Silver Lake is a hilly neighborhood in LA’s Mideast Side. To vote for more Los Angeles neighborhoods to be featured in a future post, click here. To vote for LA County communities, click here. To vote for Orange County neighborhoods, vote here.
INTRODUCTION TO SL
First things first… Silver Lake is two words! Don't believe me? Count 'em! There are fifteen Silver Lakes in the US, thirteen of which are two words (one of the offenders is in Texas, and therefore doesn't really count). It is supposedly the second gayest place in the Southland, after West Hollywood and in front of Broadway Corridor.
Pendersleigh & Sons' Official Maps of the Mideast Side and Silver Lake*
Its neighbors are Los Feliz, Franklin Hills, Sunset Junction, Virgil Village, P-Town, Atwater Village, Frogtown, Elysian Heights and Echo Park. For this episode, I was joined by my traveling companion, filmmaker Diana Ward.
Constructing the reservoirs
EARLY HISTORY & THE RESERVOIR
The area that is now Silver Lake was once populated by the Tongva. The Spaniards kindly took it off their hands, after which it was passed to Mexico and subsequently the US.
Detail of an 1887 map showing the Southerly portion of Ivanhoe
In the 19th century, Scotsman Hugo Reid named the area Ivanhoe and many streets still have Scottish names or names taken from the novel, including Ben Lomond, Hawick, Herkimer, Kenilworth, Rowena and St. George. In the map above, the future site of the Silver Lake and Ivanhoe Reservoirs is merely designated as the LA City Res Site.
Detail of a map from 1894, still showing the area as Ivanhoe
In 1906, the neighborhood’s two reservoirs were named the Ivanhoe Reservoir and the Silver Lake Reservoir, after LA DWP commissioner Herman Silver.
Detail of 1913 Los Angeles map showing Silver Lake - Elza Ave is now Silver Lake Blvd
Detail of 1945 Los Angeles map showing Silver Lake - Elza Ave was by then Silver Lake
The reservoir was first drained in 1951 and there was no sign of the infamous Sylvie, the Silver Lake Serpent.
The August House The Canfield-Moreno Estate
The Burrows Residence The Garbutt-Hathaway Mansion
THE SILENT FILM ERA
In 1909 William Selig and Francis Boggs established a film studio in Boggs' rented bungalow in Edendale, an historic Los Angeles neighborhood centered in what is now Echo Park and the eastern portion of what’s now Silver Lake. Soon, Edendale was the center of the burgeoning industry. Meanwhile, Monogram, Vitagraph and Walt Disney all established studios in another Silver Lake neighbor, Franklin Hills. Silver Lake, situated between the two, immediately attracted industry figures and creative types. With the silent film industry including many homosexuals, by the 1920s, Silver Lake also supported a thriving gay population which continues to the present day. It was also, like neighboring Echo Park and Elysian Heights (nicknamed “Red Hill”), a hotbed of communism. Beginning in the 1920s and continuing into the 1930s, many real estate developers began to build up the neighborhood. One home, The August House, built in 1913, is one of the neighborhood's oldest homes. Antonio Moreno, was a "Latin Lover" who commissioned the Moreno Highlands as well as his own Canfield-Moreno Estate (co-named after his oil heiress wife, Daisy Canfield, and also known as The Paramour Mansion and The Crestmount). There's also the Gaudi-inspired Burrows Residence, designed in 1921. Cinematographer Frank A. Garbutt had the Garbutt-Hathaway twenty room mansion built on top of a hill and it was a frequent shooting location since its completion in 1928.
The Avenel Co-Op The Droste House The John R. Hunt House
Some Neutra-designed homes
The O'Neill Duplex Silvertop The Tierman Home
THE MODERNIST ERA
Over the next two decades, David Hyun, Eric Lloyd Wright, Gregory Ain, John Lautner, Raphael Soriano, Richard Neutra, Rudolph Schindler, Rodney Walker and Lloyd Wright were designing homes that make Silver Lake the mecca of modernism... and pinkos. Ain’s Avenel Co-Op, built in 1947, was as red as a lobster. Four of the original ten inhabitants were blacklisted. The House Un-American Activities Committee concluded that the project was "a cooperative living experiment for a group of communists." More recently, architects including Ana Henton, Barbara Bestor, Barry Milofsky, Gustavo Gubel, John Southern, Michael Lehrer, Sean Briski and Ricardo Accorsi have contributed to Silver Lake’s continuing reputation as home of some of Los Angeles’ best architecture.
