Los Feliz/Silverlake

Los Feliz is a hillside neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, abutting Hollywood, and encompassing part of the Santa Monica Mountains.

The neighborhood is named after its colonial Spanish-Mexican land grantee, José Vicente Feliz, and along with present day Griffith Park, makes up the original Rancho Los Feliz land concession.

History - Long before the Spanish settlers arrived to settle near the banks of the Los Angeles River, Native Americans were the only inhabitants. It is estimated that the first Native Americans came to the area approximately 10,000 years ago. The Native Americans established villages, known as rancherias, throughout the countryside. One of these settlements was within the boundaries of what was to become Rancho Los Feliz. Archeological surveys have found evidence of a substantial rancheria that existed in the mouth of Fern Dell Canyon in Griffith Park. The traditional name of this village is not known, but the inhabitants were Gabrielinos. This name was given by the Spanish because of the Native Americans' association with the San Gabriel Mission. When Gaspar de Portolà traveled through the vicinity in 1769, his expedition encountered members of this village.

Geography - Los Feliz encompasses several smaller but distinct areas, including the Los Feliz Hills and Los Feliz Estates (north of Los Feliz Boulevard), Laughlin Park, Los Feliz Village, Los Feliz Square, Los Feliz Knolls, and Franklin Hills.

Los Feliz is part of Central Los Angeles. It is flanked on the north by Griffith Park, on the northeast by Atwater Village, on the southeast by Silver Lake, on the south by East Hollywood, and on the northwest by Hollywood and Hollywood Hills. Los Feliz is situated near the 101 and the 5 freeways in Hollywood and Atwater Village respectively. 

Its boundaries are the Griffith Park line between Fern Dell Drive and Riverside Drive on the north; the Los Angeles River on the east; Hyperion Avenue and Griffith Park Boulevard on the southeast; Fountain Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard on the south; and Western Avenue, Los Feliz Boulevard, and Fern Dell Drive on the west and northwest.

Schools - 

Public 

• John Marshall Senior High School, 3939 Tracy Street
• Franklin Avenue Elementary School, 1910 North Commonwealth Avenue
• Los Feliz Elementary School, 1740 North New Hampshire Avenue
• Thomas Starr King Middle School, 4201 Fountain Avenue

Private 

• Our Mother of Good Counsel, 4622 Ambrose Avenue
• Immaculate Heart School

Silver Lake is a residential and commercial neighborhood in the east-central region of Los Angeles, California. Originally named Ivanhoe in the 1900s by a resident from Scotland, it was built around what was then a city reservoir which gives the district its name. The "Silver" in Silver Lake is not because of the water's color, but named for a local politician who helped create the reservoir. The area is also known for its restaurants, painted staircases and hipster hangouts, and many notable people have made their homes there. The neighborhood has several public and private schools. It is said that Silver Lake's residents "Fully embrace the hipster life style”.

History - In 1904, the Fletcher Drive Viaduct was constructed at the northeastern boundary of Silver Lake for the Glendale Line of the Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars. Originally constructed of timber, the viaduct was replaced in 1928 by a steel span construction to make way for Fletcher Drive underneath it. It was demolished in 1959 and only its concrete footings remain.

During the 1930s, Walt Disney built his first large studio in Silver Lake at the corner of Griffith Park Boulevard and Hyperion Avenue, currently the site of Gelson's Market. As consequence, the name "Hyperion" is used by The Walt Disney Company and its subsidiaries, with company entities past and present carrying the name, such as Hyperion Books and the Hyperion Theater at Disney California Adventure Park. The fictional Seattle neighborhood of Hyperion Heights in the final season of the Disney-owned ABC series Once Upon a Time also traces its name to the same origin.

Several blocks away on Glendale Boulevard was the studio of early Western films' star Tom Mix. The location is now occupied by the Mixville Shopping Center. It is rumored that Mix buried his steed "Tony, the Wonder Horse" on the property.

The neighborhood is crisscrossed by numerous municipal staircases that provide pedestrian access up and down the neighborhood's signature hills. Among these are the Descanso Stairs, Redcliffe Stairs and the Music Box Stairs. The famous flight of stairs in Laurel and Hardy's film The Music Box are located between lower Descanso Drive and Vendome Street, as it winds up and around the hill. 

Geography - Silver Lake is flanked on the northeast by Atwater Village and Elysian Valley, on the southeast by Echo Park, on the southwest by Westlake, on the west by East Hollywood and on the northwest by Los Feliz.

Street and other boundaries are: the Los Angeles River between Glendale Boulevard and Fletcher Drive and Riverside Drive on the northeast, the Glendale Freeway on the east, Effie Street, Coronado Street, Berkeley Avenue and Fletcher Drive on the southeast, the Hollywood Freeway on the south, Virgil Avenue on the west and Fountain Avenue and Hyperion Avenue on the northwest. The prime real estate around the lake is known as the "Moreno Highlands.”

Schools - 

Public

• Allesandro Elementary School, K–5, 2210 Riverside Drive
• Bellevue Primary School, K–1, 610 North Micheltorena Street
• Clifford Street Elementary School, K–5, 2150 Duane Street
• Ivanhoe Elementary School, K–5, 2828 Herkimer Street
• Micheltorena Street Elementary School, K–6, 1511 Micheltorena Street
• Thomas Starr King Middle School, 6–8, 4201 Fountain Avenue

Private

• Kids' World School, K–12, 2132 Hyperion Avenue
• St. Francis of Assisi Elementary School, K–8, 1550 Maltman Avenue
• St. Teresa of Avila Elementary School, K–8, 2215 Fargo Street