Silverlandia | Silver Lake, Echo Park, Los Feliz & Atwater Village News

Silverlandia is a community based project aimed to promote exploration and growth for small and local businesses in the four neighborhoods of Silverlandia:
Silver Lake, Echo Park, Los Feliz and Atwater Village.

September 23, 2020

SELAH Neighborhood Helps the Silver Lake Homeless Population

The SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition is a group of neighborhood organizers who “recognize unhoused individuals as fellow members of our community worthy of the same dignity, respect, and representation afforded to any housed person”. They operate in Silver Lake, Echo Park, Los Feliz, Atwater Village, and East Hollywood. Here, they have the mission of responding to homelessness in a proactive, compassionate, and effective way. The group is dedicated to helping the Silver Lake homeless population get back on their feet.

SELAH Neighborhood Coalition

The main goal of the SELAH Neighborhood Coalition is to ensure that these vulnerable members of our community receive support and political recognition. They do so by providing them with material aid, connection to existed services, and all sorts of policy advocacy. Other organizations dedicate themselves to the overall goal of reducing homelessness on the city, county, and state levels. SELAH, on the other hand, focuses on sustainable relationship-driven support for the Silver Lake homeless population. Here are some of the ways in which they do so.

Engagements with unhoused neighbors to offer resources and advocate in their favor.
Partner with local churches to offer regular meals, showers, and case management.
Meet with elected representatives to voice concerns and offer solutions.
Host community education and activity events centered around homeless advocacy.
Distribute resources for those experiencing homelessness.
Research and advocate in favor of policies that support their mission.
Build bridges and connections with other community groups working towards similar goals.

Support Silver Lake Homeless Residents

So, how can you help? Well, there are plenty of ways in which you can support SELAH’s mission. First, of course, you can volunteer with them. SELAH volunteers prepare and distribute food, hand out clothing and hygiene supplies, and provide general aid to Silver Lake homeless residents. If you can’t donate your time, you can definitely donate other things. For example, they accept donations for clothing and hygiene products. Lastly, you can donate money or special skills if that’s more your thing. SELAH will gladly accept as much help as you can give!

September 22, 2020

Wildfire Evacuation Checklist in the Face of Evacuation Orders

With several fires around Southern California and the Los Angeles area, a lot of people are on alert given potential evacuation orders. If you are concerned about what you will do in case of an evacuation order, here’s a quick wildfire evacuation checklist for you to keep in mind.

Wildfire Evacuation Checklist

There are different tiers for things you need to include as part of your wildfire evacuation checklist. After all, you don’t always have to leave right away. Sometimes you will have some time before evacuating. Here’s a quick checklist that can help you make sure you are taking everything with you in case of an emergency.

In Case of Immediate Evacuation Order

The following checklist is for when you receive an evacuation order to leave your home as soon as possible. Try preparing for this before you receive the order itself.

Communications:

Keep your phone fully charged.
Notify and update someone out of the area with your phone number, location, and status.
Leave a note with your contact information and your out of area contact’s on the fridge or the front window.
Check on or call your neighbors to make sure that they prepare as well.

For Your Household:

Everyone in the household should wear long sleeves and long pants, preferably wool or heavy cotton.
If possible, wear full-coverage goggles, leather gloves, and head protection.
Cover everyone’s faces with a face mask and a bandana or a scarf over the mask.
Carry a headlamp and/or a flashlight.
Carry your car keys, walled, identifications, and spare batteries.
Drink a lot of water.
Put spares of everything you might need in your vehicle.

Pets and Animals:

Locate your pets and place them in carriers immediately.
Make sure that all your pets are wearing tags.
Place the carriers, along with fresh water and extra food, near the front door.

In Case of an Evacuation Warning

Now, this checklist is for when you receive an evacuation warning rather than an immediate order. The first thing you should do is make sure you have everything outlined above. However, should you have additional time before you evacuate, you can worry about the following. Please note that it’s preferable not to wait for a strict order before evacuating.

Inside the House:

Shut all windows and doors (including the interior ones) and leave them unlocked.
Remove combustible window shades and curtains; close metal shutters.
Move furniture to the center of the room, away from windows.
Leave indoor and outdoor lights on.
Shut off HVAC and ceiling fans.

Outside and in the Neighborhood:

Place any combustible outdoor items (such as patio furniture, toys, doormats, trash cans, and others) inside a garage or at least 30’ from structures. You can also try placing them in a pool.
Shut off gas at the meter or propane tank. Additionally, move small tanks at least fifteen feet away from combustibles.
Connect garden hoses with squeeze grip nozzles to outdoor spigots for use by firefighters just in case.
Fill water buckets and place around outside of the house, especially near decks and fences.
Clean your gutters and blow leaves away from the house.
Back your car into the driveway, loaded with everything you might need, with doors and windows closed.
Prop open fence and side gates just in case.
Place any ladders you might have at the corners of structures for firefighters.
Seal attic and ground vents with precut plywood or metal covers if time allows. Even duct tape can protect these crevices from ember entry.
Patrol your property and monitor the conditions. Leave if you spot fires ignite or conditions change.

