From Movie to Yuppie
The history of Silverlake can be broken down into four distinctive periods: The Film Period from 1910s-1930s, the Professionals Period from 1940s-1960s, the Gay/Lesbian Period from 1960s-1980s, and the Yuppie Period from the late 1980s-present. Each period provides something unique and changes the previous neighborhood both socially and physically. It is the culmination of these four periods during Silverlake’s history which give the neighborhood its cultural identity.
Before examining each period, one must understand that the dates of these four periods are sometimes intertwined and that there is no clear distinction from one period to the other. The transition between the film period, the professionals period, the gay/lesbian period, and the yuppie period was a slow process which, arguably, may still be going on today, especially the transition between the latter two periods. It is important to understand that defining periods on a linear timeline in any work of historical research is fiction because there is never a general consensus among all members and/or groups. Conversely, it is important to illustrate a rough timeline separated into periods for better comprehension and categorical understanding.
Distinguishing between periods is also important because at least one of the four was the dominating group (socially and politically) over the others, hence earns its own period label. For example, the Film Period did not end in the late 1930s, but its dominance was between the teens through the thirties. Likewise, there were already a total number of 891 housing structures built in the Silverlake neighborhood before and during the height of the film period in pre-1939. Developers of the Silverlake neighborhood did not begin building homes for professional doctors and professors in the Professionals Period following the exodus of the film community in the late 1930s. However, the dominating theme of the neighborhood during the 1940s through 1960s was the professionals and their housing. Furthermore, gays and lesbians did not move to Silverlake between the 1960s through the 1980s while seeking to suddenly move out of the neighborhood once the yuppie culture grew in the late 1980s.
In fact some gays moved into Silverlake as far back as 1918, and the Mattachine Society, the country’s first homosexual rights organization, was established in 1950 in the Silverlake neighborhood. The significance and influence of the gay/lesbian community in Silverlake, however, was during the period between the 1960s and 1980s. On a final note with regards to the second of the four periods, the Professionals Period, we must not dismiss the fact that many of these professionals (doctors, professors, lawyers) were also defined as yuppies of their time, the category for which takes the name in the final of the four periods. A yuppie, in the final period of Silverlake history, does not consist of a large number of doctors, lawyers, and professors, but focuses on the lifestyles of young city residents in other professions and well-paid jobs in defining the yuppie of post-1990.
Present Urban Streetscape
While taking a walk down Rowena Ave in the Silverlake district of Los Angeles, my friend does not hesitate to ask me what a giant colorful giraffe figure is doing next to an awkwardly colored pink clothing store, a trendy local coffee shop, and numerous residences, whose architectural styles are both historic and modern. I, of course, did not know the answer, but replied, “Artistic expression, perhaps,” regarding the owners of the life-sized giraffe on Rowena Ave.
Artistic expression is the defining theme of the present Silverlake neighborhood. The giraffe, the pink-colored building, the trendy coffee shop, and the architecturally alluring homes all positioned on Rowena Ave is everything one needs to witness in order to understand the neighborhood today. A trip down any of Silverlake’s vibrant streets such as Hyperion Ave, Sunset Blvd, and Silver Lake Blvd would reinforce everything witnessed on Rowena Ave and thus would appeal to the modern city dweller. There is however, only one Starbucks located in the area (at the northeast corner of the neighborhood on Glendale Ave), the nearest Wal-Mart store is eight miles away, Vons and Albertsons food chains are nonexistent within the neighborhood (although a Ralphs is nearby; site of the old cowboy picture star Tom Mix and his studios), and the billboards seldom advertise the latest popular music offerings of modern hip hop artists which Hollywood displays typically on its billboards. Silverlake, instead, has a myriad of small, local, less-known coffee shops and restaurants such as The Coffee Table. Its residents shop at the gourmet health-conscious markets of Trader Joes and Gelsons and its billboards advertise the independent film network of Sundance Channel as well as other unique mediums of entertainment such as The Boondocks, a snappy animation based on the award-winning comic strip with the same name which appeals to the more mature animation fan who thinks outside of Disney. The Silverlake neighborhood is an enclave of Los Angeles and these characteristics set it apart.
