Charlie Ryan and partner Thom Vest have taken their fun, friendly and wildly popular LA Explained Instagram account, celebrating LA’s past, present and future in countless photos, and expanded it from a digital footprint into one of the city’s best walking tours.  The immersive and conversation al strolls cover areas like Rustic Canyon, Echo Park, Hollywoodland, Venice Beach, Angelino Heights, Hancock Park,  plus one planned for Highland Park.  The tours have attracted about 2,500 Looky-loos since the beginning of the year. Courtesy of LA Explained LA native Ryan, who spent years in the Hollywood and fashion communications fields and knows every inch of the city, leads the meticulously researched tours that last about two hours, energetically focusing a lot on architecture and local history.  “Running LA Explained, I feel like I’ve been to all of these historic places like Chasen’s and The Brown Derby,” Ryan, who was born at Cedars Sinai and has lived everywhere from Windsor Square to Franklin Village and Whitley Heights, tells LA Weekly. “It’s the most fun job I’ve ever had. Every day there’s a new surprise.  I have followers who recognize themselves and family members in our posts.” The Silver Lake tour starts outside the historic 1923 Paramour Estate, which was the recent site of the controversial Noma LA dinners.  The walk featuring the Moreno Highlands neighborhood continues down to and around the reservoir and includes the highest concentration of LA architectural history in one place.  It starts with a walk past the tiny first home that famed architect John Lautner built for himself and his wife in 1940 and winds along roads with noted works designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, Rudolf M. Schindler, Paul R. Williams,  Gregory Ain and Richard Neutra.  Ryan explains the history behind the Case Study Houses,  a series of 36 experimental, postwar residential prototypes commissioned by Arts Architecture magazine from 1945 to 1966, and some of the behind-the-scenes drama and architectural intrigue of the era. “We have an eclectic cross-section of walkers obsessed with LA that join the tours and engage in lively conversations,” says Ryan.  “We learn even more through those conversations. The other day, we had the grandson of the founder of Golden State Mutual Insurance, which had its headquarters in a Paul Williams-designed building that is still standing at Adams and  Western.” There are three Schindlers on the comprehensive walk, 11 Neutra properties (nine in the Neutra Colony, the Tree-Tops complex by his son Dion, and then the landmarked VDL Studio Residences).  You’ll also pass two from Gregory Ain (Daniel House, Greene House), one Raphael Soriano (Spencer Austrian House), one  Robert Farquhar (Paramour Estate), one Eric Lloyd Wright remodel (Ross House), and three John Lautner properties (his personal residence, Silvertop and Baldwin House,)  plus one  Harwell Hamilton Harris (Alexander House). The Silver Lake tour is a leisurely wellness walk that includes plenty of historic staircases and inclines.  It’s a good idea to bring a bottle of water, but if you happen to forget and catch a weekend tour, there are lemonade stands dotting the streets along the way that were thoughtfully named by Scottish developers after Sir Walter Scott’s novel Ivanhoe. Richard Neutra’s design on the Silver Lake reservoir (Michele Stueven) At the top of the Moreno Highlands (Michele Stueven)   The post LA Explained Walking Tours Are A Hot Topic For Conversation appeared first on LA Weekly. ...read more read less