Silver Lake Bohemia: A History

by Michael Locke, Vincent Brook

Overview

Since the early 1900s, Silver Lake has been a magnet for iconoclastic writers, architects and political activists. Famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who designed the Hollyhock House for socialist and oil heiress Aline Barnsdall, drew a wave of visionary modernists to the area. Local civil rights advocate Loren Miller spearheaded the fight against housing discrimination. Silver Lake's Black Cat bar and Harry Hay's Mattachine Society were central to the early gay rights movement. Literary artists Anäis Nin and James Leo Herlihy made the neighborhood their home, as did other notables like first lady of baseball Effa Manley and "Hobo Millionaire" James Eads How. Michael Locke and Vincent Brook chronicle these and other people and places that helped make Silver Lake the bohemian epicenter of Los Angeles.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781625858030
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	11/07/2016
Series:	American Chronicles
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Michael Locke is a longtime resident of Southern California. He is a partner in the residential brokerage firm Deasy Penner & Partners. He served on the first Silver Lake Neighborhood Council as region one representative and vice chair. He is a regular contributing writer and photography chief for the Los Feliz Observer and an occasional writer and photographer for the Los Feliz Ledger and the Los Angeles City Historical Society newsletter. He lives in the Durex Model Home (Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No.1025) with his wife Donna Jean. Previously he collaborated with Vincent Brook on the book Silver Lake Chronicles: Exploring an Urban Oasis in Los Angeles, also published by The History Press.
Vincent Brook has lived in Silver Lake since 1978 with his wife Karen. A longtime community activist and university professor (UCLA, USC, Cal-State LA, and Loyola Marymount University), he has written or edited eight books, most recently Silver Lake Chronicles (2014, with Michael Locke), Woody on Rye: Jewishness in the Films and Plays of Woody Allen (2014, co-edited with Marat Grinberg) and From Shtetl to Stardom: Jews and Hollywood (forthcoming, co-edited with Michael Renov).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 5

Preface 7

1 It All Begins with Barnsdall: Aline Barnsdall and the Hollyhock House 9

2 Passing the Baton: Rudolph Schindler and Richard Ncutra 18

3 The Sorcerer's Apprentices: Gregory Ain, Harwell Hamilton Harris and Raphael Soriano 32

4 Avatar of the Avant-Garde: Anäis Nir 44

5 Silver Lake's Spiritual Son: James Leo Herlihy 53

6 Salon, American Style: Peter Yates and Evenings on the Roof 60

7 Scaling the Swish Alps: Harry Hay and the Mattachine Society 72

8 The Espresso Priest and the Advocate: Malcolm Boyd and Mark Thompson 85

9 Where It's At: The Black Cat Tavern and A Different Light Bookstore 95

10 Conscience of the Revolution: Ricardo Flares Magón 105

11 Civil Rights Champion: Loren Miller 115

12 Pioneer in Progressive Education: Rose Scharlin School 125

13 Harbinger of the Future: John Lautner and Silvertop 132

14 Joining Cultures East and West I: David Hyun, Eugene Kinn Choy, Gilbert L. Leong and Delbert Wong 139

15 Joining Cultures East and West II: East West Players 145

16 Triumph and Tragedy: William Kesling and His "Scintillating Structures" 152

17 The Hobo Millionaire: James Eads How 157

18 From Harlern to Silver Lake: Effa Manley 163

Epilogue 169

Notes 171

Bibliography 191

Index 201

About the Authors 207

Editorial Reviews

"For over a century the hills between Hollywood and Downtown have been filled with artists and bohemians. East Hollywood, Echo Park, and especially Silver Lake attracted musicians, movie stars, and activists long before Moby opened his vegan restaurant or Jake Gyllenhaal and Chris Pine ran into each other at LAMill. Two new and incredibly well-researched books from Michael Locke and Vincent Brook, Silver Lake Bohemia and Silver Lake Chronicles, shed light on the long and illustrious history of what Forbes magazine dubbed "America's Hippest Hipster Neighborhood." Trust fund babies, loft parties, and Kenneth Anger are not new to Silver Lake. Check out some of the area's original hipsters." LA Magazine

From the Publisher