Long before Silver Lake became the kind of place where throngs of 20- and 30-somethings flock on a Saturday night to sip natural wine and run from one dance floor to the next, there was a man named Herman Silver.
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He was a city councilman and water commissioner at the turn of the 20th century, and he’s the one who pushed for the creation of a reservoir among the hills east of Hollywood and and west of the L.A. River.
That was 1907. Once city officials named the reservoir for Mr. Silver, people started calling the area Silver Lake. (Yes, the name is two words — not Silverlake, as some local businesses would lead you to believe.)
These days, the area is best known for the Modernist architecture that clings to its hillsides, the chic young families who cavort in Silver Lake Meadow and the bustling nightlife that thrives along Sunset Boulevard. Also, you probably couldn’t swing a boom microphone in this neighborhood without hitting a writer, actor or musician.
You could argue that Silver Lake’s creative spark goes back a century, to the first silent films shot at the Mack Sennett Studios or the early cartoons drawn by Walt Disney and company in his first animation studio a few blocks away. For most of the ’90s and ’00s, the music venue Spaceland (now closed) was a magnet for up-and-coming indie rockers including Beck, Elliott Smith, the Silversun Pickups and Rilo Kiley.
And for decades, one of the neighborhood’s signature events was Sunset Junction, a street festival designed to build bridges between the area’s substantial Latino and gay communities. (Though New York’s Stonewall Riots are better known, two years earlier Sunset Junction’s Black Cat Bar was the site of one of the first public protests for gay rights.)
Now celebrities like Lady Gaga, Jay-Z and Martin Scorsese use the Mack Sennett Studios on Fountain Avenue. As for the Disney studio that stood from 1926 to 1940 at 2719 Hyperion Ave., where Mickey Mouse was born? It’s been torn down and replaced by a Gelson’s supermarket.
But all is not lost. Though pricey, this Gelson’s is a neighborhood hub and not a bad place for celebrity-spotting. To catch locals at ease on any evening, belly up to the Gelson’s wine bar. If it’s a weeknight, they’ll have “Jeopardy!” on at 7.
Anyway, Silver Lake will surprise you. It has a flamenco club (El Cid on Sunset) but no movie theater. Its German beer garden (the Red Lion Tavern) used to be an English pub. For decades, somebody has been hanging hand-cut metal letters that spell KOOK on utility poles near busy street corners. It has an entire neighborhood (along Rowena Avenue) where streets are named after characters in Sir Walter Scott’s novel “Ivanhoe.”
And who knows? Maybe, at a sidewalk table on some Silver Lake street tonight, you’ll find some unexpected genius drinking an Intelligentsia iced coffee and dreaming up the next Mickey Mouse.
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What’s included in this guide
Anyone who’s lived in a major metropolis can tell you that neighborhoods are a tricky thing. They’re eternally malleable and evoke sociological questions around how we place our homes, our neighbors and our communities within a wider tapestry. In the name of neighborly generosity, we included gems that may linger outside of technical parameters. Instead of leaning into stark definitions, we hope to celebrate all of the places that make us love where we live.