Upon observing the Silver Lake Reservoir and the quiet streets on Silver Lake Drive, a visitor from New York once said, “Where are we – Idaho? It’s soâÂ?¦soâÂ?¦uncharacteristic of Los Angeles.” Physically, Silverlake is semi-hidden behind hilly topography, while socially, it sets itself apart with differentiating views from its counterpart neighborhoods such as the examples above. Today, this arty, culturally mixed and ethnically diverse community is quirky, yet proud of its differences. Silverlake is uncharacteristic of Los Angeles and today’s neighborhood is the product of many changes throughout the twentieth century which have transformed Silverlake into what we conceive of today.
The Film Period, 1910s-1930s
Silverlake’s cultural uniqueness today is the result of the film community in Silverlake and adjacent Echo Park. These neighborhoods had rich history with regards to numerous film studios, resident celebrities, and a movie community during the earlier decades of the twentieth century. This first period in Silverlake’s history is responsible for the influx of filmmakers, painters, writers, sculptors, and architects, who settled in the area. Several art schools were located to the south of the neighborhood during the 1920s, including Chouinard School, a starting point for young artists who sought to work at the Walt Disney Studios in Edendale.
Silverlake and the adjacent neighborhood of Echo Park/Edendale area were home to many early motion picture studios. The Chicago-based Selig Company built the first Studio in Edendale during the early 1900s. The Selig Company used their studios in Edendale to film one of the earliest Los Angeles made movie, “The Power of the Sultan,” and the following year, the New York-based Bison Films established itself in the neighborhood with their own studios. The Mack Sennett Studios, which began in 1912 and was famous for its comedic pictures, was on both sides of Glendale Blvd and one of the old Sennett Studio buildings is now a public storage building. Finally in 1926, animation guru Walt Disney set up his own studio in Silverlake. Presently a Gelsons supermarket on Hyperion Ave, it was the site of the first Walt Disney Studios for animation. Although the original structure has been demolished, this location is currently listed as Historic Cultural Monument number 163 by the City of Los Angeles. Adjacent to the Walt Disney Studios are residences which considerably resemble that of the one in the setting of Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs, the first feature-length animation film in 1936 by Walt Disney. Labeled the Bavarian Courts, these structures on Griffith Park Blvd behind the Walt Disney Studios have been speculated to be the inspiration for the setting of Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs since Walt Disney himself worked in the area and was a frequent observer of the buildings around him. Silverlake is rich in film history and this period represents the first step toward molding the Silverlake neighborhood to what we know of today.
Silverlake and the adjacent Echo Park/Edendale area was the hub for the film community before Hollywood’s incisive representation in the latter decades. For the film community to become a focal theme for this neighborhood during the 1910s through the 1930s, this geographical area must have offered something appealing. The film business was drawn into the hills of the Silverlake and Echo Park/Edendale neighborhoods because of its unique landscape. Not only was Silverlake geographically close to downtown Los Angeles, allowing movie investors to be close to the business market, offices, and supplies, but the hills of Silverlake and its surrounding neighborhoods were the ideal setting for popular Western-themed films of the early twentieth century. Because a majority of Silverlake’s residents kept horses during the 1900s, many of these residents, with their horses, were willingly used as film extras for Western movies. Caughey “Coy” Watson, Sr., a Mack Sennett prop-man for Mack Sennett Studios on Glendale Blvd in 1912, said, “Everybody in the neighborhood kept horses and I herded cows around these hills when the plastering business was slow. So when they needed extras for the Westerns, we just naturally drifted into movies.” And on the comical theme, Charlie Chaplin’s career began in the Silverlake & Echo Park/Edendale area.
The Mack Sennett Studios were responsible for beginning the careers of not only Roscoe Arbuckle, and Mabel Normand, but also Charlie Chaplin and the Keystone Kops (a series of silent film comedies featuring an incompetent group of policemen). It was in these Edendale hills where hundreds of comedic acts were filmed between 1910 through the 1930s. Hence, it is a period in Silverlake’s history when film played a central theme in defining the neighborhood.
