the greater Silverlake area

Silverlake is the land of hipsters, to be sure.  Bordered by Echo Park and Los Feliz, it's kinda near Dodger Stadium, surprisingly close to Downtown, and also a neighborhood with a heavy immigrant influence, particularly from Mexico.  It's a diverse neighborhood, and for the most part not a flashy one.  It's also one I'm growing fonder and fonder of.  Not just because it's Hipsterville, U.S.A. (although this does mean there are some funky awesome little boutiques and some good people watching), but it's home to Beck (ok, not making a good non-hipster case yet), my favorite glasses shop, a fun and very legit weekly market, and it's got great street names.  

I'm not really where exactly on the Los Feliz-Silverlake-Echo Park map the following places lie, but most of them are in Silverlake, if not close by.

That said, here are some of my new favorite places.

1. Gogosha Optique - run by a wonderful eyewear guru named Julia, the frames are pricey but creative, interesting, and hard if not impossible to find anywhere else.  Their claim to fame, you walk in and instantly the sales clerk will find about a dozen frames that look good on you, but the two of you will work together to find the best match.

2. Little Dom's - while sometime I think they're called Major Dom's or they ought to serve Asian fusion, Little Dom's is in fact a good ol' fashion American restaurant with an old Hollywood glamour and a well-preserved charm.  Not only that, the food is excellent.  You can order a bowl of fruit as a side, but instead of your run of the mill cantaloupe, honeydew, grapes, etc, they serve an eclectic and ever-changing mix of the best that's in season.  When I went, the fruit bowl included fresh fig, apricot, and plum, among other things.  

3. The Silverlake Farmer's Market - A good ol' fashion farmers market chock full of  fresh produce and home made crafts, but with a twist, meaning avocado crepes and pure cane juice, handmade notebooks made from recycled paper (so recycled that there's still writing on the other side) made by Tyler Bender, and an organic coffee stand that serves a drink called "Global Warming" (Cafecito Organico).  Granted, most of these vendors are also at the larger Hollywood Farmers Market, but I like Silverlake because it's smaller and more laid back (this may or may not be related to the pervasive smell of marijuana that lingers in the air).

4. The Echo - okay, so this one's definitely in Echo Park, not too far from the park itself, but its in the general region and it's a great concert venue.  Small, but not too small, there's seating against the wall if you get too tired of standing, but they keep a pretty solid lineup running through there, so during concerts there isn't much need to sit.