For more information, be sure to watch out for fire alerts and recommendations from fire departments.

September 18, 2020

Thank You For Coming Continues to Serve the Best Brunch in Atwater Village

Down Glendale Blvd, in the very heart of Atwater Village, you find Thank You For Coming. This collectively-run restaurant is a hidden gem of the neighborhood and a unique fixture of the area. This small restaurant is equal parts charming and elusive. After all, it’s only open for a few hours every week. Even then, you will fall in love with this special place in the short span of time for will you’ll get to enjoy it. For a few hours each weekend, Thank Your For Coming serves you the best brunch in Atwater Village. Even now, you can continue to enjoy their delicious food by ordering takeout.

Thank You For Coming

Upon visiting Thank You For Coming, you will find three signs expressing the spirit of the restaurant. They, your hosts and neighbors, invite you, their guest and collaborator, to share in the labor of a meal or a project by helping each other. Their delicious menu, which includes all sorts of signature breakfasts and sandwiches, makes up the best brunch in Atwater Village. You will only be able to enjoy it, however, between 11 am and 3 pm on Saturdays and 10:30 am and 3 pm on Sundays.

Brunch in Atwater Village

Under normal circumstances, you would be able to enjoy the unique atmosphere and delicious menu of Thank You For Coming at their quaint locale. Right now, however, they are only fulfilling takeout orders. If you would like to brighten your weekend with an at-home brunch, why not try what they have to offer? Just head over to the Thank You For Coming website. Here, you can take a look at their menu and order for pickup within their weekend schedule. Just because we are all stuck at home, it doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy brunch in Atwater Village.

September 17, 2020

Yoga Online and Other Workouts For You to Do at Home

One of the biggest struggles of quarantine has been staying active. On one hand, it’s very hard to work out without access to a gym. At the same time, motivation might be eluding you too. That’s why yoga is such a good option. Not only is it a way to remain active during this stagnant time, but it is also a good way to be more mindful and in touch with yourself. If you’ve never done yoga before, don’t worry. There are plenty of resources for yoga online.

Yoga Online

Whether you have already done yoga before or know nothing about it, it is a perfect activity for you while in quarantine. After all, it’s very simple, requires little to no prior experience, and zero equipment is necessary. Yes, all you need to do to get started with yoga is, well, a floor and something comfortable to put between that floor and your body. Once you have this, you will only need a guide through the exercises. The best thing is that there are plenty of YouTube channels, podcasts, and websites dedicated to guiding people through yoga online. Yoga with Adriene, for example, has been gaining popularity on YouTube. However, there are many other options out there.

Other Fitness Options

Of course, if yoga isn’t really for you, then you can try other forms of socially distant workouts. For example, we recently compiled a list of different hikes in the area. Additionally, you can head out to one of the area’s parks and do an outdoor workout. The important thing will be to make sure you are keeping active. Fitness is important, and since we are not sure of just how long social distancing guidelines will last, it’s better to establish a good workout routine in the meantime. Be sure to keep up with our fitness tag so that you can find new ways to stay active.

September 16, 2020

Los Feliz Slow Streets Are Helping Us Spend More Time Outside Responsibly

If you live in Los Feliz, you might have noticed that a few streets have been closed for through traffic. Mainly, they closed Rodney Drive between Ambrose and Prospect Avenues. Additionally, they closed Ambrose, Finley, and Melbourne Avenues between Vermont and Commonwealth Avenues. This is part of Streets For All’s initiative for Slow Streets in Los Angeles. Through this project, the city aims to improve upon the remaining quarantine period in the city and allow residents to spend more time outdoors. Our very own Los Feliz slow streets are here to give our community more room to responsibly walk, run, bike, and more.

Streets for All

“For the critical reasons of equity, mental health, safety, and the physical well-being of Angelenos,” reads the Streets for All website, “we ask the City of LA to authorize the pilot of an emergency people street network – using cones or other temporary infrastructure – to create additional sidewalk and open space for people to walk, run, scoot, and bike in, while maintaining 6’ of distancing.” Through the implementation of these closed streets, communities can increase access to public space for active social distancing without risking crowding. Not only that but they are also reclaiming some of the excessive space designated for motor vehicles in Los Angeles, changing the notion of public space in general.

Enjoy Los Feliz Slow Streets

Are you feeling cooped up because of the extended quarantine? Do you feel like you’re not spending enough time outdoors? Well, the Los Feliz slow streets can help you with that. You can now go out on walks, runs, biking rides, and more with the help of these pedestrian streets. Sure, they aren’t exactly life as we knew it, but they can help us for now. If you’d like to know where exactly to find these slow streets, check out the active map.