the silver lake reservoir is a gem of the east side and one of the places i frequent.
it is a bizarre body of water nestled between two hilly picturesque silver lake neighborhoods. there are actually two bodies of water: the upper 'silver lake' and lower 'ivanhoe reservoir.'
according to wikipedia, the reservoir serves the communities of downtown and south los angeles, however, i have heard rumors that the reservoir is no longer functional and will be turned into a park like the echo park lake (closed until may 2013!), where you can go right up to the water.
i have done no research regarding this conjecture, although you might say there is evidence of this because of the fairly-new meadow that has opened up along the east shore. and the new benches/seating area along testla avenue on the north shore of ivanhoe.
the 3-acre meadow is very zen. shoes are optional, and during the day it is full of families with children, people flying kites, picnickers, yogis, sunbathers, etc. no sports and no dogs, please. at dusk i have seen coyotes running along the water on the other side of the fence.
the reservoir attracts a crowd of people every day including runners, basketball players, and people with dogs because there is a 2-mile (approx.) track around the water, a basketball court, recreation center with a small playground, and also a sizable dog park.
across the street from the meadow is a famous house by modern architect richard neutra (noy-trah) that you can tour on saturday afternoons for free, but currently it is being refurbished. there are other neutra houses along silver lake blvd. because this is where he had his architecture firm!
for a map of the area, click here. i will post photos soon.
this week i went to the sick lookout spot in chinatown to show my brother and i took this photo. for the entry regarding directions, etc click here: chinatown vista entry
this semester i am in a college art class. one of our major projects is called "colors of the city" and we broke into groups and were assigned to take photos of different sections of los angeles. some people chose the arts district (warehouse district), venice beach, the garment district downtown, little ethiopia, etc. i, of course, convinced the group that we should photograph echo park. this whole section of los angeles is covered in colorful murals and graffiti/street art. the artwork reflects the multicultural essence of the neighborhood, the urban edge, the artistic population, and the strong latin influence. we talked down sunset blvd from benton way to echo park avenue through the downtown area and into some back alleys and side streets. until now, all of the photos on this blog have been mine. unfortunately, i used a cheap film camera and the prints did not turn out well. these photos are taken by group member dane stewart.
the latin food lover's overview of east side eats.
la is basically a microcosm for much of latin america. on the east side it seems like there is a pupuseria slash taco truck on every single corner.
so what is what?
1. salvadoran food. PUPUSERIAS GALORE!
what the #%$ is a pupuseria, you ask? it's a pupusa restaurant. where they make pupusas. poo-poo-saahs.
pupusas are the national dish of el salvador. they are a thick corn tortillas filled with cheese (queso/quesillo) and sometimes ground meat (chicharrón), beans (frijoles), or an edible flower called loroco. they are fried and range from dry to dripping with grease. you put salsa on top and also a pickled lettuce mixture with chiles called curtido.
i have actually been to el salvador twice, and the pupusas here in la are exactly the same as they are there, maybe better. i don't really have a recommendation for a certain pupuseria. there is one located on sunset blvd./parkman avenue in the silversun shopping center. there is another at sunset junction in silver lake next to Pazzo Gelato. there are many along virgil blvd., just north of melrose blvd. in east hollywood. and there are more down sunset blvd. in echo park. also, on the weekends, many local salvadoran-americans sell pupusas cart-style on the street. look out for them at the echo park united methodist church on reservoir st./alvarado near downtown echo park.
2. mexican food
ok, this $#!% is seriously everywhere. you can't walk half a block on the east side without seeing or smelling mexican food. here are a range of options from street eats to fine dining.
taco trucks: tacos al pastor. ¡que rico! these trucks are (pretty much) the same unless it's a gourmet taco truck. locations i have eaten on the east side are at coronado street/sunset blvd. in silver lake next to the recycling center parking lot. also, there is a very popular taco truck in echo park that posts up at the vons near alvarado/glendale blvd. intersection. finally, there is a gourmet taco truck that parks in the evening at the car wash on alvarado and sunset: El Flamin Taco. This truck is rather expensive, but they have amazing tortas.
if you want a late night taco truck experience (like 2:30 in the morning late) there are taco trucks open until this hour on 3rd Street in koreatown between vermont and normandie. they change locations along here depending on the night, but there is usually at least one out there. if you can't find any, continue down 3rd street towards western. there is one called Tacos Juanita that is very yummy.
