
A Small Town in the Big City
Residents of Atwater Village want you to get one thing straight: Their neighborhood is not part of Silver Lake, Los Feliz, or Glendale. It’s a stand-alone community of 16,000 people that happens to border better-known neighborhoods near Griffith Park.
For years, the neighborhood was known as just plain Atwater. Its two main thoroughfares, Glendale and Los Feliz Boulevards, offered a practical but unsightly string of medical offices and a shoe-repair shop. The Tam O’Shanter Inn ($$$; 2980 Los Feliz Blvd.; 323/664-0228), a Scottish-themed restaurant that was the favored lunch spot of Walt Disney, was one of Atwater’s few standout destinations.
Residents banded together in the late 1970s to add “village” to the name. And, especially in the last few years, the neighborhood has begun to live up to its moniker. Today Atwater Village has a yoga studio, a candle boutique, a couple of cool coffeehouses, and Bigfoot Lodge (3172 Los Feliz; 323/662-9227), a cocktail lounge that attracts hipsters from all over. In May locals rejoiced when India Sweets & Spices ($; 3126 Los Feliz; 323/345-0360), a popular Indian grocery chain and vegetarian restaurant, opened in a long-abandoned billiards parlor.