It is this duality of rural, hilly geography along with land within proximity to urban downtown Los Angeles which allowed for the appeal and growth of the film industry in the Silverlake neighborhood from the 1910s through the 1930s. The transition from sparsely settled land of horse owners and cow herders into a fully operative film industry with numerous film studios and lots in the Silverlake area was the first of four changes the neighborhood had witnessed. This first transition of rural living into movie making modernized the neighborhood. Apart from sheer population growth in the neighborhood with the influx of film representatives, the Silverlake neighborhood produced (with pun intended) an identity for not only its residents, but an identity for which people outside the neighborhood could recognize and eventually aspire to move into. By the end of the 1930s, just as most other parts of Los Angeles, the population of the Silverlake area had grown. During the same time, the end of the film period in Silverlake and adjacent Echo Park/Edendale, roads were already beginning to become congested. The film industry, between 1910 through the 1930s, allowed growth in this part of the neighborhood and thus making way for some of the first road congestions in its history. Glendale Ave, along the southernmost tip of the Silverlake neighborhood, home to numerous studios including Sennett’s, was site of congested traffic in the 1930s. A new bridge near Glendale Ave along with sparse street widening was in plan for construction in late 1939, began in 1940, and was completed eighteen months later. Many vehicles were being diverted to other adjacent streets to make way for the Glendale Ave street project; a project that was provoked by the growing population of the neighborhood.
Apart from population growth and road congestion during the film period in Silverlake and its adjacent neighborhoods of Echo Park/Edendale, film allowed this neighborhood to become more easily recognizable. Because of film, Silverlake won many fans and aspirations to move into the neighborhood were common. A community rich in film history and a hub for film studios would be inadequate without celebrity residents. Among the many celebrities who made their home in Silverlake during the film decades were comedian Fatty Arbuckle, Gloria Swanson, Clark Gable, Judy Garland, and Patrick Stewart. The film community had forever influenced this neighborhood, its residents of the time, as well as future residents to come. The artistic refuge in which Silverlake will later become known for had begun during the film period, a period in which art translated into film production and Silverlake, as well as its adjacent neighborhoods, were its hub.
In maintaining the topic of residences in Silverlake during the film period approximately between 1910 through the 1930s, one must focus on the architecture of the period. The physical body of water, the Silver Lake Reservoir, designed by Los Angeles water legend William Mulholland in 1906 for water storage and named after Los Angeles’ first board of water commissioner Herman Silver, played an intricate role in Silverlake housing. Homeowners wanted the obvious: a home with a breathtaking view of the lake. Homeowner Roy Zumbrunnen, who purchased his home next to the lake in the 1950s, was asked why and replied, “Because it was so beautifulâÂ?¦and still is,” regarding the harmonious body of water in front of his residence. It is the latter modernist works by the famous architects Neutra, Schindler, Ain, and Lautner of the post-1930s mixed in with old Spanish colonial revival structures of the pre-1930s which give Silverlake an aesthetically pleasing character architecturally. From the early twentieth century up to the 1930s, the heart of the film period, Spanish colonial revival & Mediterranean structures were showcased throughout the neighborhood of Silverlake (and throughout Southern California as Mediterranean architecture was the staple of California housing). One such historic structure of the film period, labeled as “architecturally significant,” by the Silverlake community planners in its document, is the Eltinge House of 1921. Located on Fargo St near the lake, this structure is the epitome of film era housing in the Silverlake neighborhood which represents Eltinge and his accomplishments. Julian Eltinge arrived in the Silverlake area in 1918 and was the nation’s most celebrated turn-of-the-century female impersonator. The Film Period, between the 1910s through the 1930s, attracted artistically-inclined people such as screenwriters, cartoonists, entertainers, and the like. This attribute will forever remain a key component in characterizing the neighborhood of Silverlake. Because of these creative minds, Silverlake will gradually become an avant-garde or “Bohemian” kind of neighborhood in the latter of the four periods.
The Professionals, 1940s-1960s
In the 1930s, architects such as Richard Neutra, Rudolf Schindler, Gregory Ain, and John Lautner began their modernist projects which conveniently lead into the Professionals Period of the 1940s, a period when wealthy homeowners were willing to pay for aesthetically pleasing architectural styles overlooking the Silver Lake Reservoir and nearby hillsides. Property value was also on the increase. The median property value in the Silverlake neighborhood was approximately $24,100 in the hills and approximately $18,000 to the south of Silver Lake Reservoir through Sunset Blvd by the 1960s. Los Angeles’ median property value was just over $17,000. Clearly, the film industry foresaw the rising property values and moved their industry to other parts of Los Angeles’ such as Culver City and allowed this transition from film to professionals to occur.
Professionals, mainly doctors and professors, sought to move into Silverlake during the 1940s because it offered a peaceful retreat outside the bustling business and industry of Los Angeles, yet was close enough for work. Add to the premise that Silverlake was and is arguably home to California’s greatest architecture, the neighborhood of choice for wealthy professionals was obvious.
