Melrose Avenue is a shopping, dining and entertainment destination in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

that starts at

Santa Monica Boulevard Santa Monica Boulevard is a major west–east thoroughfare in Los Angeles County. It runs from Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica near the Pacific Ocean to Sunset Boulevard at Sunset Junction in Los Angeles. It passes through Beverly Hills and West Ho ...

, at the border between

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. ...

and

West Hollywood West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most prominent gay villages ...

. It ends at Lucile Avenue in Silver Lake. Melrose runs north of

Beverly Boulevard Beverly Boulevard is one of the main east–west thoroughfares in Los Angeles, in the U.S. state of California. It begins off Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills and ends on the Lucas Avenue overpass near downtown Los Angeles to become 1 ...

and south of

. Paved in 1909, Melrose Avenue's namesake comes from the Massachusetts town of the same name. Its most famous section, known as the ''Melrose District'', is the West End through

and Hollywood. At the corner of Fairfax and Melrose is Fairfax High School, which marks the start of the Fairfax District. One of the most famous landmarks located on Melrose Avenue is Paramount Pictures.

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 ar ...

line 10 operates on Melrose Avenue.

Melrose District

The eastern end of the district, which runs from Fairfax to Highland Avenue, became a popular underground and new wave shopping area in the early 1980s and a centerpoint for the new wave and

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

subcultures. The avenue has appeared in various films and television shows, including ''

Entourage An entourage () is an informal group or band of people who are closely associated with a (usually) famous, notorious, or otherwise notable individual. The word can also refer to: Arts and entertainment * L'entourage, French hip hop / rap collecti ...

LA Ink ''LA Ink'' is an American reality television show on TLC that follows the events of the High Voltage Tattoo (and, later in the series, American Electric) tattoo studios in Los Angeles, California. The spin-off of TLC's '' Miami Ink'', premiere ...

, Melrose Place'' and the "

Jaywalking Jaywalking is the act of pedestrians walking in or crossing a roadway that has traffic, other than at a designated crossing point, or otherwise, in disregard of traffic rules. The term originated in the United States as a derivation of the phras ...

" segments of ''

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jay Leno that first aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009. It resumed production on March 1, 2010 and ended on February 6, 2014. The fourth incarnation of the ...

.'' Many stores and businesses have made their homes in the district, including '' Retail Slut'' and a large outdoor flea market called the Melrose Trading Post. At the corner of Highland and Melrose is what has been described by the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' as the "boss of LA's Italian dining scene", ''Osteria Mozza'', which marks the eastern end of the Fairfax District. Much of the area is managed by the Melrose Avenue Business Improvement District.

Melrose Heights

The Western End, popularly referred to as ''Melrose Heights'', runs from

La Cienega Blvd La Cienega Boulevard is a major north–south arterial road that runs between El Segundo Boulevard in Hawthorne, California on the south and the Sunset Strip/Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood to the north. It was named for Rancho Las Cienegas, ...

. to

Fairfax Avenue Fairfax Avenue is a street in the north central area of the city of Los Angeles, California. It runs from La Cienega Boulevard in Culver City at its southern end to Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood on its northern end. From La Cienega Boulevard (be ...

and features a variety of upscale restaurants, boutiques such as the Kardashian sisters boutique D-A-S-H and salons such as Elixir (teahouse), The Bodhi Tree Bookstore (

metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

and

New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...

books),

Fred Segal Fred Segal is a clothing and accessories retail brand founded in West Hollywood, California. Its main location is on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California, United States. Stores There are four Fred Segal locations in the United States ...

, Plush Home, and

The Improv The Improv is a comedy club franchise. It was founded as a single venue in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of New York City in 1963, and expanded into a chain of venues in the late 1970s. History Originally, it was a single venue founded in 1 ...

. Melrose Heights is also home to several high-end designer stores, such as Marc Jacobs, Diane von Fürstenberg,

Carolina Herrera Carolina Herrera (born María Carolina Josefina Pacanins y Niño; 8 January 1939) is a Venezuelan-American fashion designer known for her personal style, and for dressing various First Ladies, including Jacqueline Onassis, Laura Bush, Michell ...

, Mulberry,

Sergio Rossi Sergio Rossi is an Italian fashion brand which focuses on footwear. Founded in Italy in 1951, the brand was acquired by the Gucci Group in 1999. It then became part of the Kering Group under François Pinault, from 2005 until 2016, when Inve ...

Alexander McQueen Lee Alexander McQueen CBE (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) was a British fashion designer and couturier. He founded his own Alexander McQueen label in 1992, and was chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001. His achievements in fashio ...

Oscar de la Renta Óscar Arístides Renta Fiallo (22 July 1932 – 20 October 2014), known professionally as Oscar de la Renta, was a Dominican fashion designer. Born in Santo Domingo, he was trained by Cristóbal Balenciaga and Antonio del Castillo. De la Renta ...

BCBG Max Azria Max Azria (January 1, 1949 – May 6, 2019) was a Tunisian-Jewish-born American fashion designer who founded the contemporary women's clothing brand BCBG MAX AZRIA. Azria was also the designer, chairman and CEO of the BCBG Max Azria Group,Musta ...

, Paul Smith,

Temperley London Alice Temperley MBE (born 22 July 1975) is an English fashion designer based in Ilminster, Somerset, England. Her fashion label, Temperley London was launched in 2000. In 2006, ''The Guardian'' noted that she had been described by ''American ...

John Varvatos John Varvatos (born 1954) is an American menswear designer. Early life The Varvatos family is originally from the village of Poulata on the island of Kefalonia, Greece. Varvatos was born in Detroit and grew up in Allen Park, Michigan. He ...

, Balenciaga, Diesel, Vivienne Westwood, Homa Bridal and

Vera Wang Vera Ellen Wang (; born June 27, 1949) is an American fashion designer. Early life Vera Ellen Wang was born June 27, 1949 in New York City to Chinese parents who emigrated to the United States in the mid-1940s. Her mother, Florence Wu (Wu ...

Melrose Place

North of the intersection with

La Cienega Boulevard La Cienega Boulevard is a major north–south arterial road that runs between El Segundo Boulevard in Hawthorne, California on the south and the Sunset Strip/ Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood to the north. It was named for Rancho Las Cienega ...

is Melrose Place, a branch of the main avenue made famous thanks to the soap opera of the same name. In reality, Melrose Place features no residences and has historically been home to antique shops, boutiques and salons.

La Cienega Design Quarter

The area of Melrose Avenue that intersects

and its satellite streets is part of the La Cienega Design Quarter. Its shops and galleries house many antiques, furniture, rugs, accessories and art.

References

Sources

*
Melrose Avenue Official Guide

External links

{{Streets in Los Angeles Streets in Los Angeles Streets in Los Angeles County, California Shopping districts and streets in Greater Los Angeles Economy of Los Angeles Landmarks in Los Angeles Streets in Hollywood, Los Angeles East Hollywood, Los Angeles Streets in West Hollywood, California Westside (Los Angeles County)