causal dining: again, there are mexican joints literally on every corner. east side reccomendation: Tacos Delta at Sunset Junction or Restaurante 7 Mares on sunset blvd. for some bomb shrimp tostadas. Mariela's Tacos on sunset blvd. in echo park next to Cuscatleca (a salvadoran bakery - go figure).
where to bring a date: Alegria. this place has an incredible menu and is on the fancier end of the scale. but, i mean, how fancy can we get? it's mexican food.
the cuban option: right next to Alegria is an equally nice cuban restaurant called el cochinito (literally, the little pig). this restaurant boats traditional dishes such as ropa vieja (literally, old clothes), which is shredded steak in a tomato base, and paella. they also have milkshakes (batidos) of guanabana and mamey, both traditional latin-american fruits.
i have to share this place because i eat here at least once a week.
it doesn't help that they deliver for free, accept all credit cards, and are so close to my house.
it's called mae ploy restaurant in silver lake and the first time i sat down to eat here my server insisted to me that they had the 'best curry in los angeles' and that all the restaurants up in thai town on hollywood blvd have watery curry.
the lunch special menu is very affordable, so if you're short on cash then go for lunch.
here is what to order:
>curry! red, green, panang. in that order.
>beef salad!
>chicken pad thai =)
>sea food soup. they don't call it tom yum for nothing. it's delicious.
WARNING! this food is rather spicy, even if you ask for 'mild' so i have included the following:
MAE PLOY HEAT INDEX:
>mild: not so mild. expect teary eyes, a sweaty brow, and fanning of the mouth and/or tongue.
>medium-spicy: extreme heat. will certainly clear your nostrils. may cause changes in heart-rate and/or breathing.
>spicy: may cause pregnant women to go into labor. only for the most tolerant of palates. order with utmost caution, as you may spontaneously combust.
now that the weather is somewhat bearable and southern california's indian summers are passed, i wanted to share an east side mountain biking spot that is pretty legit. LA's own griffth park. okay, i call it mountain biking, but honestly i don't know the strict definition of this sport. a lot of these trails are paved and you can take a road bike if you want, just as long as you have some gears. no single-speed track bikes.
you can plan your own route or go exploring with your wheels, but all i can do to help is tell you about my own experience biking here.
park on los feliz blvd by the golf course [ 3207 Los Feliz Boulevard la ca 90039] or turn north on Crystal Springs Drive from LFB and park anywhere you want. (if you want a longer ride, start in atwater village/silver lake, there's an entrance where hyperion blvd becomes glendale blvd just east of the intersection of riverside drive/hyperion blvd. it's right next to the bridge over the la river and you can bike the flat LA river bike path north to where it ends and continue up Crystal Springs Drive).
from all points of origin, you bike north on Crystal Springs Drive past the la zoo and the railroad museum and make a left on Griffith Park Drive. here you can take your bike up the mountatin on one of the access roads (try the first one) that are closed to cars and continue upward. you should pass a lookout over the vast forest lawn cemetery (where legends like Walt Disney and Michael Jackson are buried) before your steep descent. there are some dirt roads up here too with lookouts toward the hollywood sign, if you've brought a reliable mountain bike.
a couple of safety items: be careful on the steep descent down the paved roads, you can easily wipe out because of debris and/or water on the road and it's really hard to brake going 40mph on a bicycle. i know someone who crashed while flying down the mountain and he was seriously injured. also, on the dirt roads, be careful because there are some serious drop-offs. last and least, there are mountain lions in this park. but seeing one is extremely unlikely. just a heads up! leave your raw meat at home.
if you follow the route I told you, and stay on the paved road, you will end up at the Griffith Park Observatory, which, in my opinion, is a major highlight of Los Angeles. i take almost everyone who visits from out of town.
on a different trip, come back to the observatory at night (by driving north on Vermont Blvd straight past LFB into the park), but get there before 10pm when it closes. they have a great view of the hollywood sign, the LA basin, a large working telescope, and planetarium shows. bring a date or your parents or when they visit. they'll really appreciate it.
ever feel like you're managing your life rather than just living it? sometimes i feel like i'm no longer a human being, but rather a human doing.
being a college student, it seems like life is a never-ending scheduling block of appointments, meetings, classes, deadlines, and alarm clocks. but no matter what your responsibilities are, if you're the yuppie with the nine to five job or the full-time mom, it's crucial once in a while to shrug off your responsibilities and give yourself some room to breathe. burning the candle on both ends last week got me sick, and so i'd like to share a relaxing place on the east side where you can do just that: be a human being, not a human doing.
i am all about scenic views, if you haven't gleaned that yet from my photographs. here are directions to one of LA's best vista hangouts on the east side. i'm going to write out the directions and tell you all about it, because if you're serious about this exercise in relaxation you will have left your smart-phones at home and use my good old-fashioned directions.
directions:
n.b. sunset blvd. turns into cesar chavez blvd. at figueroa in china town. it's the same exact street. sunset blvd travels in the direction of echo park, silver lake, and hollywood, and cesar chavez runs toward downtown directly to union station.
