 Since their establishment in the early 20th century, Silver Lake and its surrounding environs have had a reputation for avant-garde arts, a pronounced multiculturalism, a large gay and lesbian community, and staunchly progressive politics.In this creative environment, Modernist architecture flourished, and the area is filled with many mid-century residential masterpieces by some of the leading lights of Modernist architecture, including Rudolph Schindler, Richard Neutra and John Lautner.In the 1950s the hilly area became known as Red Hills because of all the purported Communists who called it home.