Sunday afternoon, the air in Echo Park smelled like kerosene and cooking meat. The sounds of scattered house parties filled the big bowl in Elysian Heights from Kite Hill to the ridgeline on Lemoyne and beyond, to the other arroyos and canyons, I am sure. Whle the Superbowl parties were happening, some of us attended a different kind of party -- an Echo Park Historical Society author's presentation by Daniel Hurewitz, who wrote "Bohemian Los Angeles." Planned many weeks ago, the event was not intended as a test for those who are not sure whether they care more about EP history or big-spectacle sports. It was an accident. Nonetheless, the free event was sold-out, the house where it took place packed to the doorways as Hurewitz discussed the book, which centers on Echo Park and Silver Lake from the 1910s to the early 1950s.

Disclosure: I reviewed "Bohemian Los Angeles" for the LA Times books section.

It may have been a tough crowd. Probably four-fifths of the people in attendance live in either Silver Lake or Echo Park and are already fairly well-versed in local history.