Los Angeles Eastside Expertise: Silverlake, Los Feliz, Echo Park & Atwater Village

SILVER LAKE

Geography

Stretching from somewhere around Sunset and Fountain in the north to down where Sunset hits Silverlake Blvd and over the big hill to encompass Silverlake reservoir, the neighborhood slopes a lot.  The major commercial areas are along Sunset (Sunset Junction) in the west, a small stretch of Silver Lake Blvd. running by the reservoir and another spurt along Glendale Blvd.  Silverlake seems untraversable, but if you’ve got a bike and don’t mind some kills, it’s not too hard to commute from one side to the other.  There aren’t wide expanses of grass or greenery, but up the hills into the neighborhoods it can be so quiet and shady that you’ll forget you’re only 5 miles from downtown L.A.

Vibe

Mention “Silverlake” to anyone that’s been in L.A. for a few months and the first sentence out of them will surely include the word “hipster.”  You’ll be hard pressed to do a lap of Sunset Junction without encountering at least 4 guys in jeans tighter than most women would dare don and at least 5 girls with bangs and large sunglasses.  It’s popular to hate hipsters, but it’s their discerning taste for all that is cool that has made Silverlake a mecca for interesting boutiques and charming restaurants.  Tourists won’t feel comfortable here and everyone always seems slightly overdone, but for the most part people are nice, or else so wrapped up in themselves that they don’t even notice you.  Ok, mostly the latter.

Notable Eat & Drinkeries

LOS FELIZ

Geography

Bordered by Griffith Park (and Los Feliz Blvd.) to the north and Fountain Ave, or wherever you consider Silverlake to start to the south, with Hollywood to the West and the 5 Freeway to East, Los Feliz is cozy in every sense of the word.  There are rolling hills where the ritzier residents live and quaint apartment buildings that line Vermont Avenue, home to the independent bookstore, two 24 hour diners and the famous Dresden Room.

Vibe

Though it’s certainly got its own hipster contingent, there is something classier, cleaner (except for that guy outside the Albertson’s and Danny Bonaduce) and more mature about Los Feliz.  The shops and restaurants are a little pricier, and that makes Los Feliz more of a destination for a meal or an afternoon than for an apartment.  If you do manage to find an affordable spot to live here, you’ll be walking distance to anything you need (except a Trader Joe’s) including bars, grocery stores and a Goodwill.

Notable Eat & Drinkeries

ECHO PARK

Geography

Though you can take a look at the map and see that Echo Park encompasses quite a bit of territory, the vast majority of cool things that happen there are lined up along Sunset Blvd.  Just take a (long) stroll from Silverlake up and down a hill.  There’s no missing the flagship American Apparel, and you’re there.  On the east side of the thouroughfare the hill goes up and you’ll find houses houses and precariously perched apartment buildings that house mostly the hip and urban.  The other side of the street is a little shadier and more colorful.

Vibe

Echo Park is essentially the grittier neighbor to Silverlake.  When the rents get too steep, the gentrification tends to spill over neighborhood boundaries.  As such, Echo Park is decidedly more dirty and with a higher rate of gang violence (yeah, no, there are real live gangs here apparently), you definitely get the feeling that you’re somewhere “authentic.”  That is, until you find yourself in one of the hipster bars which are plentiful.

Notable Eat & Drinkeries

ATWATER VILLAGE

Geography

Atwater Village exists at a decidedly slower pace than the other neighborhoods mentioned in this guide.  It’s commercial areas are quite distinct with shops and restaurants along Glendale Blvd and a short “bar district” a few block north along Los Feliz Blvd.  Aside from this, its neighborhoods are quiet, flat and residential.  Take a walk through them and even though you could throw a rock at Interstate 5 (“The 5” to locals), you’ll feel like you’re in suburbia.

Vibe

Though the pace is laidback and friendly, the bars in Atwater Village don’t fuck around and neither do the drinkers that frequent them.  Any given Friday around 2am, there is a mass exodus from Bigfoot Lodge, the Roost and the Griffin and a parade to the Del Taco next door.  But stop in at LA Bread for a baguette on Saturday morning and you’d have no idea.