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7 Regions,
1 Community
Silver Lake is divided into seven regions.
Each region has two representatives on the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council.
Scroll for more information on each region.
Silver Lake
Neighborhood
Council
Region Map
Region 1
Silver Lake’s Region 1 is centered around the commercial area referred to, in some circles, as “Silver Lake Village.” For decades, the cultural anchor of the region was the restaurant/nightclub that began life as the Happy Hollow but is best remembered for having been home, from 1995 until 2010, to Spaceland.
Region 1 shares a border with Echo Park to the east. Region 1 stretches from Reservoir Street in the south to Primrose Hill in the north. Primrose Hill is noteworthy for its numerous residences designed by Asian American modernist architects including Eugene Kinn Choy (1912–1991). In order to circumnavigate Silver Lake’s racist housing covenants, Choy appealed to residents of Primrose Hill to allow him to design and build. He was followed by Gilbert Lester Leong, Schwen Wei Ma, and Eugene’s son, Barton Choy.
Other iconic residences in Region 1 include Raphael Soriano’s International-style Lipitz House (1936) and William Kesling’s Streamline Moderne Skinner House (1937). Region 1 is also home to Silver Lake’s only guard-gated enclave, Hathaway Hill Estates, a collection of mock Tudor uniplexes. At their center, looming over Silver Lake, is the all-concrete mansion, the Garbutt House (1926). It was built for aviator, boxer, inventor, and capitalist, Frank Alderman Garbutt (1868-1947).
Region 1 is located within Los Angeles City Council District 13, Los Angeles County Supervisor District 1, California Assembly District 52, California Senate District 26, and US Congressional District 30.
Region 2
Situated in Silver Lake’s southeast corner is Silver Lake’s Region 2. Region 2 shares borders with Echo Park to the east and Filipinotown to the south. Its most recognizable physical feature is probably the sandstone cut along Sunset Boulevard that was blasted, in the 1880s, to make way for the trains of the Ostrich Farm Railway – an historic railroad that conveyed curious onlookers from Downtown to an ostrich park in what’s now Griffith Park.
Region 2’s Marathon Stairs will be familiar to fans of the 1991 film, L.A. Story. In that dystopian comedy, psychotic car-brain, Harris K. Telemacher (portrayed by Steve Martin), barrels down them in his 1990 Chrysler LeBaron as terrorized pedestrians narrowly avoid death by jumping out of his way. Film also has a home in Region 2’s Cool Girl Cinema Club, which screens female-centered films, once a month, at Whammy!’s microcinema.
In the 1960s, much of Region 2 was part of Echo Park and Silver Lake’s historic Little Havana enclave. It was in Region 2 that the original location of Porto's Bakery & Cafe opened in 1976. Region 2 was also famously home, from 1986 until 2019, to the neighborhood’s iconic, rotating, Happy Foot/Sad Foot sign. Since 1994, Region 2 has also been home to Epitaph Records, which operates out of the Pacific Electric Railway’s old West Olive substation.
Region 2 is located within Los Angeles City Council District 13, Los Angeles County Supervisor District 1, California Assembly District 52, California Senate District 26, and US Congressional District 30.
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Region 3
Located in Silver Lake’s southwest corner; Region 3 is Silver Lake’s smallest region. Historically, the western portion of this neighborhood was considered to be part of Dayton Heights. Although painted over, the raised letters of a sign on Hoover Street still spell out “Dayton Heights Rexall Drugs,” advertising a long-gone neighborhood pharmacy. Hoover Street’s commercial corridor arose along the Los Angeles Railway’s L Line, which served the community from 1920 until 1940. Although the trains are gone, the undeniable charm of this commercial strip remains.
By the early 1920s, Dayton Heights was home to a large Japanese community and the neighborhood came to be nicknamed “J. Flats.” There are still several notable Japanese sites and institutions in the area, including the Hollywood Japanese Cultural Institute and the Tenrikyo Hollywood Church. Most vestiges of J. Flats, however, are located within the borders of the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council.