The majority of wealthy homeowners who occupied the residential units in the hills of Silverlake during the Professionals Period were doctors employed in nearby hospitals. These doctors made Pill Hill their residence in Silverlake. In an interview with medical doctor and current resident on Pill Hill in Silverlake, Marc Abrams explains the movement of professionals into the Silverlake neighborhood, noting, “During the 1940s and 1950s, many doctors moved into these hills, one of which is nicknamed Pill Hill because the vast majority of residents on the hill were doctors who worked in one of six nearby Los Angeles hospitals.” The Six hospitals are located within a reasonable distance from Silverlake. Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles (opened 1914), Kaiser Permanente, Cedars of Lebanon & Mount Sinai (opened 1902 & 1918 respectively, and merged in 1961 to become Cedars Sinai), along with USC and UCLA Medical Centers allowed doctors to be close to their work, but more importantly, away from the bustling city. During the 1960s, according to the US Census, approximately 25% of residents over 16 years of age living on tract number 1951 (area adjacent to Silver Lake Reservoir including Pill Hill) were employed in professional work. This duality of finding a peaceful lakeside retreat while being within relative distance from workplace is the reason why a vast majority of inhabitants in the Silverlake neighborhood, including Pill Hill, were professional doctors.
With growing population in Silverlake, architects including Richard Neutra and Rudolf Schindler could easily find clients receptive to what they were trying to accomplish: cutting-edge Mid-Century Modern residential designs. Silverlake, with regards to the housing structures designed by these prominent architects (Neutra, Schindler, Ain, and Lautner), was almost completely privately built by wealthy homeowners who could not resist the lush scenery of the neighborhood and were willing to pay generous amounts to designers and architects who were willing to take on the job.
Mid-Century Modern architecture in Silverlake between the 1930s through the 1960s allowed the neighborhood host and showcase of some of Los Angeles’ best avant-garde architectural styles more generously than any other neighborhood in Los Angeles. To conform to the challenging terrain, architects incorporated their creative designs to make the Silverlake an exquisite residential neighborhood. Most of the prominent structures built were near the lake on the amphitheatre-like slopes overlooking the tranquil body of water. This is not, however, why Silverlake is unique. What is more crediting about the neighborhood is the mixture of these latter avant-garde modernist works meshed with older Spanish Colonial Revival and Mediterranean architectural designs which allow Silverlake to become more aesthetically pleasing, and thus gives it a distinct cultural identity.
The most notable architectural structures during the Professionals Period in Silverlake are the Neutra Colony houses. Located on east Silver Lake Blvd, this “colony” features four houses in a row designed by architect Richard Neutra. These structures, named the Yew House (1957), the Kambara House (1960), the Inadomi House (1960), and the Sokol House (1948), exemplify the principles of Mid-Century Modern architecture. The Neutra Colony structures allow the resident to enjoy both the indoor and outdoor qualities since large sliding glass walls would lead to outdoor decks and could be left open to enjoy the outdoors while technically being indoors. Architectural author Laura Smith notes, “They are perfect examples of the pure, unadorned rectilinear form, with large expanses of glass walls and flat roofs – all characteristic of this time period.” Further down Silver Lake Blvd is one of the earliest Mid-Century Modern structures, also by Richard Neutra. Originally built in 1932, but destroyed by fire and rebuilt by his son Dion Neutra in 1963, The Neutra House is, “Comprised of three floors, the top floor with its walls of glass and the carpeting on the floor is a sanctuary of sorts. One is meant to sit on the floor and gaze out at the lake in contemplation.” To add function and design, often a conflictive relationship between the two for some architects, Neutra used large, vertical louvers on the house which can be moved to block the sun. These structures, along with many other notables by architects Lautner, Schindler, and Ain, embody the style of the Silverlake neighborhood following the film period in post-1930s.
Gay/Lesbian Period
The transition between the Professionals Period and the Gay/Lesbian Period is often considered a vague one because there is no exact year separating the two periods, thus, there were doctors as well as groups from the gay and lesbian community living side by side in the hills of Silverlake (the same can be said about present times). The gay and lesbian period in Silverlake, however, was most notable between the 1960s through the 1980s. What sparked the gay and lesbian community in the Silverlake neighborhood was the Mattachine Society, the country’s first homosexual rights organization established in 1950, and even earlier, the “coming out” of Julian Eltinge in the Silverlake neighborhood in 1918. In the subsequent decades leading up to the 1950s, gays had established a community in the Silverlake area which made the establishment of the Mattachine Society possible.
