A boulevard in transition

Edmundo Rodriguez helps a customer at Elsa’s Bakery on York Boulevard.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Edmundo Rodriguez, left, new owner of Elsa’s Bakery, shares a moment with founders Elsy, 82, and Manuel Vargas, 83. Rodriguez learned about the bakery from the dissertation of one of his students when he was an adjunct professor at UCLA.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

New owner Edmundo Rodriguez helps a customer. Rodriguez has spruced up the place to help it compete with the new hipster joints in the neighborhood but wanted to keep some of its old personality, including keeping longtime pan dulce baker Benjamin Lopez.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

On a recent visit, Elsy and Manuel Vargas greet people outside the bakery they started more than 30 years ago.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Colt Reichman, 9, plays piano as his father Matthew watches and pedestrians react on the sidewalk along York Boulevard.   (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Bones peers out the door of Future Music, which sells and repairs used musical instruments, in the Highland Park.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

York Boulevard, recently named the coolest street in L.A. by a national magazine, is caught somewhere between yesterday and tomorrow.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

The new owner cleared out the clutter, gave the back wall a coat of lavender paint and hung lithographs by East L.A.-born artist Gronk. But he kept the old name and the old baker -- and the sounds of Spanish in the shop.   (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Benjamin Lopez works on pastry in the kitchen. The Vargases hired Lopez more than 30 years ago, and the fact that new owner Edmundo Rodriguez wanted to keep him on was a factor in the couple’s decision to sell the business to him.   (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Mi Vida, which sells local handmade art and gifts, on York Boulevard in Highland Park.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

A young family takes an evening stroll along York Boulevard in Highland Park.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)