Decommissioned in 1955 - The Red Line Trestle Footings, aka Silver Lake Stone Henge
THE BROWN AGES
Development continued in the 1940s. After the demolition of Little Mexico in 1949 to make way for Dodger Stadium, large numbers of displaced Mexican-Americans began to settle along Sunset Blvd. In the 1950s, following the demolition of Bunker Hill, many displaced Filipinos also settled in the southern portion of Silver Lake. At the same time, post-war prosperity and the irresistible lure of the suburbs enticed many white Silver Lakers to move elsewhere.
Murals in South Silver Lake
At this point, finding information about Silver Lake becomes difficult and, as far as the media was seemingly concerned, it entered a long hibernation, although Jackson Browne wrote and recorded a song called “From Silver Lake” on his 1972 debut.
The "Under the Bridge" Bridge
SILVER LAKE'S MUSIC SCENE
Then, in the mid-‘80s and early ‘90s, the first alterna-types began to move to Silver Lake, attracted by the nice residences with low rent. In 1992, Red Hot Chili Peppers commemorated the bridge over Silver Lake Boulevard with their soon-to-be ubiquitous "Under the Bridge” and commissioned a mural (now painted over).
Epitaph Records
Epitaph Records relocated to their current home, a former Silver Lake train station built in 1905.
Spaceland Silverlake Lounge
Spaceland opened in 1995 and featured then new-acts like Beck, Foo Fighters, Geraldine Fibbers, Lutefisk and Possum Dixon. As more and more slumming bohemians moved to the area, Silver Lake rapidly accumulated cultural capital. Soon the dreaded gentrification spread to surrounding neighborhoods like Atwater Village and especially Echo Park. The Silver Lake Lounge, as far as I know, has found and maintained its balance between Latino drag nights and indie rock shows. In 1998, The Dust Brothers bought the building pictured below and converted it to a recording studio.
The next generation of musicians associated with Silver Lake includes Autolux, Beth Hart, Darker My Love, Earlimart, The Elected, Eulogies, Giant Drag, Irving, Mia Doi Todd, The One AM Radio, Moving Units, The Shore, Rilo Kiley, Scarling, Sea Wolf and The Silversun Pickups. In 2002, Vic Chesnutt recorded an album called Silver Lake. Silver Lake is also home to Dangerbird Records, Rockaway Records. Stones Throw Records and the Silverlake [sic] Conservatory of Music.
SILVER LAKE NITES
By the 2000s, Silver Lake was dismissed by many as passé as more and more shrieking, Ugg-booted hags and novelty-mustachioed knaves began to flock to the neighborhood at night, hoping to stand for hours to get into the neighborhood’s unremarkable dives where they can guzzle PBR, just like poor people. At the same time, the influx of B&Ters drove away older spots like Le Bar and The Auto Bar, replacing them with the not-very-convincing East Side simulacrum offered by The Cha Cha Lounge and the odious Stinkers (not just a clever name and thankfully now roadkill).
Eagle LA and MJ’s remain steadfastly gay and the walls of Club Los Globos are harder to breach for non-Latinos than Helm's Deep. In 1967, where Le Barcito is now, was once the Black Cat - where more than two years before Stonewall, hundreds of gay patrons staged a protest that's seen by many as one of the main flashpoints of the gay rights struggle. Another popular gay bar was/is The Other Side, which was the subject of the short doco shown here:
Other watering holes include include Mixville Bar, Thirsty Crow, the Red Lion, Barbarella, Silver Lake Wine and the 4100. After last call, most of the bar rats return to the West Side and Silver Lake returns to normal, a neighborhood of mini-markets, liquor stores, boutiques, and working class families.
A gleaming tooth sculpture The Mildred P. Flaggerty Bedpan Fountain has run dry
SILVER LAKE EATING
STUFF TO DO AND SEE
There are other entertainment options in Silver Lake, too. There's a variety of places to shop for various whatevers. There’s also the Lyric-Hyperion Theater, The Ronin Gallery, the just-started Silver Lake Jubilee, Bellvue Park.
"No Soccer" with soccer playing kids in the background
Then there's the Silver Lake Rec Center and surrounding park, where the Silver Lake Croquet League famously and handily defeated the self-designated Hipster Croquet League – the end result being that the defeated had to change their name to something less unpleasant.