(1) from the 110 fwy from pasadena, get off at sunset blvd. (exit 24b) and follow figueroa terrace to beaudry avenue, then turn right.
or
(2) from the gold line METRO stop in china town, walk on broadway through china town and make a right on cesar chavez blvd., walk 0.7 miles and turn right on beaudry ave.
or
(3) from downtown echo park, go down sunset blvd towards figueroa and make a left onto beaudry ave.
or
(4) from downtown LA, take figueroa blvd east and make a left on sunset blvd., and then a right on beaudry avenue.
now that we're all in the same spot, follow beaudry avenue all the way up the hill until you reach marview. hang a right on marview, follow it up the long hill to the top, park, and you're here! you'll know you've found the right place if you see a magnificent view of the city and you're next to the ruins of an former house.
this area is safe to chill out for a while. tranquilo, you will not gonna get jumped by vatos with cuetes. the neighbors don't seem to mind there being people up here, and i usually see cars parked on the dirt lawn, if you will, of the former house. i have seen people up there enjoying 420 or on the weekends, teenagers with forties. go figure. if you're like me, i don't need "help" relaxing. i get high off of new places and new experiences, so go explore, pause for air, and just be.
p.s. the other side of the hill looks over dodger stadium and its parking lots. you can ignore this, i have a way better vantage point for the ballpark from elysian park, but i'm going to have to travel there and refresh my memory first. its the second-largest (and oldest) city park in los angeles and it's easy to get lost. it boasts some really nice family picnic areas and kids parks, outdoor sports facilities (frisbee-golf, anyone?), and team sports fields, etc. it also has some killer views of the stadium, downtown, and the san gabriel valley. i've only gone on weekends during the daytime, when there's lots of families out, because i don't know about safety here. it might be an issue. just in case you're compelled to do your own exploring.
my comrade and i decided to go back to Señor Fish this afternoon where we had walked out last week because no one came to wait on our table after about 15 minutes. the restaurant we ended up finding that night was Mohawk Bend, and you can read all about this swingin' joint in my restaurant review below.
but today at Señor Fish, we were attended to right away and, of course, my ballsy companion decided to mention the fact that we had walked out last week because of bad service. we ended up getting a 50-percent discount for our fish tacos and shrimp burrito.
i also told the waiter that i had been there to do a restaurant review for my blog.
"Echo Park’s trendy Mohawk Bend thrives in unique, repurposed space" by Matthew Campanella
Mohawk Bend owned by local Tony Yanow.
Mohawk Bend or “MB” specializes in locally grown food for both vegans and meat eaters as well as California wine, beer, and liquor. All the produce on the menu is locally grown and the meat is California-raised. Their selection of more than 60 craft beers and more than 60 liquors are 100 percent Californian, as well.
This is Yanow’s second establishment after Tony’s Darts Away, a Burbank bar that also specializes in California craft beer and vegan food with some non-vegan menu options.
The trendy restaurant, named for Mohawk Street, which intersects with Sunset Boulevard, is located half a mile west of downtown Echo Park among a string of fairly new chic businesses along this up-and-coming neighborhood strip.
The restaurant houses three different dining spaces. Out front is a vintage-looking lounge area underneath the classic lighted marquis. Inside the main room, there is a sizable dining area with booths, high tables, and a long bar on one side. On the opposite side is an exposed gourmet kitchen and open brick-oven at which you can sit and dine while watching the chefs making pizza and preparing meals. Two television screens above the bar play the Dodgers and Giants game happening live down the street at Dodger Stadium.
The back room, the “Ramona Room,” is the most elegant – a transformed warehouse space two stories high of ancient brick and glossy painted I-beams. This room formerly held the movie screen. The centerpiece is a 15-foot high industrial fireplace with stacks of firewood on either side of the same height.
The menu is fairly simple, but changes on a regular basis, as the date is printed at the top. All food is vegan unless marked NV for “not vegan.” MB serves an array of appetizers, but for those who eat NV food, the Spanish Stuffed Dates, bacon-wrapped and chorizo-filled, are melt-in-your mouth delicious. They also serve a medley of soups, salads, and entrees, notably the Mediterranean Platter with house-made falafel, tzatziki, hummus, and eggplant.
