Central Market in May 2026, and her pies and cookies are now at her café on Washington Boulevard, on the Culver City border. Pie deserves its own ranking, and it’s getting one.

Frequently asked questions about the best bakeries in Los Angeles

What is the best bakery in Los Angeles?

République on La Brea, for the deepest pastry case in the city. For a single pastry you can’t get anywhere else, Gusto Bread’s masa madre conchas in Long Beach.

Where are the best croissants in LA?

Proof in Atwater Village for the classic plain croissant. République for range. Des Croissants Paris in Culver City for the most traditional French. Fondry on York Boulevard for kouign-amann.

What’s the best panadería in Los Angeles?

For tradition, La Mascota in Boyle Heights (since 1952) and El Gallo in East LA (since 1949). For the new school, Gusto Bread in Long Beach and Santa Canela in Highland Park.

Is Porto’s still worth it?

Yes, for the potato balls, cheese rolls, and refugiados. Preorder online to skip the line, and buy cake elsewhere.

Is Sweet Lady Jane still open?

No. Sweet Lady Jane closed all its locations at the end of 2023. Bouchon Bakery in Beverly Hills is also gone, and fōnuts on West 3rd Street now operates under a different name.

When can you buy pan de muerto in LA?

Through October and into the first days of November, ahead of Día de los Muertos on November 1 and 2. Most panaderías on this list bake it, and it’s in the cases right now.

If you only go to one

Go to République on a weekday morning. Get the sticky caramel pecan brioche and a pain au chocolat. Look up at the courtyard and remember that people have been lining up for bread at this address since 1989.

If you have a second morning, drive to Long Beach. Get a dozen Gusto conchas and a Nixtamal Queen, then walk 4th Street. That’s the best two-bakery weekend in Los Angeles: one French, one Mexican, both with no equal anywhere in the state.

And if you’re making a full LA food weekend of it, our best burgers in Los Angeles ranking handles lunch. Tell us the bakery we missed. Somebody always has one.