Lots of people come to the reservoir to walk or jog, but none is more famous than the face of Silver Lake, the Silver Lake Walker (aka Silver Lake Walker Guy, aka Silver Lake Walking Man), a leathery doctor who patrols the neighborhood almost constantly and has been the subject of several documentaries and murals, almost always sporting some seriously faded shorts and often a transistor radio and newspaper.
The WSL Samaritan after having righted a cone that had fallen over
Less famous but still colorful local characters include the West Silver Lake Samaritan, whose beat is said street and every day can be seen rocking a white tee and matching comb-over, concerning himself with the banal minutiae of his block. There’s also the elusive Mr. Green Genes, a guerrilla gardener who transforms orphaned land into something better. And the Birdman of Silver Lake who pushes a cart around pleading for the souls of squirrels. And who can forget Five Dollar Guy?
SILVER LAKE IN FILM AND ON TV
Not surprisingly, however, there’s a bit of disconnect between reality and Hollywood and the latter often presents Silver Lake in an exceedingly unflattering and inaccurate light. Recently, the following casting call appeared on Craigslist:
A new Reality Show is casting Silver Lake's rich, wealthy, hipster GUYS and GIRLS 21-30 whose personal style is homeless chic... You must be incredibly involved in the Silver Lake social scene, enjoy a sensational nightlife Silver Lake style and be very outspoken with a vivacious personality. You must also hang with a racially diverse, intriguing group of friends who all live in Silver Lake.
Aaron Spelling attempted to get a show called Silver Lake on the air about, if memory serves me, a record store employee who can read pets’ minds. It didn’t make it past the pilot. Then there was the squirm-inducing Sex, Love and Secrets (aka Sex, Lies and Scandal) -- I watched about half the episodes first out of curiosity and ultimately out of masochistic perseverance. As far as films actually shot in Silver Lake, I can only come up with a couple: I Love You, Man; May; The Music Box, Shopgirl and Superstition. Famous silent screen cowboy Tom Mix had his studio in Silver Lake, Mixville, and supposedly “Tony, the Wonder Horse” is buried there. The neighborhood also hosts the annual Silver Lake Film Festival.
The next generation of musicians associated with Silver Lake includes Autolux, Beth Hart, Darker My Love, Earlimart, The Elected, Eulogies, Giant Drag, Irving, Mia Doi Todd, The One AM Radio, Moving Units, The Shore, Rilo Kiley, Scarling, Sea Wolf and The Silversun Pickups. In 2002, Vic Chesnutt recorded an album called Silver Lake. Silver Lake is also home to Dangerbird Records, Rockaway Records. Stones Throw Records and the Silverlake [sic] Conservatory of Music.
The Mural, Gateway, and Circus of Books
SILVER LAKE NITES
By the 2000s, Silver Lake was dismissed by many as passé as more and more shrieking, Ugg-booted hags and novelty-mustachioed knaves began to flock to the neighborhood at night, hoping to stand for hours to get into the neighborhood’s unremarkable dives where they can guzzle PBR, just like poor people. At the same time, the influx of B&Ters drove away older spots like Le Bar and The Auto Bar, replacing them with the not-very-convincing East Side simulacrum offered by The Cha Cha Lounge and the odious Stinkers (not just a clever name and thankfully now roadkill).
Eagle LA and MJ’s remain steadfastly gay and the walls of Club Los Globos are harder to breach for non-Latinos than Helm's Deep. In 1967, where Le Barcito is now, was once the Black Cat - where more than two years before Stonewall, hundreds of gay patrons staged a protest that's seen by many as one of the main flashpoints of the gay rights struggle. Another popular gay bar was/is The Other Side, which was the subject of the short doco shown here:
Other watering holes include include Mixville Bar, Thirsty Crow, the Red Lion, Barbarella, Silver Lake Wine and the 4100. After last call, most of the bar rats return to the West Side and Silver Lake returns to normal, a neighborhood of mini-markets, liquor stores, boutiques, and working class families.