Also for carnivores is the must-have, mouthwatering, gourmet Mohawk Burger with arugula, Parmesan, crispy pancetta, red onion, pickled chili, roasted pepper, and rosemary-garlic aioli. It is perfectly spicy and irresistible.
Finally, there are several gourmet pizza options, and following MB’s motif, all are crafted from organic Californian OO flour, use 100 percent organic Californian tomatoes and herbs, and are made to share!
Not only is everything on the menu local, but also the restaurant makes its own sodas including seven different flavors, the most popular being the zesty and citrusy Ginger Beer. Yanow also has started a local microbrewery in nearby Atwater Village and samples are available to taste.
This restaurant has a fun and funky ambiance that caters to a lot of different types of clientele. The atmospheres in the different dining areas ranges from relaxed and moody in the outdoor seating area, to more of a bar-restaurant vibe in the main dining room, to the intimate and candlelit dining of the Ramona Room.
Most striking about the dining experience is that you are in a truly historic place. The former Ramona Theater was built in 1914 in what was then called the Edendale neighborhood of Los Angeles. This neighborhood is the exact birthplace of the motion picture industry, the epicenter of the age of silent films, and this theater, therefore, is a preservation-worthy piece of LA’s film history.
Lastly, you may still be wondering about Lorenzo and Funkalleros exhibited on the marquis. MB features live musicians Wednesday evenings for sets of Jazz, Funk, and more, so go then or for happy hour any weeknight between 10 and 2!
i live next to a very steep hill called reservoir street. the top of the hill looks straight eastward towards dodgers stadium about a mile away as the crow flies. i don't follow baseball, but there have been many dodgers games lately and at night the lights of the stadium illuminate the whole area, as can be seen from the top of this hill.
descending the hill tonight, i crossed alvarado street and arrived in downtown echo park. i passed through a bohemian used bookstore i really enjoy.
i collect books, and was practically foaming at the mouth when i first discovered this place. but tonight, i was just going to see if there were any events happening on the back patio. some times there are book readings or signings or poetry readings and similar live events here. this characteristic is what gives the place its rather unoriginal name: Stories. it also has a cafe i haven't tried. i find out the next reading is on saturday, apparently, so i continued on my way.
i decided to go to Señor Fish the mexican taco restaurant on the corner of logan/west sunset blvd. i think this place is new and i have been to Señor Fish in Pasadena and know they have hearty fish tacos. until recently, the windows were this gross brownish purple tinted glass covered with graffiti, but they got rid of the windows and replaced them with really nice natural stained wood-shutters that open and close. pretty classy. and it really opens up the restaurant.
i sat down with my companion and we were kind of looking at the TV on the wall. it was the dodgers vs. giants game happening, literally, a couple of blocks away. i thought this was cool to be watching a game happening around the corner and now i want to go to a game before the season ends. but then i hesitate because baseball can be kind of boring to watch especially if you're not hammered.
what follows was kind of weird ...
no one came to give us menus or take our order, yet there were two servers helping other people in the restaurant. fifteen minutes passed and no one came, even though it was pretty dead.
did they think we were homeless?
we left without eating and walked about a mile down sunset towards silver lake to find a better restaurant. what we found was incredible and i'm writing an entire review on it. will post soon.
if you are just tuning in, this blog is about the east side of los angeles, particularly the silver lake slash echo park area where i live. when i first had moved here in 2010, i was visiting a friend who owns used furniture shop (one of many in the area) along the south side of sunset blvd between micheltorena street and descanso drive. along the walk i looked left and noticed a rather steep and long concrete staircase that climbed up from the sidewalk to another street at the crest of the hill (larissa drive). when i say "steep" I mean over 100 stairs, straight up. i also mentioned in the last post that i am a runner. since then, i have discovered over a dozen similar staircases in the silver lake hills and echo park hills. what they all have in common is that they are all fairly long and steep and they cut between two streets to give easy access to the people whose houses are nestled alongside the steps. for example, the staircase in the photograph in the previous post is lined with the gates to residents' houses. in this sense, the stairs provide easy access to their front/back doors. if you park your car at the bottom of a staircase, you can easily climb to your house at the top or vice versa. also, many of them have beautiful views of the neighborhoods (see top photo below from the same staircase). did i mention that they are public? think of them as sidewalks.
