Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
. It begins in the east at Sunset Boulevard in the
Los Feliz district and proceeds to the west as a major thoroughfare through
Little Armenia and
Thai Town,
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywoo ...
. After crossing Fairfax Avenue, Hollywood Boulevard ends at a stop sign, at Laurel Canyon Drive, and continues northbound, as a winding residential street, going up in the hills and canyons in the
Hollywood Hills West district. Parts of the boulevard are popular tourist destinations, primarily the fifteen blocks between
Gower Street west to
La Brea Avenue where the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Calif ...
is located. The heart of Hollywood Boulevard is the crossing of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland avenue. "Hollywood and Highland" is the exit to Hollywood via the 101 freeway, and the station when exiting the bus or metro red lines.
History
1890s to 1910
Part of today's Hollywood Boulevard was called Prospect Avenue, a dusty road that ran through
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywoo ...
towards the neighboring
city of Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
. 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
Hobart Johnstone Whitley (October 7, 1847 – June 3, 1931) was a Canadian-American businessman and real estate developer. Whitley is best known for helping create the Hollywood subdivision in Los Angeles. He is among those known as the "Fathe ...
, and
Griffith 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 with
electric railway that ran down its center between
Laurel Canyon and Western. Eventually, the road was widened from 20 feet wide to almost 100 feet wide in some areas.
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.
1920s
In the early 1920s, real estate developer
Charles E. Toberman
Charles Edward Toberman (February 23, 1880 – November 10, 1981) was a real estate developer and stenographer who developed landmarks in Hollywood, California, including the Hollywood Bowl, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, El Capitan Theatre, the ...
(the "Father of Hollywood") envisioned a thriving
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywoo ...
theater district.
Toberman was involved in 36 real estate development projects while building the Max Factor Building,
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and the
Hollywood Masonic Temple
Hollywood Masonic Temple, now known as the El Capitan Entertainment Centre and also formerly known as Masonic Convention Hall, is a building on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, that was listed on the National Register ...
. He partnered with
Sid Grauman
Sidney Patrick Grauman (March 17, 1879 – March 5, 1950) was an American showman who created two of Hollywood's most recognizable and visited landmarks, the Chinese Theatre and the Egyptian Theatre.
Biography
Early years
Grauman was the s ...
, and they opened the three themed theaters:
Egyptian,
El Capitan
El Capitan ( es, El Capitán; "the Captain" or "the Chief") is a vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The granite monolith is about from base to summit along its tal ...
("The Captain") (1926), and
Chinese.
Regional shopping district
In the 1920s 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
I. Magnin & Company was a San Francisco, California-based high fashion and specialty goods luxury department store. Over the course of its existence, it expanded across the West into Southern California and the adjoining states of Arizona, Oregon ...
in 1923,
Myer Siegel
Myer Siegel was a Los Angeles-based department store, founded by Myer Siegel (1866–1934), specializing in women's clothing.
Myer Siegel established his store in 1886 at 218 N. Spring St., at that time selling only children's wear and lingeri ...
in 1925, F. W. Grand and
Newberry's (dime stores) in 1926–8, and Roos Brothers in 1929. The independent Robertson's department store, at and 4 stories tall, opened in 1923. In 1922, stock was sold to finance construction of a much larger department store at
Hollywood and Vine, originally to have been a
Boadway Bros. When Boadway's went out of business the next year,
B. H. Dyas, a
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is a ...
-based department store, opened in the building in March 1928, then sold their lease to
The Broadway in 1931 – the building still a landmark today, known as the
Broadway Hollywood Building. By 1930 the shopping district consisted of over 300 stores. The area would later face competition from areas along
Wilshire Boulevard: the easternmost around
Bullocks Wilshire
Bullocks Wilshire, located at 3050 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, is a Art Deco building. The building opened in September 1929 as a luxury department store for owner John G. Bullock (owner of the more mainstream Bullock's in D ...
which opened in 1929, second the
Miracle Mile, and finally, the shopping district of
Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...
, where
Saks Fifth Avenue opened a store in 1938.
1940s–1960s
In 1946,
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American singer, songwriter, actor, musician, rodeo performer, and baseball owner who gained fame largely by singing in a crooning s ...