The post-Mattachine period in Silverlake is one which is identified by the sexuality of a group. Between the 1960s and into the 1980s, homosexuality was often associated with the Silverlake neighborhood because it was a hub for many homosexual organizations. Even more than just a hub, homosexuality during this period also made possible for a new type of political identity. Daniel Hurewitz, who researched homosexuality in the area, states, “The Mattachine men marked their sexual activity as both central to their personal identity and the basis for communal political action. Their sexual lives gave them a political identity. They [The Mattachine] created an unprecedented site for homosexually active men and women to discuss their actions and desires and thus build a sense for shared experiences.” This organization, which lasted through the late 1970s, helped inspire a cohort of other activist chapters as their agenda was to meet with clergy, police, government officials, and other legislators to discuss and challenge medical, religious, and legal sanctions towards homosexuality.
The result of the gay and lesbian organizations and the subsequent increase of gays and lesbians into the Silverlake neighborhood made it almost inevitable in creating a diverse – sexually, socially, culturally – place. In 1980, predominately geared toward the gay and lesbian community, the Sunset Junction Street fair was introduced on Sunset Blvd. By its sixth year in 1985, it was no longer geared towards any political, ethnic, or sexual minority. It was a celebration of the polyglot population – gays, lesbians, artists, musicians, painters, filmmakers (and possibly even Pill Hill doctors) – for the Silverlake and Echo Park neighborhoods. Jacques Chambers, a neighborhood activist in Silverlake, said regarding the Sunset Junction Street Parade, “West Hollywood’s gay fair is well and good, and I’m not out to knock it. But I like being part of a whole community rather than being part of a separate community.” The Gay/Lesbian Period was the first time in Silverlake history which introduced a mixing of classes, both socially as well as sexually, in assembling a diverse, unique neighborhood.
Why the gay and lesbian population declined in the late 1980s and into the 1990s is not well documented and any conclusion would be conjecture. However, it can be understood that the increasing awareness of the “new gay center” of the post-1990s was increasingly focused towards West Hollywood and the Fairfax districts since those districts enjoyed a population rise during this period. Another theory was brought up in my interview with resident Marc Abrams who stated the AIDS epidemic had a direct cause for gay and lesbian population decline in the Silverlake neighborhood. Regardless, gays and lesbians, just like the filmmakers and doctors of the previous periods, left their own impression in further validating the diversity and uniqueness of the neighborhood into present times.
In Silverlake today, although less in populace than compared to the 1970s and 1980s, gays and lesbians enjoy their part in the community. Akbar, a gay friendly bar on Sunset Blvd, gets a mix of quirky artistic groups, primarily but not exclusively male, who line up to drink cocktails while mingling to the sounds of music in the likes of Morrissey and David Bowie. Establishments such as Akbar further reinforce the present gay and lesbian community in Silverlake today.
The Yuppie Period – Present
In the Los Angeles Times, an ad in the mid-1980s knew exactly how to market condominiums to the Silverlake crowd: Art. Titled, Silverlake Site Attractive To Buyers, it states, “The excitement of L.A.’s cultural centers, including the Music Center Museum and the Museum of Art are close by.” This art crowd, which was introduced during the film period, grew dramatically in Silverlake through the 1980s and into the 1990s. That same year, newspapers hailed Silverlake as, “An Artistic Refuge” and compared it to San Francisco. This newspaper article also acknowledges the increase of the yuppie culture, noting, “These people [artists, writers, and actors of Silverlake] mingle comfortably with the downtown business and professional types who also call Silverlake home.” It is very peculiar, considering the stark polar differences between Southern and Northern Californian culture, that a piece of San Francisco can be found in Los Angeles, specifically, Silverlake. Consider how San Francisco would look if it had elements of Los Angeles in its neighborhoods.
Post-1990 Silverlake can be loosely defined as the culmination of the previous periods. The artistically inclined (film community), the professionally-paid (doctors and professionals), and the sometimes sexually identified (gays and lesbians), are developed into what is known as the yuppie: a young urban professional. It is these young yuppie minds in Silverlake which embellish the neighborhood’s character, diversity, and uniqueness in creating the Silverlake we know today.
