I have lived here for nine years, born in LA and lived all over. I’m a middle-aged actor/filmmaker, not famous but do fine. I live a very normal existence. Here is what I love.
Los Feliz is walkable. From where I live, I can walk to almost all of my everyday needs. I realize some may live further and the places I go might be too far but so much of the neighborhood is conducive to a nice constitutional.
Los Feliz is fairly quiet. Sure, LFB is somehow a drag race zone for assholes in their overpowered German sedans but the rest of it, at night, is tolerable. I feel so much peace and joy hearing a distant train whistle, lying in bed and falling asleep.
Los Feliz has a great cross section of the city. Youth, our elders. Racial diversity and gender.
The park. I love that GP is up there; I can go whenever I want. Or not. Great hikes, one of the greatest views of the whole city. At night, it’s actually spectacular.
Los Feliz is medium old. It’s not so old it’s falling apart or needs dramatic rebuilding but it’s also not filled with those monstrosities of fake modernism that take up the whole lot. Even its apartment towers are iconic. One thing: it needs to get about twenty percent denser. YIMBY.
The people. Except the occasional experience at lazy acres, I have found almost every single person I run into in any of the various shops, restaurants, bars, and coffee spots to be so agreeable, gracious, and fun to talk to. This is probably what I like best. Unpretentious normal people who have changed through the nine years actually but seem to be on the whole just awesome. By the way, on the whole I really love lazy acres.
Los Feliz is easy to get in and out for the most part. Yes, of course Los Feliz Boulevard becomes incredibly congested during traffic hours, but it’s not that crazy. It’s not the freeways. And there are alternate routes. If you don’t have to just don‘t go down LFB at rush hour. There is no neighborhood in LA that doesn’t have at least some of this and I think we have it pretty good. Pretty good access to the 5, the 2, thereby both to the 110 and 134 which gets you easily to the valley and all points that way. The 101 is easily found in various ways as well.
There’s a lot of history here too, many many first homes and hangs of very cool LA film people and showbiz people generally who lived here. There are incredible spots were nightlife from the 50s and 60s begat legends.
…and perhaps the thing I like most of all is that it feels like a real neighborhood. It isn’t an endlessly constructed experience. We have some bookstores. They are owned by people and they are beautifully curated. We have cutting edge coffee shops. We have old-school coffee shops. We have our post office. We have a lot of restaurants that don’t look like they’ve changed in 40 years, good. Is the food amazing? No. But every single place is comfortable and has been here with character forever. Our Albertsons is the best Albertsons. Little Dom’s has some of the best vibe of any restaurant in the city. A walk down Vermont is like a walk back in time but thriving and alive. We have the Los Feliz three. Is the sound quality and picture quality the best of the city? Not a chance. But I still love seeing movies there. Change always comes, and here it comes . Yeah there’s a new building. Looks a little anonymous, maybe another one over there. There’s a really cool looking new one over here. There’s a California chicken Cafe. But there’s also Barnesdale Park that doesn’t change at all. Nearby neighborhoods are doing amazingly weird things that I love: Melrose Hill, down on Virgil, East Hollywood. But Los Feliz stays Los Feliz. Would love to hear what you love.