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 Hollywood Boulevard sign | |
 Interactive map of Hollywood Boulevard | |
| Former name | Prospect Avenue (1887–1910) |
|---|---|
| Maintained by | Bureau of Street Services, City of L.A. DPW |
| Nearest metro station |  : |
| West end | Sunset Plaza Drive inHollywood Hills West |
| Major junctions |  US 101 inHollywood |
| East end | Sunset Boulevard / Hillhurst Avenue / Virgil Avenue inLos Feliz |
| Other | |
| Known for | Hollywood and Vine Hollywood Walk of Fame |
Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District | |
 The revamped Hollywood Boulevard as seen from theDolby Theatre, 2005 | |
| Built | 1939 |
| NRHP reference No. | 85000704 |
| Added to NRHP | April 4, 1985 |
Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street inLos Angeles, California. It runs through theHollywood,East Hollywood,Little Armenia,Thai Town, andLos Feliz districts. Its western terminus is at Sunset Plaza Drive in theHollywood Hills and its eastern terminus is atSunset Boulevard in Los Feliz. Hollywood Boulevard is famous for running through the tourist areas in central Hollywood, including attractions such as theHollywood Walk of Fame and theOvation Hollywood shopping and entertainment complex.
Hollywood Boulevard's western terminus is at Sunset Plaza Drive in theHollywood Hills. It then runs as a winding residential street down toLaurel Canyon Boulevard. The boulevard then proceeds due east as a major thoroughfare through Hollywood and its popular tourist areas. Part of this segment has been listed in theU.S. National Register of Historic Places as part ofHollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District. The fifteen blocks betweenLa Brea Avenue east toGower Street is part of theHollywood Walk of Fame. TheOvation Hollywood shopping and entertainment complex, the home of theDolby Theatre, is located at the corner of Hollywood Boulevard andHighland Avenue. And theintersection withVine Street was once a symbol of Hollywood itself.
East of Gower Street, Hollywood Boulevard crosses theHollywood Freeway (US 101) before running throughEast Hollywood. The portion of the boulevard between the Hollywood Freeway andVermont Avenue forms the northern boundary ofLittle Armenia,[1] while the portion betweenWestern Avenue andSunset Boulevard forms part of the southern boundary ofLos Feliz.[2]Thai Town is centered along the six blocks of Hollywood Boulevard betweenWestern andNormandie Avenues.[3] After crossing Vermont Avenue, Hollywood Boulevard heads southeast to its eastern terminus at Sunset Boulevard.
ThreeB (Red) LineMetro Rail stations are located on Hollywood Boulevard:Hollywood/Highland station,Hollywood/Vine station, andHollywood/Western station.
Part of today's Hollywood Boulevard was called Prospect Avenue, a dusty road that ran throughHollywood towards the neighboringcity of Los Angeles. In December 1899, a new railroad construction began to connect Hollywood with Los Angeles in a project that was led by Peter Beveridge,H.J. Whitley, andGriffith J. Griffith.
In May 1900, the railroad connecting Hollywood and Los Angeles was completed, and another one was under construction. In 1901, the Town of Hollywood opened the new macadamized road surface withelectric railway that ran down its center betweenLaurel Canyon and Western. Eventually, the road was widened from 20 feet wide to almost 100 feet wide in some areas.[4]
In 1903, Hollywood became a municipality, and Prospect Avenue became sometimes called as the Boulevard of Hollywood, albeit unofficially.
In 1910, the town of Hollywood was incorporated into Los Angeles, and Prospect Avenue was officially renamed Hollywood Boulevard.
