The self-guided tour will feature 10 properties ranging from nearly century old bungalows to mid-century cottages to Spanish colonial compounds. Most of these dwellings continue to serve as home to individuals involved in artistic fields, including dance, tile making and the entertainment industry.

One of the properties featured on the tour was built by Maynard L. Parker, a prolific photographs whose images were a frequent sight in home décor pages of the Los Angeles Times and other national publications from the 1940s through the early 1970s. Parker’s photos, which are housed at the Huntington Library, ranged from typical Southern California tract homes to interiors designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

The 1940s era home was built out of garage kits that Parker, an Elysian Heights resident who died in 1976, customized with mid-century finishes and styling.

Tour Tickets & Details

The self-guided tour will be held on Sunday, November 12 from 11 am to 4 pm. The tour starts at Williams Hall, 2000 Stadium Way near Dodger Stadium. Tour visitors will pick up tickets, a program and map at Williams Hall before touring the homes in any order they want.

The Silver Lake area is located just five miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles and just east of Griffith Park. The district gets its name from the Department of Water and Power’s Silver Lake Reservoir, which was named after Herman Silver, a member of Los Angeles’ first Board of Water commissioners.    The Department of Water and Power established these reservoirs in the early 1900s as part of the city-wide system of water storage & delivery that today has only 10 open reservoirs remaining.

Echo Park and its lake have always been a touchstone for the community that grew up around it.

Initially, the area we now know as the park was a natural arroyo that filled with water from a spring-fed stream that originated at Baxter Street and flowed down what is now Echo Park Avenue. In 1868 the Los Angeles Canal and Reservoir Co. dammed the arroyo to make a reservoir that aided in powering a woolen mill at what is now 6th and Figueroa (then known as Pearl St.) and was to eventually serve local residents, walnut orchards and vineyards to the south along Alvarado. The immigrants that worked these orchards and vineyards settled here and began to build small homes along Sunset Boulevard, between Echo Park Avenue and Lemoyne Street.

In 1875, the woolen mill closed and the reservoir land (then known as the Montana Tract) was sold off. Eventually, Thomas J. Kelley and Dr. W. Lemoyne Wills purchased the land for a business venture. For reasons unknown, the venture wasn’t feasible and in 1888, Mr. Kelley and Dr. Wills donated the land to the city for the expressed purpose of creating a public park for the enjoyment of the people of Los Angeles. The paperwork was finally completed during the recession of 1889 and in 1891 park development began. The first Superintendent of Parks for the city was an English immigrant named Joseph Tomlinson who was assigned the task of creating the park. Mr. Tomlinson, being somewhat homesick for his favorite park in Derbyshire, England, decided to model the park after his favorite childhood place to play. At the same time, the reservoir was closed and the stream was capped. The park superintendent created a 16-acre lake where the reservoir had been. It cost $5,637.00 to create the lake that is now filled with city water. Once that was accomplished, the planting began on the other 15 acres of park.

One day, while overseeing the work, Mr. Tomlinson thought he heard his workers talking during a break, but he knew they were across the park from him. The park had an echo! He knew what the name of the park would be! Unfortunately, the plantings he installed destroyed the echo, but the name remained. The park was dedicated and opened to the public in 1895.

The famous bed of lotuses that grow in the lake at the northwest end of the park, the largest stand of lotuses outside Asia, is a mystery yet to be solved. One legend says that evangelical Chinese missionaries planted them for use as food, but no one knows the real story. They appeared some time in 1923 or 1924. Nonetheless, they remain a beautiful addition to the park and have inspired the city to sponsor the annual Lotus Festival that celebrates Asian and South Pacific Island cultures.

1902 United States Geographical Survey map from 1902. Note blue-line that starts at the top-right.

This is the Los Angeles Canal and Reservoir Co’s Zanja (ditch) which conveyed water to the reservoir from the Los Angeles River. The zanja started at the present day ‘Travel Town’ and followed the slopes above the river until it veers south above a small valley (present day Glendale Blvd. down to Riverside Drive). Its course then follows the hill above the present day Silverlake Reservoir (note the dashed blue-line, a natural ‘waterway’ that is now the bottom of the reservoir). The zanja then follows the present day Silverwood Terrace then turns South-East south of Berkeley Street then down what became Glendale Blvd. to the reservoir. Also feeding into the reservoir was the small blue-line to the right, the natural spring from Baxter Street.

The most notable feature of the intersection of Echo Park and Morton avenues used to be Magic Gas station. Now, the same area is emerging as the neighborhood’s gallery row. By late September, three galleries are expected to be open in side-by-side store fronts on Echo Park Avenue. Joining Ojala Fine Arts & Crafts, which opened in May, will be Delirium Tremens (look it up), at 1553 Echo Park Ave. Owners AaronDonovan and PattyCastillo will open their space in early September with a group exhibition featuring the paintings and drawings of VanArno, StaceyLande, JohnParra and JasonKraus.

Next door, MerrickMorton, RobinBlackman and KatrinaAlexy are ripping out walls and restoring historical features as they prepare to open Fototeka, an exhibition space for the photographic arts. They are planning a late September opening. Call 661-5563 for more information. All three exhibition spaces are scheduled to participate in a Eastside Gallery tour on Thursday Sept. 24 and Friday Sept. 25, when about a dozen art venues in Echo Park, Silver Lake and Los Feliz will be open from 5 PM to 11 PM.

An exhibition featuring the photography of DellaRossa will be held during the month of August at The Perfect Exposure in Los Angeles. The Day They Killed Ruben Salazar includes photos from Della’s book on the death of the Los Angeles journalist on August 29, 1970. The sow opens with a 7 PM reception at Friday, Aug. 7. The Perfect Exposure is located at 3501 W. Sixth St. Call 213-381-1136 for more info. Paintings by NancyLisssaman and ZohrehPartovi will be on exhibition at Ojala Fine Arts & Crafts, 1547 Echo Park Ave., during the month of August. The opening reception included a performance by Echo Park musician DevinSarno.

In September, WilliamNettles will exhibit his photographs at Ojala as part of a historical exhibition and debut of a new book–Ghosts of Echo Park–on local history. The opening reception and book signing will take place on Saturday, Sept. 5. Call 250-4155 for more information. Painter CooperTomlinson was part of the Mad River Post Summer Collection exhibition in Santa Monica. Photographer MartinCox is included in the LA NUDE VI exhibition at Photo Impact–931 N. Citrus Ave.– in Hollywood. The show runs through Sept. 18. KatrinaAlexy and HillaryMushkin were part of the most recent show in the While You Wait Series at the Hollywood Department of Motor Vehicle.

MerrickMorton’s photographs from a recent trip to Cuba were included in a group exhibition titled Not So Distant Lands at George’s in Los Feliz. Paintings by PatssiValdez and an installation by EricaSuderberg were included in the COLA: 1997-98 Individual Artists Grants show at the Municipal Art Gallery at the Barnsdall Art Park. Patssi and Erica were among the 12 artists exhibited in the May-June show who received $10,000, unrestricted grants from the city.

The Gesto case has never been solved, and aspects of the case have haunted Bosch for over a decade. Connelly is at the top of his game in ECHO PARK . All of the characters are motivated by different demons, and Bosch has to try to figure out why a man would confess to a murder he did not commit.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- we are witnessing history in the making with the Harry Bosch series. Michael Connelly continues to write at a level that few authors ever attain. His novel THE LINCOLN LAWYER is now available in paperback and recently won the prestigious Macavity Award for best novel of 2006 (presented by Mystery Readers International).