Echo Park Lake's Two Oldest Buildings Are Both Betting on Pizza

What do you put in a historic building beside one of the busiest public parks on the Eastside? At Echo Park Lake, two separate answers have ended up in the same place. On the water, the city-owned Boathouse now sells slices. Directly across Echo Park Avenue, a developer wants to turn a 1908 Craftsman clubhouse into a restaurant with a pizza counter of its own.

Settling on a menu was the easy part. The Boathouse has trouble keeping a tenant, and the Clubhouse hasn't been cleared to open.

The Boathouse Has Had a Lot of Tenants

The Boathouse cafe at 751 N. Echo Park Ave. has struggled to keep a tenant. In August 2025, The Eastsider reported that four different operators had run a cafe there in the previous decade. Citing a Department of Recreation and Parks staff report, the outlet listed why each one left:

1. The first operator closed after failing to renew its agreement with the city.
2. The COVID pandemic hobbled the second.
3. A rat infestation hit the third.
4. The fourth couldn't overcome slow sales.

According to the same report, the concepts themselves were part of the problem. The first operator served high-end food at a high price. The most recent one went with a Scandinavian theme that never caught on in the neighborhood. That second concept was Piknik, from the Lonely Oyster team. Eater LA reported it opening on July 4, 2024.

The city's next pick was cheaper food. The Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners approved Diego Garcia, owner of Silver Lake's Pizza Cafe, to take over the concession as a New York slice shop. "I aim to take it another way by offering more of an afternoon/evening meal that is simple, light, affordable," Garcia told The Eastsider, "in the way of slices and wings, salads and beverages."

What's at the Window Now

The Boathouse now houses Echo Park Cafe, a New York-style pizza shop. Its site lists New York and Detroit-style slices, vegan pizza and wings, with online ordering. Time Out Los Angeles included it in an October 7, 2026 roundup, recommending a slice from the pizza place it calls "the latest concept to open in the Echo Park Boathouse."

The cheaper menu solved one problem the staff report raised. The other one sits just outside the door. Past concessionaires had to compete with unauthorized street vendors nearby, the report said, and Garcia took a measured view of that. "I am not against street vendors at all .... In this case, I am not selling anything that is in competition with them," he told The Eastsider.

By summer 2026, the issue had reached the Recreation and Park commissioners again. A June 27, 2026 email from the Echo Park Park Advisory Board, filed in the commission's July 16 communications log, said a new Boathouse tenant partner was dealing with vendors setting up outside the cafe and selling similar items. The writer also raised a broader concern:

"We have had MULTIPLE businesses change out just over the last couple of years at the Boathouse and I am VERY concerned they are not receiving the help they need to fairly succeed as a viable brick and mortar business."

The board's October 15, 2026 agenda listed an art installation at the Echo Park Deep Pool. It had no Boathouse concession item. For now, the slice shop is the tenant.

Across the Street, a Building Older Than the Boathouse Cafe Idea

At 1004 Echo Park Ave., facing the lake, stands the Original Echo Park Clubhouse. The city adopted it as Historic-Cultural Monument No. 950 on April 10, 2009. Historic Places LA says the building "is believed to be the oldest intact structure commissioned by the City of Los Angeles," and it was built as a recreation center.

It wasn't built on this lot. The city's 2008 Cultural Heritage Commission report dates the Craftsman to 1908, credits architects Sumner P. Hunt, W. Wesley Eager and Silas Burns, and places it originally at 1630 Bellevue Avenue. According to the Historic Echo Park Society, the city issued the permit to move it on June 2, 1925, after Frances "Fanny" Wills offered a lot for the Echo Park Mothers Club.

The building's tenants after that, per the city's report:

• The Echo Park Mothers Club, its early occupant on the new site
• The Echo Park Woman's Club, from 1928 to 1954
• The Northeast Lions Club
• The Foursquare Church, which bought it in 1964
• The Episcopal Church, which received it in 2002 and used it for offices

For most of a century, it served clubs, congregations and offices. It has never had a commercial kitchen facing the park.

The Pitch: Coffee in the Morning, Pizza at Night

That is the proposal in front of City Planning. Applicant MFR Capital LLC filed case ZA-2026-1880-CUB-CU1 on April 15, 2026. The city lists it as "improvement of existing historic building and conversion into restaurant in an R zone," with two conditional use requests.

The Eastsider described the plan as a restaurant with three service counters: a coffee shop, a pizza place and alcohol served from one counter. It would have 2,833 square feet of indoor space, eight seats inside and 17 outside, and it would open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. Part of the building would be restored to its original layout, with dining areas at the front and rear.

On paper, it's close to what the Boathouse sells: coffee, pizza and a casual stop for people coming off the lake path. Getting approval has been the problem. The Echo Park Neighborhood Council's Planning and Land Use Committee opposed the project unanimously. The full council then sent a letter of opposition to Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez and Assembly Member Jessica Caloza. The letter called the plan "a food court serving coffee, bagels, pizza, beer and wine" and said it didn't fit the public's idea of a "clubhouse" historic use.

Some of the objections were about distance. Neighbors raised concerns about noise, foot traffic and parking, and wrote to the council:

"This is a tight-knit residential area; our structures are only mere feet apart."

Their letter also said the clubhouse's front door is only a few feet from nearby bedroom windows.

Erick Uribe of the developer, South Park Group Inc., told The Eastsider the team was "excited about the opportunity to reimagine the Echo Park Clubhouse" and open to "constructive feedback and productive dialogue." He added that the timeline was still uncertain.

The city record shows the same uncertainty. The case was assigned to staff on June 3, 2026. The case page lists no hearing date, no Zoning Administrator action and no appeal, and it marks the case "On Hold."

Two Buildings, One Menu, Different Problems

Both pitches settled on inexpensive, all-day food meant for park traffic, because the high-end and themed concepts at the Boathouse didn't last. The Clubhouse plan also reads as built for park-goers. The Eastsider noted it would sit right across from the lake, where people in the park could reach it easily. For both buildings, the hard questions are about what happens just past the front door.

Around the Lake This Week

A walk around the water this weekend still has a few fixed points. The Boathouse window serves slices. The pedal boats run out of the same address under Wheel Fun Rentals, which Recreation and Parks lists as the concession and describes as open seven days a week.

The hours change after this weekend. Wheel Fun's Echo Park page lists 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday through Sunday through November 1. From November 2, 2026 through March 5, 2027, it's 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Reservations are required, hours depend on the weather, and the last boat goes out an hour before closing.

Across the street, the Clubhouse is still the Craftsman it has been since 1925, and its restaurant case is still on hold at City Planning.

If you own a historic home near the lake and are weighing what its next chapter could be, Longfellow + Leach Team can walk through its history, condition and presentation with you, starting with a Complimentary Valuation & Design Plan.