In the early 1920s, real estate developerCharles E. Toberman (the "Father of Hollywood") envisioned a thrivingHollywood theater district.[5] Toberman was involved in 36 real estate development projects while building theMax Factor Salon,Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and theHollywood Masonic Temple. He partnered withSid Grauman, and they opened the three themed theaters:Egyptian,El Capitan ("The Captain") (1926), andChinese.[6]
Starting around 1920, the boulevard and adjacent streets became a major regional shopping district, both for everyday needs and appliances, but increasingly also for high-end clothing and accessories, in part because of the nearby film studios. Chains that opened includes Schwab's in 1921,Mullen & Bluett in 1922,I. Magnin in 1923,Myer Siegel in 1925, F. W. Grand andNewberry's (dime stores) in 1926–8, and Roos Brothers in 1929. The independent Robertson's department store, at 46,000 square feet (4,300 m2) and 4 stories tall, opened in 1923. In 1922, stock was sold to finance construction of a much larger department store atHollywood and Vine,[7] originally to have been aBoadway Bros. When Boadway's went out of business the next year,B. H. Dyas, aDowntown Los Angeles–based department store,[8] opened in the 130,000-square-foot (12,000 m2) building in March 1928, then sold their lease toThe Broadway in 1931 – the building still a landmark today, known as theBroadway Hollywood Building. By 1930 the shopping district consisted of over 300 stores.[9] The area would later face competition from areas alongWilshire Boulevard: the easternmost aroundBullocks Wilshire which opened in 1929, second theMiracle Mile, and finally, the shopping district ofBeverly Hills, whereSaks Fifth Avenue opened a store in 1938.
The following diagram, based on an artistic map by the Hollywood Boulevard Association, and on newspaper advertisements[10] shows the major businesses along Hollywood Boulevard, from the intersection with Vine Street to the intersection with La Brea Avenue, in 1927 or 1928. There are a few relevant notes about major buildings added after 1928. Numbers from 6100–7200 are addresses on Hollywood Boulevard. Dates indicate years of opening, except dates with an asterisk indicate that the establishment was in operation that year according to the source document consulted.
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In 1946,Gene Autry, while riding his horse in theHollywood Christmas Parade — which passes down Hollywood Boulevard each year on the Sunday afterThanksgiving — heard young parade watchers yelling, "Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus!" and was inspired to write "Here Comes Santa Claus" withOakley Haldeman.[29]
In 1958, theHollywood Walk of Fame, which runs fromLa Brea Avenue east toGower Street (and an additional three blocks onVine Street), was created as a tribute to artists working in the entertainment industry.
In the 1970s, the street became very seedy and was frequented by many odd characters as shown in pictures by photographer Ave Pildas.[30]
In 1984, a portion of Hollywood Boulevard was listed in theNational Register of Historic Places as part of theHollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District.[31]
In 1992, the street was paved with glittery asphalt between Vine Street and La Brea Boulevard.[32]
TheEl Capitan Theatre was refurbished in 1991 then damaged in the1994 Northridge earthquake. The full El Capitan building was fully restored and upgraded inDecember 1997. The Hollywood Entertainment District, a self-taxing business improvement district, was formed for the properties from La Brea to McCadden on the boulevard.[6]
The Hollywood extension of theMetroRed Linesubway was opened in June 1999, running fromDowntown Los Angeles to theSan Fernando Valley. Stops on Hollywood Boulevard are located atWestern Avenue,Vine Street, andHighland Avenue.Metro Local lines 180 and 217 also serve Hollywood Boulevard. Alight rail extension station is proposed at the Hollywood Blvd. and Highland Ave. intersection connection the boulevard with West Hollywood, Central LA and LAX.
Ananti-cruising ordinance prohibits driving on parts of the boulevard more than twice in four hours.[33]
Beginning in 1995, thenLos Angeles City Council memberJackie Goldberg initiated efforts to clean up Hollywood Boulevard and reverse its decades-long slide into disrepute.[34] Central to these efforts was the construction of theHollywood and Highland Center and adjacentDolby Theatre (originally known as the Kodak Theatre) in 2001.
In the summer of 2005, the city made revamping plans on Hollywood Boulevard for future tourists. The three-part plan was to exchange the original streetlights with red stars into two-headed old-fashioned streetlights, put in new palm trees, and put in new stoplights. The renovations were completed in late 2005.
