Let’s have a current Silver Lake business deadcount (in order of demise), shall we?

1. Flor Morena, looong gone and vacant
2. Mornings/Nights Cafe, looong gone and vacant*
3. Johnny’s Bar, looong gone and vacant*
4. Netty’s, looong gone and vacant*
5. Eastside Mercantile, gone and vacant*
6. Backdoor Bakery & Cafe, gone and vacant
7. Eat Well, gone and vacant
8. Bungalow Furnishings, gone and vacant
9. Sunset Orange, gone and vacant
10. Cardone’s Deli, gone**

* In some (mostly stagnant) stage of remodeling
** Added per this comment ^[1] found on Curbed LA; Closed as of 4/12 per comment on Yelp ^[2]

^[3]

As The Specials sang: “This town (toooooown), is coming like a ghostown.”

And it’s not over yet. For the next in the exodus — discovered biking home tonight on Sunset Boulevard — I present the retail space that previously housed my favorite named shop in the area: The Den of Antiquity. Now it’s just a shell of its former self draped with a funereal “For Rent” sign.

Coincidentally as I was taking the picture at right, a fellow who later told me he was named Evan from Angelino Heights, came out of Casbah next door and I asked him somewhat incredulously if he might know when the time of death occured. He said it had probably been a week or two, and I shook my head in dejection. Seeing my camera he asked if I was interested in the property.

“Only if they’re giving it away!”

“Not quite,” he pointed out.

“My Silver Lake is disappearing!” I lamented, and somewhat knowingly he assured “It’ll only get better,” and I asked what he meant by that. Turns out Evan’s very interested in renting the property and hoping to close a deal soon. “For what?” I asked, bracing for him to tell me the name of some boutique or salon.

He paused. “A wine bar,” he said and I shrugged in a way that was half well-at-least-it’s-not-a-Starbucks relief and the other half by-the-way-I-drink-wine-out-of-a-box disinterested.

We chatted a few more minutes and looked into the vacant 1,600-square-foot floorspace and admired some of the facade’s architectural details. Before we said our goodbyes, I pointed out the shuttered Eat Well a couple doors west and mentioned the fresh absence of Sunset Orange across Hyperion Avenue past the surplus store to the east, and took a few pictures ^[4] of the deceased Den, wondering what’s to become of those places, and what might be next to go.

Related posts:

1. 7 A.M. Report No. 2: Silver Lake Stromwartch111! ^[5]
2. Three Outdoor Flea Markets in Silver Lake ^[6]
3. Proposed Retail Development In Silver Lake ^[7]
4. Map of bike thefts in Silver Lake ^[8]
5. Be alert! – String of assaults in Silver Lake ^[9]