Hollywood

Hollywood was laid out as a temperance community in 1887, incorporated as a city in 1903 and merged into Los Angeles in 1910 for water. The film studios arrived over the next decade, and the boulevard of theaters, the Walk of Fame, the Capitol Records tower and the sign in the hills followed. Paramount Pictures still operates its lot on Melrose Avenue at the south end of the neighborhood.

The flats between Franklin Avenue and Melrose hold the historic commercial core along Hollywood and Sunset boulevards and residential blocks of every type. North of Franklin, the streets climb into the Hollywood Hills, Beachwood Canyon, the Hollywood Dell and Outpost Estates, which have their own character and are covered in the Hollywood Hills guides.

The flats are the most varied housing market in the city: 1920s courtyard apartments and Spanish bungalows, larger Craftsman and Spanish homes on the streets toward Hancock Park and Larchmont, and, since the 2000s, thousands of new condo and apartment units in mid-rises around Hollywood and Vine, the W Hotel and the Sunset corridor. Condo prices depend heavily on the building and the block.

Single-family prices rise sharply in the hills, where the Hollywood Dell, Beachwood Canyon, Outpost Estates and the streets off Laurel Canyon and Nichols Canyon carry mid-century and contemporary view homes. Hillside construction, street access and fire-zone insurance are standard issues there.

Los Angeles Unified School District serves the neighborhood, with Hollywood High School on Sunset Boulevard, several elementary and middle schools inside the area and a number of charter and magnet programs. Boundaries follow streets, so check a specific address with the district.

The 101 runs through the east side of the neighborhood, and the Red Line subway stops at Hollywood/Highland, Hollywood/Vine and Hollywood/Western give direct rail access to downtown, Universal City and North Hollywood. Sunset and Hollywood boulevards carry most local traffic, and Laurel Canyon and Cahuenga Pass cross the hills to the Valley. Runyon Canyon and Griffith Park are at the northern edge.