these staircases are one of my favorite features of my neighborhood. not only is it exciting to find new ones, as i do ever so often, such as last week when driving i spotted a new one about half a mile from my house. they are also great exercise to climb and/or descend. as i've said, i am a runner and i frequently jog up and down the stairs to intensify my work outs. as i continue submitting entries over the next few months, i will occassionally post new pictures of staircases that i discover.
i am a fairly athletic person. i lack developed hand-eye/foot-eye coordination and therefore suck at ball sports, but i can pass as competitive when it comes to individual events like running, biking, swimming, and weightlifting.
last october i quit smoking cold-turkey after over 7 years of the nasty habit and decided that to help "cleanse" my lungs and cardiovascular system i would start running 3-4 times a week.
in order for me to run, i needed to actually leave my neighborhood. i was living in koreatown at the time, which is not a very runner-friendly area due to the cars and congestion, so i drove out to Pasadena to run at the Rose Bowl, which has a pleasant 3-mile loop around the stadium, golf course, and central parking lots. other trails extend around that area, as well, and one passes the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center into the Arroyo-Seco Park, a wooded trail that travels beneath a series of monstrous steel-reinforced concrete bridges that support busy roads like Colorado Blvd. they are beautiful and interesting to study, even if you're not an engineer.
although there is rarely traffic on the 110 or 210 freeways to Pasadena, it still was too far for me.
then i started running around the Silver Lake Reservoir. i am bananas about this place. it's located in the middle of the neighborhood of the same name, about 1.25 miles from my house along silver lake blvd and west silver lake drive. the reservoir itself is about 2 miles around and is surrounded by an 8-foot fence, so you cannot go up to the water itself. this is a tranquil area to hang because of the picturesque hilly neighborhoods surrounding the park, the san gabriel mountains in the distance, and for the view of the water itself. there is also a dog park, a recreation-center with basketball courts, a playground, and a new-ish meadow for kicking back. here there are usually lots of families and sunbathers, especially the weekends - people flying kites and picnicking barefoot. no dogs, please.
Richard Neutra, who was one of the premiere modern architects of the 20th century had his firm on Silver Lake Blvd and several of his modern houses are located here along the reservoir. One house in particular is open for free tours and educational events every Sunday, located across from the meadow at:
2300 Silver Lake Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90039
i have discovered a lot more in the surrounding residential neighborhood(s) due to my frequent running trips to the reservoir through the silver lake hills. i have seen coyotes at dusk and always gawk at fascinating architecture in the hillside. one phenomenon in particular in this area which i will be exploring in my next posting are the staircases. stay tuned.
This past Sunday, September 16th, was my 24th birthday, and my other half took me to WP24, the Wolfgang Puck restaurant on the 24th floor (no kidding) of the Ritz-Carlton Los Angeles at L.A. Live. Let me start off by saying that I really like L.A. Live. It's fun. Okay, I've never been to a Lakers or Kings game at the Staples Center, or an event at the Nokia Center, but I have enjoyed walking around there and looking at the pretty lights and screens and going to the movies at Regal Cinemas. (It probably my favorite movie theater in Los Angeles). It has giant theater with two floors that's best in, well, Hollywoodland, is usually not crowded, and has a student discount. Look for free street parking on the other side of Olympic, but do yourself a favor and pick another movie theater if the Lakers are playing.
So let me backtrack, this post is about WP24. The restaurant had a fixed menu, although there were no menus. So basically, we could have just sat down and had them bring us the three-course meal without a server even coming to the table. I am not going to try to rate this restaurant. To me, the whole fancy-dining experience is pretty awkward. I'd prefer if the waitstaff didn't call me "sir" after every sentence. Again, I'm no food critic, so I'll just say the food was very tasty. I would describe it as "modern Chinese" or "asian fusion." But truthfully, I was not paying attention to the food or anything else inside the restaurant, but rather, the amazing view. This is the best view of downtown I have ever seen! Yes, there are some great vistas from Chinatown and Elysian Park (even a few over Dodger's Stadium), but here it felt as if I were eye-level with the Skyscrapers. I will save my rant about my thoughts on downtown LA for another entry, but I just want to say that it looks pretty sublime from the 24th floor. The view spans from the Hollywood Hills in the northeast across my neighborhood, over the 110 freeway just east of the 10/110 interchange, downtown and the financial district, L.A. live, and the neighborhoods west and southwest of downtown. We spent about 15 minutes after finishing our meal obnoxiously walking around the restaurant, snapping photos, and commenting on the view from above. See Photos below:
