This Must Be Silver Lake

Published Oct. 19, 2023 Updated March 21, 2025 2:26 PM PT

Long earlier Silver Lake became nan benignant of spot wherever throngs of 20- and 30-somethings flock connected a Saturday nighttime to sip earthy vino and tally from 1 creation level to nan next, location was a man named Herman Silver.

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He was a metropolis councilman and h2o commissioner astatine nan move of nan 20th century, and he’s nan 1 who pushed for nan creation of a reservoir among nan hills eastbound of Hollywood and and westbound of nan L.A. River.

That was 1907. Once metropolis officials named nan reservoir for Mr. Silver, group started calling nan area Silver Lake. (Yes, nan sanction is 2 words — not Silverlake, arsenic some section businesses would lead you to believe.)

These days, nan area is champion known for nan Modernist architecture that clings to its hillsides, nan chic young families who cavort successful Silver Lake Meadow and nan bustling nightlife that thrives on Sunset Boulevard. Also, you astir apt couldn’t plaything a roar microphone successful this vicinity without hitting a writer, character aliases musician.

You could reason that Silver Lake’s imaginative spark goes backmost a century, to nan first silent films changeable astatine nan Mack Sennett Studios aliases nan early cartoons drawn by Walt Disney and institution successful his first animation workplace a fewer blocks away. For astir of nan ’90s and ’00s, nan euphony venue Spaceland (now closed) was a magnet for up-and-coming indie rockers including Beck, Elliott Smith, nan Silversun Pickups and Rilo Kiley.

And for decades, 1 of nan neighborhood’s signature events was Sunset Junction, a thoroughfare show designed to build bridges betwixt nan area’s important Latino and cheery communities. (Though New York’s Stonewall Riots are amended known, 2 years earlier Sunset Junction’s Black Cat Bar was nan tract of one of nan first nationalist protests for cheery rights.)

Now celebrities for illustration Lady Gaga, Jay-Z and Martin Scorsese usage nan Mack Sennett Studios connected Fountain Avenue. As for nan Disney workplace that stood from 1926 to 1940 astatine 2719 Hyperion Ave., wherever Mickey Mouse was born? It’s been torn down and replaced by a Gelson’s supermarket.

But each is not lost. Though pricey, this Gelson’s is simply a vicinity hub and not a bad spot for celebrity-spotting. To drawback locals astatine easiness connected immoderate evening, belly up to nan Gelson’s vino bar. If it’s a weeknight, they’ll person “Jeopardy!” connected astatine 7.

Anyway, Silver Lake will astonishment you. It has a flamenco nine (El Cid connected Sunset) but nary movie theatre (although nan Vista is conscionable adjacent doorway successful Los Feliz). Its German brew plot (the Red Lion Tavern) utilized to beryllium an English pub. Since astir 2011, somebody has been hanging hand-cut metallic letters that spell KOOK connected inferior poles adjacent engaged thoroughfare corners. Silver Lake besides has an full vicinity (along Rowena Avenue) wherever streets are named aft characters successful Sir Walter Scott’s caller “Ivanhoe.”

And who knows? Maybe, astatine a sidewalk array connected immoderate Silver Lake thoroughfare tonight, you’ll find immoderate unexpected brilliant drinking an Intelligentsia iced java and dreaming up nan adjacent Mickey Mouse.

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