Jeremy Hargis is the classic embodiment of a Silverlake resident. Jeremy, sporting a turtle tattoo on his arm and now pushing thirty, works and lives in the Silverlake neighborhood. During the day, he fulfills his clients’ needs with a haircut, and at night, he enjoys playing basketball at the local courts near Silver Lake Reservoir or socializes at notable spots such as The Silver Lake Lounge. Not everyone enjoys the comfort of working and living in the same neighborhood, but arguably, Silverlake seems to hold this quality more than most neighborhoods in Los Angeles. “There is no need to go out to the Westside of town [referring to other parts of Los Angeles]. Everything I need is right here. The cool thing is that everything is within walking distance from your home so you hardly ever have to drive. I think I put about 150 miles on my car within the last couple of months,” says Jeremy, who often speaks enthusiastically regarding his neighborhood.
To Jeremy, pedestrian life in Silverlake is important. The less need to drive a vehicle and the relative ease of getting around the neighborhood by walking says something about Silverlake: It is pedestrian friendly. Asked what would be one of the qualities about the Silverlake neighborhood, Marc Abrams, replied, “It is the best walking neighborhood in Los Angeles.” Local city officials also make sure this holds true. In the Silverlake Community Plan, the report specifically states that pedestrian-friendly aspects should be available in the neighborhood, noting, “The mass, proportion, and scale of all new buildings and remodels should encourage pedestrian orientation.” Silverlake is proof that even in Los Angeles, one can expect a decent walk.
Like the people, structures in Silverlake are open to experimentation. Color seems to play an instrumental role in the neighborhood as residents paint them in fancy colors of choice. Considering the neighborhood is Silverlake, the color choices by these residents are nothing monotonous. An example can be taken from Dave Vendig’s house in Silverlake. What began as a dull bluish-gray structure in 1940 was turned into a faÃ?§ade which resembles a contemporary art piece. “The first story was peach, the upper a particularly vivid pink. Window and door frames were painted red, yellow, and a deep blue. There was some purple in there too. Blue bubbles gently accented the whole. It looked like the setting for a Dr. Seuss story,” reported the Los Angeles Times. Neighbors have been supportive of Vendig’s creation, thus it also helps considering that his house is in Silverlake and not any other neighborhood in Los Angeles. “Historically, Silverlake has been open to new ideas,” says neighbor Todd Wexman, and the structures which Neutra and Schindler designed decades ago is evidence that Silverlakers have always been open to new ideas.
In 2002, the Waverly House was designed by architect John Sofio on Waverly Drive. Its colors, although less fruitful than Vendig’s, are visually unique. Sofio, a Neo-Modernist who strives to revive Modernist projects such as Neutra’s, adds a uniquely contemporary flare to his projects. The Waverly House, which is a geometry guru’s dream come true, has both flat as well as slightly sloped rooftops. The colors are unprecedented. Contemporary grey-black base and golden burgundy door frames mixed with sky blue and hints of red. The Waverly House maintains the fact that nothing in Silverlake is ordinary.
It appears that the city government is particularly generous in allowing such designs, colors, and motifs. With stricter codes, the Silverlake neighborhood would look much like any other neighborhood in Los Angles. However, thanks to a more liberal local city approach to design, Silverlake has maintained its character. Under the Goals and Purposes section of Design Policies, The Silverlake Community Plan states, “Design of all buildings should be of quality and character that improves community appearance by avoiding excessive variety or monotonous repetition,” and further states, “These design policies are to ensure that residential, commercial, industrial, and mixed-use projects, public spaces, and rights-of-way incorporate specific elements of good design. The intent is to promote a stable and pleasant environment and improve the quality of life.” To the city, the Neo-Modernist designs, the Neutra experiments, and even Vendig’s colorful Dr. Seuss faÃ?§ades doesn’t seem to bother the government, and hence, is not regarded as being too excessive. With more liberal city codes than compared to other parts of Los Angeles, Silverlake residents continue to spruce up the neighborhood by changing the designs of their homes and painting curious colors in “promoting a stable and pleasant environment and improving the quality of life.”