, while riding his horse in the
Hollywood Christmas Parade
The Hollywood Christmas Parade (formerly the Hollywood Santa Parade and Santa Claus Lane Parade) is an annual American parade held on the Sunday after Thanksgiving in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It follows a 3.5-mile (5.6 km) route al ...
— which passes down Hollywood Boulevard each year on the Sunday after
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...
— heard young parade watchers yelling, "Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus!" and was inspired to write "
Here Comes Santa Claus" with
Oakley Haldeman
Oakley W. Haldeman (July 17, 1909 – December 17, 1986) was an American songwriter (" Here Comes Santa Claus"), composer, author and the general manager for a music publisher. He joined ASCAP in 1949, and his other popular-song compositions inc ...
.
In 1958, the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Calif ...
, which runs from
La Brea Avenue east to
Gower Street (and an additional three blocks on
Vine Street), was created as a tribute to artists working in the entertainment industry.
Decline
In the 1970s, the street became very seedy and was frequented by many odd characters as shown in pictures by photographer Ave Pildas.
Revitalization
In 1985, a portion of Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood was listed in the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
as part of the "Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District".
In 1992, the street was paved with glittery asphalt between Vine Street and La Brea Boulevard.
The
El Capitan Theatre was refurbished in 1991 then damaged in the
1994 Northridge earthquake
The 1994 Northridge earthquake was a moment 6.7 (), blind thrust earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 4:30:55 a.m. PST in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles.
The quake had a duration of approximately 1 ...
. The full El Capitan building was fully restored and upgraded in . The Hollywood Entertainment District, a self-taxing business improvement district, was formed for the properties from La Brea to McCadden on the boulevard.
The Hollywood extension of the
Metro Red Line subway
Subway, Subways, The Subway, or The Subways may refer to:
Transportation
* Subway, a term for underground rapid transit rail systems
* Subway (underpass), a type of walkway that passes underneath an obstacle
* Subway (George Bush Intercontin ...
was opened in June 1999, running from
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is a ...
to the
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...
. Stops on Hollywood Boulevard are located at
Western Avenue,
Vine Street, and
Highland Avenue.
Metro Local
Los Angeles Metro Bus is the transit bus service in Los Angeles County, California operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of .
, there a ...
lines 180 and 217 also serve Hollywood Boulevard. A
Light Rail extension station is proposed at the Hollywood Blvd. and Highland Ave. intersection connection the boulevard with West Hollywood, Central LA and LAX.
An
anti-cruising ordinance prohibits driving on parts of the boulevard more than twice in four hours.
Beginning in 1995, then
Los Angeles City Council
The Los Angeles City Council is the legislative body of the City of Los Angeles in California.
The council is composed of 15 members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro temp ...
member
Jackie Goldberg initiated efforts to clean up Hollywood Boulevard and reverse its decades-long slide into disrepute.
Central to these efforts was the construction of the
Hollywood and Highland Center
Ovation Hollywood (formerly Hollywood & Highland) is a shopping center and entertainment complex in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California, United States.
Located at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, the sho ...
and adjacent
Dolby Theatre
The Dolby Theatre (formerly known as the Kodak Theatre) is a live-performance auditorium in the Ovation Hollywood shopping mall and entertainment complex, on Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. ...
(originally known as the Kodak Theatre) in 2001.
In early 2006, 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 2006.
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.
In 2021, the ''Vogue Theater'', on Hollywood Boulevard, at Las Palmas, reopened as the ''Vogue Multicultural Museum''.
Renovations of the
Hollywood and Highland Center
Ovation Hollywood (formerly Hollywood & Highland) is a shopping center and entertainment complex in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, California, United States.
Located at the intersection of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, the sho ...
began in 2020. The renovated complex was renamed Ovation Hollywood in 2022.
In 2022, for the return of the
LA Pride parade to the boulevard, the city installed multi colored lighting to more than 100 trees to illuminate for special events.
