Preserving L.A. and its environs, one tour at a time

Linda DISHMAN started trying to save Los Angeles as soon as she moved here. As the executive director of the Los Angeles Conservancy, she has worked for 13 years to preserve the area’s historic sites and teach Angelenos about their architectural treasures.

She and her husband, John Hinrichs, recently bought a house in the Silver Lake area, so in their free time they enjoy exploring the new neighborhood.

In touch with tours

We have a French bulldog, so every weekend involves at least one long walk. It’s been fun to learn the neighborhood with the dog. For instance, I’d never seen the Rowena Reservoir before. You can walk all around it and see the little waterfall inside.

If we have friends or family in town, we take them on one of the Conservancy’s walking tours on Saturday morning. I’ve taken almost all the tours. I have two left -- San Pedro and USC. When people come to town, it’s a great way to see what L.A. has to offer. In my case, it means our visitors understand a bit more of what I do during the week.

Then, we love to go to Dusty’s, a bistro on Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake. It took them forever to open, but now that they’re open, it’s really good. I usually get the Dusty’s special omelet, which has ham and asparagus. The food is French, but they have a very eclectic decor. On Sundays they often have musicians playing.

Since we bought a house, we’ll surely have to go to Baller Hardware for something. Or we’ll escape the house and go to the movies at the Vista or the Cinerama Dome because we love historic theaters.

Then we might get Chinese food at Chi Dynasty on Hillhurst Avenue in Los Feliz. It has great food and great mai tais. We usually get the Shrimp a la Chi, which comes in this light, flavorful sauce.

Finding flavors

Sunday morning we go to the Hollywood farmers market on Ivar Avenue. It’s great to see what’s in season; there’s always something different. So we’ll shop there and then go to the Cheese Store of Silver Lake, in the Sunset Junction plaza, and pick up whatever else we need to cook that night.

The Silver Lake Wine Shop, over on Glendale Boulevard, also has a wine tasting on Sunday afternoon. Sometimes they have food. The owners know all these foodie people, so they have people in like Chris Schlesinger, who talked about barbecues, or a chef from AOC who might do appetizers. You can also just walk in and tell them what you’re making for dinner and they’ll come up with fabulous wines at various prices.

Then we come home and cook in the afternoon and try to have friends over. It’s fun to spend the afternoon cooking, reading the paper and maybe doing some hunting on EBay.

We collect souvenirs -- snow domes and miniature buildings and pillow covers, that sort of thing. We have them from all over the U.S., and a lot from Los Angeles.

We have so much stuff now, but when we were hunting more we loved the Rose Bowl Flea Market. It’s huge. You have the Rose Bowl looming there, the icon of the event, and all these wonderful treasures laid out. These paths wander among all the vendors. It’s like gold mining.