Hollywood Boulevard
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Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District | |
 The Revamped Hollywood Boulevard as taken from the Kodak Theatre | |
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| Location | 6200-7000 Hollywood Blvd., N. Vine St., N. Highland Ave. and N. Ivar St Los Angeles, CA |
|---|---|
| Built | 1939 |
| NRHP reference No. | 85000704 |
| Added to NRHP | April 4, 1985 |
Hollywood Boulevard is a street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, splitting off Sunset Boulevard in the east and running northwest to Vermont Avenue, where it straightens out and runs due west to Laurel Canyon Boulevard. West of Laurel Canyon it continues as a small residential street in the hills, finally ending at Sunset Plaza Drive. On the east side of Hollywood Boulevard it passes through the neighborhoods of Little Armenia and Thai Town.
The famous street was named Prospect Avenue from 1887 to 1910, when the town of Hollywood was annexed to the city of Los Angeles. After annexation, the street numbers changed from 100 Prospect Avenue, at Vermont Avenue, to 6400 Hollywood Boulevard. In 1946 Gene Autry rode his horse in the Hollywood Christmas parade and was inspired by the children yelling "Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus," to write the song "Here Comes Santa Claus" along with Oakley Haldeman. Then, the boulevard was nicknamed "Santa Claus Lane". The Hollywood Christmas Parade passes down Hollywood Boulevard every Sunday after Thanksgiving.
In 1958, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which runs from Gower Street to La Brea Avenue, was created as a tribute to artists working in the entertainment industry. The Walk of Fame recognizes such celebrities and icons as Walt Disney, Michael Jackson, Hugh Hefner, and many more. (The Walk runs for an additional 3 blocks on Vine Street.)
The Hollywood extension of the Metro Red Line subway was opened in June 1999. Running from Downtown to the Valley, it has stops on Hollywood Boulevard at Western Avenue, at Vine Street and at Highland Avenue. Metro Local lines 180, 181 and 217 and Metro Rapid line 780 serve Hollywood Boulevard. An anti-cruising ordinance prohibits driving on part of the boulevard more than twice in four hours.
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Hollywood Walk of Fame -
Hollywood Blvd at night -
The intersection of Hollywood and Highland, 2006 -
The intersection of Hollywood and Highland, 1907
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Revitalization
In recent years efforts have been made at cleaning up Hollywood Blvd., as the street had gained a reputation for crime and seediness. Central to these efforts was the construction of the Hollywood and Highland shopping center and adjacent Kodak Theatre in 2001. With many housing and lofts conversions and a future entertainment complex on the corner of Hollywood and Vine owned by W Hotels. Also, various nightclubs have opened with many celebrities and Hollywood starlets coming in to party, such as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Jamie Foxx, including a new Tex-Mex restaurant on the corner of Hollywood and Ivar by Eva Longoria called Beso. The street remains one of the major tourist draws in Los Angeles.
In the past several years alone, more than $2 billion has been spent on projects in the neighborhood, including mixed-use retail and apartment complexes and new schools and museums. This Hollywood renaissance represents a potential future for much more of Los Angeles, a sprawling, horizontal city where vertical, dense and mostly walkable neighborhoods with public transportation are increasingly in vogue.[1]
In February 2006, it was announced that the clothier H&M is opening a location just across the street from Hollywood and Highland, and in May 2007, it was announced that the Spanish retail chain Zara will be opening nearby the new Madame Tussauds which opened in 2010.[2]
2006 Revamping
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 completed in late 2006.
Landmarks include
- Bob Hope Square (Hollywood and Vine)
- Grauman's Chinese Theatre
- Grauman's Egyptian Theatre
- El Capitan Theatre
- Hollywood Sign
- Frederick's of Hollywood
- Hollywood and Highland
- Hollywood Pacific Theatre
- Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
- Hollywood Walk of Fame
- Hollywood Wax Museum
- Kodak Theatre
- Madame Tussauds
- Hollywood Masonic Temple- Home of TV's Jimmy Kimmel Live!
- Musso & Frank Grill
- Pantages Theatre
- Ripley's Believe It Or Not! Odditorium
- Capitol Records Tower
In popular culture
- Red Hot Chili Peppers' song "Californication" mentions Hollywood Boulevard.
- Jackson Browne's album Hold Out refers to Hollywood Boulevard in the song "Boulevard".
- The Kinks' song "Celluloid Heroes" is about Hollywood Boulevard and the personalities engraved therein. A number of landmarks are referred to.
- The 1979 film Hardcore was shot here as the first of California's sex districts George C. Scott's Jake Van Dorn looks for his daughter in.
- The 1984 film Angel and is about a teenage prostitute who works on Hollywood Boulevard at night, while attending high school as an Honors student by day.
- In the 1990 film Pretty Woman, Richard Gere "picks up" Julia Roberts on Hollywood Boulevard.
- The System of a Down song "Lost in Hollywood" references Hollywood Boulevard and the unscrupulous nature of Hollywood itself.
- Hollywood Boulevard is mentioned in the song "Rock Star" by Nickelback.
- Ryan Adams has a song titled "Goodnight, Hollywood Blvd" on the album Gold.
- The Boulevard was featured in the film Singin' in the Rain (1952).
- Hollywood Boulevard was featured in an I Love Lucy episode where Lucy and Ethel attempt to steal the block with John Wayne's footprints in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre as a souvenir.
- Grauman's Chinese Theatre, which is a major attraction on the Boulevard, is also featured in the Walt Disney World theme park, Disney's Hollywood Studios.
- Australian singer Tina Arena has sung a song about Hollywood Boulevard on her French album 7 vies.
- Craig Ferguson often knows where to get stuff down on Hollywood Blvd for $20, most of the time with special side deal.
- Danity Kane filmed their music video for "Show Stopper" on Hollywood Blvd, which was closed down in order to do so.
- Hollywood Boulevard is mentioned in Melissa de la Cruz's book, Angels of Sunset Boulevard.
- Hollywood Boulevard is mentioned in the song "Starstruck" from the Disney Channel Original Movie Starstruck.
- Japanese metal band X Japan made their first U.S. appearance on top of the Kodak Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard recording four music videos for their songs "Rusty Nail", "Jade", "Endless Rain", and "I.V."
- Borat Sagdiyev (Sacha Baron Cohen) locates his foreign friend (Ken Davitian) impersonating Oliver Hardy on Hollywood Boulevard in Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.
- Hollywood Boulevard is also featured in the 2009 film Zombieland, in which the main characters go to retrieve a map of the movie stars' homes at Grauman's Chinese Theatre before being chased away by zombies.
- On the TV game show Hollywood Squares, Whoopi Goldberg mentions that she's driving down Hollywood Boulevard in the opening song.
- Hollywood Boulevard is shown in the music video of the song I Gotta Feeling by The Black Eyed Peas.
- In the Hillary Duff song Wake Up (Hillary Duff song) there is a line that goes "could be New York maybe Hollywood and vine" referencing Hollywood Boulevard and vine street.
- In the Hollywood Undead song "No Other Place", the line "Cruise to the Boulevard, in to the Beauty Bar" is referring to the Beauty Bar on Hollywood Boulevard.
See also
References
External links
