L.A. FIELDTRIP - SILVER LAKE

The first article in our West Coast taster trip:

SILVER LAKE

Since the publication of the book Bohemian Modern, Absolute Zero Degrees has been obsessed with Silver Lake and this September we were fortunate to visit this district, which is known for some of the most famous modernist architecture in the US, and for its neighbourhood feel.

The first part of our trip started, unusually, in a car park of a supermarket – where we met our tour guide, Laura Massino Smith, an expert in the history of architecture in Los Angeles…the car park it turned out was the original site of the Walt Disney Studios.

Featured in the above images are a few of the sites visited:
Top left: McAlmon Residence, 1936 by R.M.Schindler
Bottom left: Avenel Housing, 1948, by Gregory Ain
Centre top: Yew House, 1957, by Richard Neutra
Centre bottom: Akai House, 1961, by Richard Neutra.

The tour was extensive, and for us modernist enthusiasts, incredibly interesting. It also included modern architecture by Bernard Maybeck, Lloyd Wright and John Lautner.

To take the tour yourself contact:
Architecture Tours L.A.
http://www.architecturetoursla.com
Or if you aren’t visiting L.A. and are interested, order their guides, written by Laura – with maps and images of the architecture from the tour.

Another reason to visit Silver Lake are the closely grouped design shops, on Silver Lake Blvd.
Our favourites are:
Yolk
http://www.yolk-la.com
Lawson-Fenning (which incorporates a great bookshop – Ivanhoe books run by Lucy Spriggs):
http://www.lawsonfenning.com
A+R
http://www.aplusrstore.com
and Rubbish, which is across the street from Yolk.

This area on Silver Lake blvd, was also the site for the Maximillian Schell structure:
http://emanate.org/schell.htm
by M&A, which we featured in our book “Circles and Dots” – published by Rotovision.