Heart of Hollywood Master Plan
Advocates promote the idea of closing Hollywood Boulevard to traffic and create a
Pedestrian zone from La Brea Avenue to Highland Avenue citing an increase in pedestrian traffic including tourism, weekly movie premiers and award shows closures, including 10 days for the Academy Award ceremony at the Dolby Theatre. Similar to other cities in the US, like
Third Street Promenade,
Fremont Street in Las Vegas,
Market St. in San Francisco or the closure in
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...
s
Pedestrian Plaza's created in 2015.
In June 2019, The City of Los Angeles commissioned
Gensler architects to provide a master plan for a $4 million renovation to improve and "update the streetscape concept" for the Walk of Fame. Los Angeles City Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell released the draft master plan designed by Gensler and Studio-MLA in January 2020. It proposed widening the sidewalks, adding bike lanes, new landscaping, sidewalk dining, removing lanes of car traffic and street parking between the
Pantages Theater (Gower Avenue) at the east and
The Emerson Theatre (La Brea Avenue) at the west end of the boulevard. The approved phase one includes removing the parking lanes between Orange Drive and Gower Street, adding street furnishings with benches, tables and chairs with sidewalk widening. Phase two is in the schematic stage. Phase two is planned for 2024 and will include closing down the boulevard to two lanes, adding landscaping with shade trees and five public plazas made up of
art deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...
designed street pavers and kiosks.
Gallery
Events
A popular event that takes place on the Boulevard is the complete transformation of the street to a
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
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."
[Masters, Nathan]
"When Hollywood Boulevard Became Santa Claus Lane"
, LA as Subject , SoCal Focus , KCET." KCET. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 May 2014.
Landmarks
*
American Cinematheque
The American Cinematheque is an independent, nonprofit cultural organization in Los Angeles, California, United States dedicated exclusively to the public presentation of the moving image in all its forms.
The Cinematheque was created in 1981 as ...
*
Barnsdall Art Park
*
Bob Hope Square (Hollywood and Vine)
*
Broadway Hollywood Building
*
Capitol Records Tower
*
Chinese Theatre
*
Dolby Theatre
The Dolby Theatre (formerly known as the Kodak Theatre) is a live-performance auditorium in the Ovation Hollywood shopping mall and entertainment complex, on Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue, in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. ...
*
Grauman's Egyptian Theatre
Grauman's Egyptian Theatre is a historic movie theater located at 6706 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood, California. Opened in 1922, it is an early example of a lavish movie palace and is noted as having been the site of the first-ever Hollywood ...
*
El Capitan Theatre
*
Fonda Theatre
*
Frederick's of Hollywood
*
Hollywood Sign
The Hollywood Sign is an American landmark and cultural icon overlooking Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Originally the Hollywoodland Sign, it is situated on Mount Lee, in the Beachwood Canyon area of the Santa Monica Mountains. Spelli ...
*
Hollywood and Highland
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywoo ...
*
Hollywood Pacific Theatre
*
Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
*
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Calif ...
*
Hollywood Wax Museum
*
Hollywood Masonic Temple
Hollywood Masonic Temple, now known as the El Capitan Entertainment Centre and also formerly known as Masonic Convention Hall, is a building on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, that was listed on the National Register ...
*
Madame Tussauds Hollywood
Madame Tussauds Hollywood is a wax museum and tourist attraction located on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California. It is the ninth location for the Tussauds franchise, which was set up by sculptor Marie Tussaud, and is located just west of ...
*
Musso & Frank Grill
*
Pantages Theatre
*
Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Odditorium
''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' is an American franchise founded by Robert Ripley, which deals in bizarre events and items so strange and unusual that readers might question the claims. Originally a newspaper panel, the ''Believe It or Not'' feat ...
*
Vista Theatre
See also
*
List of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in Hollywood
This is a list of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States. The list includes Hollywood, as well as Griffith Park and the communities of Los Feliz
LOS, or Los, or LoS may refer to:
Science an ...
References
External links
Hollywood Chamber of Commerce
{{Historic Districts in Los Angeles County
Boulevard
Streets in Los Angeles
Boulevards in the United States
East Hollywood, Los Angeles
Historic districts in Los Angeles
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in California
National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles
Streets in Los Angeles County, California
Roads on the National Register of Historic Places in California
Former shopping districts and streets in Los Angeles