Echo Park sits just northwest of downtown Los Angeles, built around the lake that gave it its name, with Angelino Heights, the city's first historic district, on one side and Elysian Park and Dodger Stadium on the other. Missig Team at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties has represented buyers and sellers here for more than two decades, from turn-of-the-century Victorians on the hills above the lake to new construction and income properties.
Echo Park is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Los Angeles, and its houses show it: Queen Anne and Eastlake Victorians, Craftsman bungalows, Spanish courtyard homes and modern infill, often on the same street. Phil Missig came to real estate from fashion, photography and an interest in architecture and design, and in a neighborhood this layered, knowing what a house is, and what has been done to it, matters.
Echo Park Real Estate
Echo Park, from reservoir to lotus beds
The lake came first. Built in 1870 as Reservoir No. 4, part of an early drinking water system, it was given to the city as a park in 1891 and named Echo Park in 1892, reportedly after parks superintendent Joseph Henry Tomlinson heard his shouts echo across the arroyo. Tomlinson turned it into an English-style park with an island, a boathouse, willows and palms. Lotus was growing in the lake by the 1920s, Ada Mae Sharpless's Lady of the Lake statue arrived in 1935, and after a full restoration the lake reopened in 2013 with its lotus beds replanted. The Lotus Festival is held there every July.
Angelino Heights, on the hill above the lake, was laid out in 1886 and linked to downtown by the Temple Street Cable Railway, making it one of the city's first suburbs. The 1300 block of Carroll Avenue holds the largest concentration of 19th-century Victorian homes in Los Angeles and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and Angelino Heights became the city's first Historic Preservation Overlay Zone.
In the 1910s, Mack Sennett made Keystone comedies at his Edendale studio on Glendale Boulevard, and in 1923 Aimee Semple McPherson opened Angelus Temple facing the lake. The hills to the north, Elysian Heights, climb on some of the steepest streets in the city, with more than two dozen public stairways, including the Baxter Stairs down to Elysian Park, the city's second-largest park and home to Dodger Stadium.
Where it is: in the 90026 ZIP code, northwest of downtown, between Silver Lake to the west and Elysian Park and Dodger Stadium to the east, with the 101 to the south.
Echo Park's pockets
Angelino Heights
The hill between Echo Park Lake and the 101, along Carroll Avenue, Kensington Road, Douglas Street and Edgeware Road, with the city's best-preserved Victorians and a historic overlay that guides any exterior change.
Echo Park Lake
The streets around the lake and Sunset Boulevard, including Echo Park Avenue's lower blocks, Laguna and Lemoyne, with 1900s cottages, courtyard buildings and small income properties, walkable to the lake and the shops on Sunset.
Elysian Heights
The hills north of the lake between Echo Park Avenue and Elysian Park, on Baxter, Fargo, Ewing, Morton, Landa and Lucretia, with Craftsman and Spanish homes, mid-century hillside houses, public stairways and canyon views.
Lower Echo Park
South of Sunset toward Temple Street, around Alvarado and Bonnie Brae, with early 1900s homes and many of the neighborhood's duplexes and fourplexes.
Most of Echo Park is in the 90026 ZIP code, within the City of Los Angeles.
A selection of homes we have represented
The L.A. Confidential house, 1906, 1704 Morton Avenue. An early 1900s home in Elysian Heights, known around Echo Park as the house from the 1997 film L.A. Confidential. We represented the seller. View the home
1622 Ewing Street, by Jordens Arkitekter, 2023. A modern-minimal hillside home in Elysian Heights designed by the Swedish firm Jordens Arkitekter, clad in wood with stone and tile imported from Sweden, with beamed ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows in every room and views of the city lights, canyon and hills across three levels. We represented the buyer.
1937 Lemoyne Street, 1929. A late-1920s home in the hills of Echo Park, near Elysian Park. We represented the buyer, and later the seller.
817 Laveta Terrace, 1902. A turn-of-the-century home in Angelino Heights, on the hill above Echo Park Lake. We represented the seller.
We have also represented buyers and sellers elsewhere on Ewing, Lemoyne and Morton, and on Bonnie Brae and Landa, from 1900s Craftsman homes to new construction and income properties.
See our full architectural and mid-century portfolio.
Buying in Echo Park
Echo Park rewards buyers who know what to check. These are the points we walk every buyer through.
Historic overlay in Angelino Heights. Exterior changes, additions and new construction in the HPOZ go through design review. Know the rules before you plan a remodel.
Stairs, steep lots and parking. Many Elysian Heights homes sit above or below the street, and some streets are among the steepest in the city. Check the climb from the car to the door, and how street parking works.
Dodger game days. Traffic and parking on the streets near Elysian Park change on game nights. Visit on one before you buy.
Rent control on income properties. Most duplexes and fourplexes built before October 1978 fall under the Los Angeles Rent Stabilization Ordinance. Review the leases, rents and tenant history before you make an offer.
Fire insurance. Parts of the hills near Elysian Park are in a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone. Get insurance quotes before you remove contingencies.
Permits and history. Many Echo Park homes have grown over a century of owners. We compare what was built against what was permitted.
Frequently asked questions
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Missig Team at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties has represented buyers and sellers in Echo Park for more than two decades, from Victorians in Angelino Heights and Craftsman homes in Elysian Heights to new construction and income properties. Many of our clients have bought and sold with us more than once.
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Most of Echo Park is in 90026, within the City of Los Angeles.
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Yes. Angelino Heights is the historic hill neighborhood on the southeast side of Echo Park, between Echo Park Lake and the 101. It was laid out in 1886 and became the city's first Historic Preservation Overlay Zone.
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Elysian Heights is the hillside part of Echo Park north of the lake, between Echo Park Avenue and Elysian Park, known for its steep streets, public stairways and canyon views.
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They are neighbors and share the 90026 ZIP code in places. Silver Lake lies to the west and north around the Silver Lake Reservoir, while Echo Park centers on Echo Park Lake, Angelino Heights and the hills toward Elysian Park and Dodger Stadium. See our Silver Lake page.
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LAUSD schools in Echo Park include Elysian Heights Elementary Arts Magnet, Clifford Street Elementary and Logan Street Elementary. Assignments depend on the address, so confirm with LAUSD's Resident School Locator.
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Yes. Echo Park is in the City of Los Angeles, so Measure ULA's transfer tax applies to sales above the city's thresholds, which adjust each year. We can tell you where a sale would land before you list.
Buying or selling in Echo Park? From Angelino Heights to Elysian Heights, these are streets we know well, and we would be glad to talk. Call Phil at 310.844.6434 or email Missig Team at info@missigteam.com.
See also our Silver Lake page and Los Feliz page.