Sunset Boulevard, LA
Number nine in our continuing series
WHEN I THINK OF SUNSET BOULEVARD, MY MIND immediately goes to the film or the musical. I still remember seeing the musical version in London with my mum starring Elaine Page and John Barrowman. However, here we’re looking at it as number 9 on the Daily Telegraph’s list of the world’s best street walks. And what I love about it, is that it really is the way to really see LA.
Walking Sunset Boulevard is not for the faint-hearted, because it is in fact over 22 miles long running from Downtown LA to the Pacific Coast Highway. It’s quite a walk - maybe our longest street walk, so you might want to break it down. But, in its entirety it does give you all the layers LA has to offer.
We begin in the historic, working-class roots of the city, hike through the gritty hustle of Hollywood, pass the peak of commercial wealth and celebrity in Beverly Hills, and end at the Ocean.
Sunset Boulevard begins in the Eastside, a cool, hipster vibe, full of historic brick buildings, street art, independent coffee shops and steep hills. It runs from Downtown/Chinatown through Echo Park - known for Echo Park Lake and famous taco eatery Guisados.
We next overlap into Hollywood, with those all so familiar palm trees, historic studio lots and old school industry haunts - such as Marquis hotel and the famous Musso & Frank Grill. There are plenty of tourist spots to be found here.
Perhaps the most famous part of the street is next - Sunset Strip (West Hollywood), a mile and a half stretch which is the heart of rock-and-roll history. Here you’ll find iconic venues like The Roxy and famous hotel, Chateau Marmont. It’s like walking a film set, it’s so familiar. As you continue to the Westside and The Canyons - Beverly Hills to Bell Air, the boulevard becomes a tree-lined road with massive estate walls and the entrances to famous canyons - Benedict and Laurel. Here you can visit the Getty Villa, a wonderful museum which overlooks the pacific ocean.
Having walked past all the many faces of LA, you find yourself on the final stretch, the Pacific Palisades to the coast - where city gives way to ocean. And if you want to enjoy that from the comfort of your walking pad/treadmill, then there are plenty of YouTube videos such as this from People Watching.
Good To Know
It wasn’t always such a place of glamour and fame. Sunset Boulevard originally evolved from a 1780s cattle trail used to herd livestock.
There’s a part of this walk where you need to be very careful: a sharp curve just north of UCLA’s Drake Stadium which famously became known as Dead Man's Curve. It was immortalised in the 1964 hit song by Jan and Dean.
Sunset Strip - its most famous part - stems from a legal loophole in the 1920s. During prohibition, gambling and alcohol were strictly illegal inside Los Angeles city limits. However, it fell outside the jurisdiction of the aggressive LA Police Department. Mobsters opened speakeasies, casinos, and nightclubs here, creating a playground of forbidden fun.
The road doesn't just go by one name. As it flows from east to west, it begins as Cesar Chavez Avenue in downtown, transitions to Sunset Boulevard, and finishes as the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.
he 1950 film noir classic Sunset Boulevard originated from director Billy Wilder's fascination with the forgotten, decaying mansions of 1920s Hollywood and the silent-era stars who lived in isolation inside them.