In the few years leading up to 2007, more than $2 billion was spent on projects in the neighborhood, including mixed-use retail and apartment complexes and new schools and museums.[34]
In 2021, theVogue Theatre, on Hollywood Boulevard, at Las Palmas, reopened as theVogue Multicultural Museum.[35][36][37][38]
Renovations of the Hollywood and Highland Center began in 2020. The renovated complex was renamedOvation Hollywood in 2022.[39][40][41]
In 2022, for the return of theLA Pride parade to the boulevard, the city installed multi colored lighting to more than 100 trees to illuminate for special events.[42]
Advocates promote the idea of closing Hollywood Boulevard to traffic and create aPedestrian zone from La Brea Avenue to Highland Avenue citing an increase in pedestrian traffic including tourism, weekly movie premiers[43] and award shows closures, including 10 days for the Academy Award ceremony at the Dolby Theatre.[44] Similar to other cities in the US, likeThird Street Promenade,Fremont Street in Las Vegas,Market St. in San Francisco or the closure inTimes SquaresPedestrian Plaza's created in 2015.[45]
In June 2019, The City of Los Angeles commissionedGensler architects to provide a master plan for a $4 million renovation to improve and "update the streetscape concept" for the Walk of Fame between thePantages Theater (Gower Avenue) at the east andThe Emerson Theatre (La Brea Avenue) at the west end of the boulevard.[46][47][48] Los Angeles City Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell released the draft master plan designed by Gensler and Studio-MLA in January 2020. The city's Bureau of Engineers proposed a three phase approach to implement the changes. This included adding bike lanes, new landscaping, removing lanes of car traffic, sidewalk widening by removing street parking and art-deco designed street pavers to beautify the boulevard. They also proposed a street mechanism to able to temporarily close the boulevard on pedestrian high capacity days or events where a street closure was approved. Creating public plazas and car free zones. Phase three would disallow east-west travel thru the boulevard but still allow north-south travel along its major intersections, Highland Avenue, Cahuanga Boulevard and Vine Street.[49] The approved phase one was completed and removed parking lanes between Orange Drive and Gower Street in 2022.[50][51] New district council member for Hollywood,Hugo Soto-Martinez continued with the revitalization plan after defeating O'Farrell in the 2022 election cycle. A motion was filed June 30, 2023 to implement a tax district to continue funding the master plans phase two and three.[52]In early March 2024, council member Hugo Soto-Martinez announced "Access to Hollywood" plan. Commencing phase two of the proposed redevelopment. They announced the addition of bus only lanes, bikes lanes and the removal of additional street parking to add sidewalk space for pedestrians. Restructure of lanes to be completed by 2025.[53] Phase three build out has not been announced, pending funding.[54]
Also in East Hollywood area, another plan for boulevard revitalization is planned.LA DOT announced "Vision Zero" in August 2023, a pedestrian friendly streetscaping redesign. LADOT's plan focuses on the eastern section of Hollywood Boulevard betweenGower Street and east pastVermont Avenue. Plans are to add safety instruments, continental crosswalks and pedestrian friendly alert striping.[55]
The entire route is inLos Angeles.
| mi[56] | km | Destinations | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.0 | 0.0 | Sunset Plaza Drive | Western terminus | ||
| 1.8 | 2.9 | Laurel Canyon Boulevard | |||
| 2.0 | 3.2 | Fairfax Avenue | |||
| 3.0 | 4.8 | La Brea Avenue | Western end ofHollywood Walk of Fame | ||
| 3.4 | 5.5 | Highland Avenue | ServesOvation Hollywood,Hollywood/Highland station | ||
| 3.8 | 6.1 | Wilcox Avenue | |||
| 3.9 | 6.3 | Cahuenga Boulevard | |||
| 4.1 | 6.6 | Vine Street | Hollywood and Vine intersection; servesHollywood/Vine station | ||
| 4.3 | 6.9 | Gower Street | Eastern end ofHollywood Walk of Fame | ||
| 4.6 | 7.4 | US 101 (Hollywood Freeway) | |||
| 5.0 | 8.0 | Western Avenue | ServesHollywood/Western station | ||
| 5.5 | 8.9 | Normandie Avenue | |||
| 6.1 | 9.8 | Vermont Avenue | |||
| 6.4 | 10.3 | Sunset Boulevard / Hillhurst Avenue / Virgil Avenue | Eastern terminus | ||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||
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A popular event that takes place on the Boulevard is the complete transformation of the street to aChristmas theme. Shops and department stores attract customers by lighting their stores and the entire street with decorated Christmas trees and Christmas lights. The street essentially becomes "Santa Claus Lane." The route ofHollywood Christmas Parade partially follows Hollywood Boulevard.[57]
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