In the 1940s, Region 3 was home to two black pioneers. James Home Garrott, was the second black member of the American Institute of Architects | Los Angeles. Garrott designed several residences in Los Angeles including one for his friend and next door neighbor, civil rights attorney and judge, Loren Miller. Miller was the chief counsel in the 1948 decision that led to the outlawing by the US Supreme Court of racist housing covenants in the case, Shelley v. Kraemer.
Notable amenities and institutions in Region 3 include the Bellevue Primary Center, Holy Virgin Russian Orthodox Cathedral, the Silver Lake Garden, and Mom's Donut and Chinese Food to Go.
Region 3 is located within Los Angeles City Council District 13, Los Angeles County Supervisor District 1, California Assembly District 52, California Senate District 26, and US Congressional District 30.
Region 4
Region 4 is the only Silver Lake region surrounded entirely by other Silver Lake regions. Region 4 is home to numerous institutions and neighborhood amenities including the Hollywood Sunset Free Clinic, Micheltorena Elementary, and St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.
In the mid-20th century, this area was the western end of Little Havana and, during that era, the institutions of Cafe Tropical and Los Globos both first opened their doors in 1974. Another neighborhood institution, Millie’s, opened its doors as Millie and Jack’s in 1967. The nearby Silver Lake Lounge is even older, having existed since at least . Notable historic homes in Region 4 include the August House (1913), the Purviance Residence (1922), and the Maltman Bungalows (1926).
Region 4 is also notable for its large, colorful murals, including one by Nicholas Gagliarducci depicting the legendary Silver Lake Walking Man and also Kiki Giet’s mural, Reach! In 2015, Corrine Carrey, Carla O’Brien, and Mandon Bossi painted murals on two of the region’s public stairways, Stair Candy and Booming Hearts and Stair Tempo.
Region 4’s Descanso Stairs were featured in the 1945 comedic short, It’s Your Move, starring Edgar Kennedy and directed by Hal Yates. The region’s most famous public stairs, however, are likely the Music Box Steps. They were prominently featured in several comedic shorts including the 1926 Billy Bevan film, Ice Cold Cocos, the 1927 Laurel & Comedy film, Hats Off (also directed by Yates), and the 1932 Laurel & Hardy film after which they’re named, The Music Box. The park below, Laurel & Hardy Park, has hosted the annual Music Box Steps Day since 1994.
Region 4 is located within Los Angeles City Council District 13, Los Angeles County Supervisor District 1, California Assembly District 52, California Senate District 26, and US Congressional District 30.
Region 5
Region 5 is centered around Silver Lake’s famous Sunset Junction – named after a railway junction created in 1905 that, by the 1960s, was well-known as the center of Silver Lake’s gay nightlife scene. From 1980 until 2010, the area hosted and lent its name to the popular annual Sunset Junction Street Fair. To Region 5’s west is Virgil Village. Flowing underneath Region 5, from its source beneath the Shakespeare Bridge, is Arroyo de la Sacatela which, although entombed beneath Myra, flows underneath the Sunset Boulevard Overpass.
Region 5 was historically home to numerous gay bars, including Blasgo’s Disco, the Bushwhacker, Curly’s, the Detour, Don’s Male Box, Le Barcito, the Place, and the Queen’s Attic. The most historically significant gay bar, though, was Region 5’s Black Cat, which, in 1967, became the site of one of the first protests against police brutality after LAPD officers infamously attacked and beat patrons of that bar and New Faces, during New Year’s Eve celebrations at the dawn of the year. The leather subculture is still represented by Region 5’s Rough Trade Gear and Eagle L.A.
Other legacy businesses in Region 5 include El Cid (1963), Tacos Delta (1981), and United Bread & Pastry (1985).
Other amenities of Region 5 include Silver Lake’s largest park, Bellevue Park (former site of the Bellevue Reservoir), and the Bellevue Recreation Center; the city’s smallest community garden; the Manzanita Street Community Garden, and the Silverlake Independent Jewish Community Center.
Region 5 is located within Los Angeles City Council District 13, Los Angeles County Supervisor District 1, California Assembly District 52, California Senate District 26, and US Congressional District 30.
