Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
55
BRENTWOOD
Brentwood is best
industry. M any of the neighborhood 's
former movie studios have moved to more
spacious venues in Burbank, the Westside,
and other parts of the city.
Despite the downturn, visitors continue
to flock to H ollywood's landmar k attrac-
tions, such as the star-studded Walk of
Fame and G rauman's Chinese Theatre.
And now that the city's $1-billion, 30-year
revitalization project is in full swing, H ol-
lywood Boulevard is, for the first time in
decades, sho wing signs of rising out of a
seedy slump , with r efurbished mo vie
houses and stylish r estaurants and clubs
making a fier ce comeback. The center-
piece H ollywood & H ighland complex
anchors the neighborhood, with shopping,
entertainment, and a luxur y hotel built
around the beautiful K odak Theatre
designed specifically to host the A cademy
Awards (r eally, y ou'll want to poke y our
head into this gorgeous theater).
MELROSE A VENUE
Scruffy but fun,
Melrose Avenue is the city's funkiest shop-
ping district, catering to often-raucous
youth with secondhand and av ant-garde
clothing shops. There are also several good
restaurants.
The stretch of Wilshire Boulevard run-
ning through the southern par t of H olly-
wood is kno wn as the
Mid-Wilshire
district, or the Miracle Mile. It's lined with
tall, contemporar y apar tment houses and
office buildings. The section just east of
Fairfax Avenue, known as Museum Row, is
home to almost a dozen museums, includ-
ing the Los Angeles County M useum of
Art, the La B rea Tar Pits, and that shrine
to L.A. car cultur e, the Petersen Automo-
tive Museum.
GRIFFITH PARK
U p Western Avenue
in the nor thernmost par t of H ollywood,
this is one of the countr y's largest urban
parks, home to the Los Angeles Z oo, the
famous Griffith Observatory, and the out-
door Greek Theater.
known as the famous backdr op to the
O. J. Simpson melodrama. The neighbor-
hood itself is generic, a r elatively upscale
mix of tract homes, r estaurants, and strip
malls. The Getty Center looms over Brent-
wood fr om its hilltop per
ch next to
I-405.
WESTWOOD
An urban village founded
in 1929 and home to the U niversity of
California at Los Angeles (UCL A), West-
wood used to be a hot destination for a
night on the to wn, but it lost much of its
appeal in the past decade due to o ver-
crowding and ev en some minor str eet
violence. Although Westwood is unlikely
to r egain its old charm, the vibrant culi-
nary scene has br ought ne w life to the
village. Combined with the high concen-
tration of mo vie theaters, Westwood is
now the premier L.A. destination for din-
ner and a flick.
CENTURY CITY
This is a compact and
rather bland ar ea sandwiched betw een
West Los Angeles and B everly Hills. The
primary draws her e are the 20th Centur y
Fox studios, S hubert Theatre, and the
Westside Pavilion, a huge open-air shop-
ping mall. Centur y City 's thr ee main
thoroughfares are Century Park East, Ave-
nue of the Stars, and Century Park West.
WEST LOS ANGELES
West Los Ange-
les is a label that generally applies to every-
thing that isn 't one of the other Westside
neighborhoods. It's basically the area south
of Santa Monica Boulevard, north of Ven-
ice Boulev ard, east of S anta M onica and
Venice, and w est and south of Centur
4
y
City.
HOLLYWOOD
Yes, they still come to the mecca of the
film industr y—young hopefuls with stars
in their eyes gravitate to this historic heart
of L.A. 's mo vie pr oduction like moths
fluttering to the glar e of neon lights. B ut
today's H ollywood is mor e illusion than