A Geographical Outlook
Geographically, Silverlake does not follow the typical grid pattern. The serpentine like format of confusing, twisting streets, often overwhelm the newest motorist. City planners have always struggled in controlling various sites with respect to zoning because of this comprehensive terrain. For example, it is often difficult to correctly identify a central node in the Silverlake neighborhood. Instead, Silverlake has various nodes which are not centrally located. A pass through Hyperion Ave or the elongated Griffith Park Blvd which later connects and changes its name to Sunset Blvd shows the various types of residential and commercial zones clustered together. The conventional grid pattern in Silverlake is almost nonexistent.
The neighborhood of Silverlake has also kept the majority of its original street names. A Scotsman named Hugo Reid, upon seeing the lush green rolling hills of the Silverlake area before the turn of the twentieth century, thought the hills reminded him of the hills of his homeland in Scotland and named the area after a famous Scottish novel, Ivanhoe, by Sir Walter Scott. Therefore, many of the streets in Silver Lake have Scottish names and names which are related to characters from Scott’s novel such as Herkimer, Kenilworth, and Ben Lomond. Silverlake maintains its original street names and refuses to carry over popular Los Angeles streets into their neighborhood.
In observing any contemporary map of Los Angeles (with exception to Sunset Blvd), one will notice streets such as Santa Monica Blvd, Melrose Blvd, Beverly Blvd, and Hollywood Blvd, which span across Los Angeles county, some all the way from the Pacific Ocean to West Hollywood and through Downtown, abruptly end at the western tip of the Silverlake neighborhood. The hilly terrain in Silverlake must not be a factor for not allowing streets like Melrose, Beverly, and Santa Monica to continue their street names in Silverlake since many streets in Los Angeles maintain street name integrity no matter where the road goes. For example, Santa Monica Blvd, which begins near the Pacific Ocean, follows through more than six different districts in Los Angeles County (Santa Monica, West LA, Westwood, Century City, Beverly Hills, and Hollywood), two major highways (Interstate-405, US-101), and a golf course (Los Angeles Country Club), among numerous other notable physical features. Why then, would Santa Monica Blvd stop at the south-westernmost tip of the Silverlake area near Sunset Blvd?
Consistent with the theme unique, Silverlake refuses to carry on the tradition of Los Angeles street names. Streets like Santa Monica, Beverly, and Melrose, which carry with them a reputation of all things sunny LA, Hollywood hip, and popular, are replaced by names such as Lucile, Bellevue, London, Redcliff, McCollum, Teviot, and Rowena, among others. The colorful, busy and often distracting stimuli along Melrose Blvd between Fairfax and Highland, which has given the name Melrose this type of reputation, does not evade the Silverlake neighborhood via its street name, and hence reputation. Instead, Melrose Blvd ends on Hoover St, just shy of the Silverlake neighborhood.
Conclusion
Standing on one of Silverlake’s amphitheatre-like hills on a clear day, I could not help but gaze outside of Silverlake and face towards the Hollywood mountains. The Griffith Observatory and the famed Hollywood sign, at an angle, could be clearly seen in the afternoon sun. Physically, it is amazing how Hollywood (with its masked flamboyancy and glamour), separated from Silverlake by only a few hills, can be so close, yet socially, the two are poles apart. If the goals of these hills were to forbid any outside influence and interference while enclosing what remains inside, then the hills have truly succeeded.
Silverlake seems to hold a special kind of appeal. In his article, Hi-Ho Silverlake, Peter McQuaid best describes the diversity of the Silverlake people stating, “The Silverlake crowd is just as comfortable at a poolside barbeque as it is at a blood ritual by the local performance artist Ron Athey.” So, if Silverlakers are not participating in poolside barbeques or blood rituals, chances are they are jogging around the tranquil blue lake. You can even spot the assiduous jogger, Marc Abrams, passing the streets of Silverlake in what he regards is the most pedestrian friendly neighborhood in all of Los Angeles. It would be inaccurate to label the people and neighborhood of Silverlake anything shy of unique.
Today, Silverlake is the product of the four periods examined. Unique is the word that best describes the Silverlake neighborhood of present time. Historic sites commemorating the film community’s achievements in Silverlake and Echo Park, hillside homes which demonstrate nothing short of excellence in architecture, numerous gay and lesbian-friendly establishments, a myriad of Neo-Modernist residences for young urban professionals, and art cafes and restaurants for intellectuals and contemporaries alike, superimpose the different layers of distinct characters onto the Silver neighborhood. These cultural layers, which define Silverlake, are then translated into a type of buffer zone for Los Angeles to the south and the valley to the north.