Region 6
Silver Lake’s Region 6 forms the heart of the pre-Silver Lake community of Ivanhoe. Los Feliz and Franklin Hills, to the west, were also part of Ivanhoe. Several of the region's streets – including Angus, Avenel, Hawick, Herkimer, Kenilworth, Rokeby, Rowena, and Scotland – are references to either the 1819 novel or the Scottishness of its author, Sir Walter Scott. Ivanhoe Elementary opened there in 1889. Developers Byram & Poindexter claimed that their tract had originally been named Ivanhoe by Scottish born Mexican, Hugo Reid (1811-1852), but that’s nothing but a bit of fanciful haverin’.
Region 6 contains many fine examples of residential architecture by the likes of Eugene Choy, Gilbert Leong, Gregory Ain, James Garrott, and Harwell Hamilton Harris, amongst many others. No architect, perhaps, is better represented in Region 6 than the great Modernist, Rudolph M. Schindler. Other notable residences include the Sakai-Kozawa Residence/Tokio Florist (1911), Robert D. Farquhar’s Crestmount (1923), and John Lautner’s Silvertop (1963). Region 6 is also home to the ship-shaped Good Ship Grace (1941), commissioned by “First Mate Bob” (evangelical preacher Paul Myers of Haven of Rest Ministries).
Region 6 is home to Casita del Campo (1962), which includes in its basement a tiny live theater venue, the Cavern Club Theater. Nearby is another theater, the Lyric Hyperion. Other legacy businesses in Region 6 include Bogie’s Liquor, Say Cheese, and Vamco Dry Cleaners.
Region 6 amenities include the AT Center, the Atwater Larchmont Tila Pass Lodge No. 614, Boys Republic, Los Angeles Fire Department Station No. 56, and the Silver Lake Community Church.
Region 6 is also notably home to many public stairways, including Esther’s Steps, named after a Danish Silver Laker who walked their combined 265 steps; as well as Silver Lake’s only nominal public squares: Joseph Gatto Memorial Square and Landon Dorris Square.
Region 6 is split between Los Angeles City Council Districts 4 and 13, Los Angeles County Supervisor Districts 1 and 5; and is located entirely within California Assembly District 52, California Senate District 26, and US Congressional District 30.
Region 7
Bordering both Elysian Valley and Elysian Heights; Silver Lake’s Region 7 is the neighborhood’s largest. Region 7 was historically home to Tom Mix’s movie ranch, Mixville; the pre-Hollywood capital of American film production, Edendale; an anarcho-communist Magonista commune; Anaïs Nin and Rupert Pole’s residence; Villa Capistrano, the home to America’s first drag superstar; and the meeting place of one of the first gay rights organizations, the Mattachine Foundation.
Region 7’s Edendale Place Stairs were featured in the 1941 Three Stooges short, An Ache in Every Step. Region 7 is also home to the longest stair street in Silver Lake, the 182-step Loma Vista Stairs.
Legacy businesses include the Red Lion (1959) and the Googie-style Astro Family Restaurant (1974), built in 1959. Region 7 institutions and amenities include Allesandro Elementary, the Apostolic Faith Church, the Silver Lake Branch Library, the Tommy Lasorda Field of Dreams, and the Holyland Exhibition, a private museum located in the family home of adventurer Antonia Frederick Futterer.
Notable Region 7 residences include David Hyun’s hanok-inspired residence, the How House, O'Neill Duplex No. 1, and the residence of Judy Garland (when she was still known as Frances Gumm). Region 7 is also home to Silver Lake’s only garden apartments, the aptly named Silverlake Garden Apartments (1949).
Region 7 is especially notable, however, for its many fine Richard Neutra designs, including the Neutra VDL Studio, Neutra Office Building, In 1992, Argent Place (along which several Silver Lake Neutras are situated) was renamed “Neutra Place.”
The dominant feature in Region 7, however, is the neighborhood’s titular Silver Lake Reservoir, which opened in 1907. The complex includes the Silver Lake Meadow, the Eucalyptus Grove (planted between 1911 and 1918 in an effort to parkify the complex), the Silver Lake Dog Park, and the Silver Lake Recreation Center.
Region 5 is split between Los Angeles City Council Districts 4 and 13; and is located entirely within Los Angeles County Supervisor Districts 1, California Assembly District 52, California Senate District 26, and US Congressional District 30.
