Cahuenga Boulevard (/kəˈwɛŋɡə/ ⓘ) is a major boulevard inLos Angeles, California, US. It connects theLos Angeles Basin to theSan Fernando Valley, with a southern terminus at Rosewood Avenue inHancock Park. It simultaneously transitions intoVentura Boulevard and intersects withLankershim Boulevard at the border ofStudio City andUniversal City. If one follows Lankershim Boulevard, they reconnect to Cahuenga Boulevard and it continues until its northern terminus withVictory Boulevard inNorth Hollywood.
"Cahuenga" is a Spanish transliteration of theTongva village ofKawe'ngna, meaning "place of the mountain". The Spanish used the village name Cahuenga to name the 227 m tallpass between two of theSanta Monica Mountains, now called Briar Summit and Burbank Peak. Cahuenga Boulevard is so named because it transversesCahuenga Pass.
Cahuenga Boulevard was named after theCahuenga Pass, which connects theSan Fernando Valley andLos Angeles. The pass itself was named after the former villagers who lived in the area, who went by either Cabueng-na or Kaweenga.[1]
The majority of the route is bifurcated by theHollywood Freeway,US-101.Cahuenga Boulevard East travels from Odin Street, nearThe Ford to Barham Boulevard, where it transitions intoW. C. Fields Drive as it approaches Universal City. To reach the rest of Cahuenga Boulevard, travelers must cross the freeway via Pilgrimage Bridge, theMulholland Drive Viaduct, or the Barham Boulevard Overpass. The western route of Cahuenga Boulevard transitions intoHighland Avenue outside of theHollywood Bowl.
Cahuenga Boulevard emerges again at an intersection where Lankershim Boulevard crosses theLos Angeles River. This section of Cahuenga Boulevard is a north-south route that passes under theVentura Freeway and travels through the east side of the valley until terminating withVictory Boulevard at the southern entrance toValhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.
Cahuenga Boulevard passes through many neighborhoods. South of Cahuenga Pass, the boulevard passes throughHollywood,Whitley Heights, theHollywood Hills, and theHollywood Dell. It connects to Studio City and Universal City in theSan Fernando Valley. The section north of the Los Angeles River passes through the neighborhoods ofToluca Lake andNorth Hollywood.
The southern portion of Cahuenga Boulevard has been referred to as the "heart of old Hollywood".[2] The intersection between Cahuenga and Hollywood Boulevards had been an important intersection from the early history of Los Angeles, and by 1915 it already had a trolley stop, a bank and a hardware store. Trolley cars were used on the boulevards until the 1960s when replaced with bus.[3] Historically a number of important Los Angeles buildings were located on the road including the Technicolor building from the 1940s through the 1960s and the World Book and News building.[4]The Owl Drug Company at 6380–84Hollywood Boulevard on the south-west corner of Cahuenga Boulevard was a notable Californian company in the 1930s.[5] At the intersection of Cahuenga Boulevard with Yucca Street, just off of Hollywood Boulevard was theHalifax Hotel, owned by world-famous classical pianistVan Cliburn.[6][self-published source]
TheBuster Keaton studio, originally belonging toCharlie Chaplin, was located on Lillian Way, one block east of the boulevard. The boulevard appears in several of his films. 1542 Cahuenga Boulevard, which formerly adjoined the Toribuchi Grocery at 1546, appeared in the 1921 Keaton filmThe Goat, which featured Keaton running from the police past them.[7] It is now a strip mall. In another Keaton film,Three Ages (1923), Keaton is seen running from the police past theLos Angeles Police Department Hollywood building and former fire station, now the location ofEdmonds Tower at 1629.[7]
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Today, numerous nightclubs, bars, and restaurants are dotted along the boulevard south ofFranklin Avenue. Notable clubs on Cahuenga include The Room,Hotel Café, Velvet Margarita, and many others. The Hotel Café, at 1623 1/2 N. Cahuenga Blvd, is owned by Marko Shafer and Maximillian Mamikunian and opened in 2000.[8] The Baked Potato, one of the city's most prominent jazz clubs, is situated near the intersection with the Hollywood Freeway, and theHollywood Theatre of Note is also on the boulevard. At 1355 North Cahuenga Boulevard is theLos Angeles Fire Department Museum and Memorial, a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument andNational Register of Historic Places building which was built in the Neo-Renaissance style in 1930.[9]
The Iliad Bookshop is located on the northern portion of Cahuenga Boulevard.[10]
34°6′6″N118°19′46″W / 34.10167°N 118.32944°W /34.10167; -118.32944