A gleaming tooth sculpture The Mildred P. Flaggerty Bedpan Fountain has run dry
SILVER LAKE EATING
The most recent demographic data is that Silver Lake is 41% Latino of any race, 34% White and 18% Asian (although it's rarely acknowledged, Silver Lake was one of LA's most Asian-American neighborhoods). The most common ethnicities are still Mexican-American and Filipino-American. Silver Lake supports a decent variety of restaurants including Alegria, Aroma, Astro Family, Barbrix, Blair's (in the location of the much missed Thai-American Express), Bulan Thai, Cafe Bravo, Cafe Stella, Café del Rosario, Café Tropical, Casbah, Casita Del Campo, Chibcha, Cliff's Edge, Koda Sushi, Coffee Table, Cowboys & Turbans, Cru Organic Raw Food, Dusty's, El Caserio, El Cochinito, El Conquistador, Fix Burger, Flore Cafe, Flying Leap Cafe, Forage, Ginger Grass, Gobi Mongolian BBQ House, Good, Hard Times, Home, Intelligentsia, K&C Donuts, La Parrilla, Lamill Coffee, Las Glorias, Leela Thai, Local, Lyric Cafe, Madame Matisse, Mae Ploy, Mariela’s Taco #2, Michelangelo, Millie's, Mom’s Donuts & Chinese, Nicky D's, Nuevo Rincon, Pazzo Gelateria, Pho Cafe, Pazzaz Sushi, PK Donuts and Ice Cream, Rambuthan, Rudellis, Say Cheese, Siete Mares, Sila Bistro, Silvertake (if it ever opens), Sompun Thai, Tacos Delta, Tantra, Tarascos, Thai Taste, The Meet Market, Tom's Burgers, United Bread & Pastry and Vegan House.
Businesses along Silver Lake's hip Hoover Street
STUFF TO DO AND SEE
There are other entertainment options in Silver Lake, too. There's a variety of places to shop for various whatevers. There’s also the Lyric-Hyperion Theater, The Ronin Gallery, the just-started Silver Lake Jubilee, Bellvue Park.
"No Soccer" with soccer playing kids in the background
Then there's the Silver Lake Rec Center and surrounding park, where the Silver Lake Croquet League famously and handily defeated the self-designated Hipster Croquet League – the end result being that the defeated had to change their name to something less unpleasant.
Murals depicting the Silver Lake Walker
Lots of people come to the reservoir to walk or jog, but none is more famous than the face of Silver Lake, the Silver Lake Walker (aka Silver Lake Walker Guy, aka Silver Lake Walking Man), a leathery doctor who patrols the neighborhood almost constantly and has been the subject of several documentaries and murals, almost always sporting some seriously faded shorts and often a transistor radio and newspaper.
The WSL Samaritan after having righted a cone that had fallen over
Less famous but still colorful local characters include the West Silver Lake Samaritan, whose beat is said street and every day can be seen rocking a white tee and matching comb-over, concerning himself with the banal minutiae of his block. There’s also the elusive Mr. Green Genes, a guerrilla gardener who transforms orphaned land into something better. And the Birdman of Silver Lake who pushes a cart around pleading for the souls of squirrels. And who can forget Five Dollar Guy?
Michelle and Francis
SILVER LAKE IN FILM AND ON TV
Not surprisingly, however, there’s a bit of disconnect between reality and Hollywood and the latter often presents Silver Lake in an exceedingly unflattering and inaccurate light. Recently, the following casting call appeared on Craigslist:
A new Reality Show is casting Silver Lake's rich, wealthy, hipster GUYS and GIRLS 21-30 whose personal style is homeless chic... You must be incredibly involved in the Silver Lake social scene, enjoy a sensational nightlife Silver Lake style and be very outspoken with a vivacious personality. You must also hang with a racially diverse, intriguing group of friends who all live in Silver Lake.
Aaron Spelling attempted to get a show called Silver Lake on the air about, if memory serves me, a record store employee who can read pets’ minds. It didn’t make it past the pilot. Then there was the squirm-inducing Sex, Love and Secrets (aka Sex, Lies and Scandal) -- I watched about half the episodes first out of curiosity and ultimately out of masochistic perseverance. As far as films actually shot in Silver Lake, I can only come up with a couple: I Love You, Man; May; The Music Box, Shopgirl and Superstition. Famous silent screen cowboy Tom Mix had his studio in Silver Lake, Mixville, and supposedly “Tony, the Wonder Horse” is buried there. The neighborhood also hosts the annual Silver Lake Film Festival.
...and two more murals. Silver Lake has a lot of murals.
*****
*****
