Major east-west street and popular tourist destination where the Hollywood Walk of Fame is primarily located

How to Get There

Overview

Hollywood Boulevard is a major east-west street in Los Angeles, California. It begins in the east at Sunset Boulevard in the Los Feliz district. It proceeds due west as a major thoroughfare through Little Armenia and Thai Town, Hollywood, and West Hollywood. After crossing Laurel Canyon Boulevard, it then runs west as a winding residential street in the hills and canyons in the Hollywood Hills West district. Parts of the boulevard are popular tourist destinations, primarily the fifteen blocks between Gower Street west to La Brea Avenue where the Hollywood Walk of Fame is primarily located.

History

1890s to 1910

Part of today's Hollywood Boulevard was called Prospect Avenue, a dusty road that ran through Hollywood towards the neighboring city of Los Angeles. In December 1899, a new railroad construction began to connect Hollywood with Los Angeles in a project that was led by Peter Beveridge, H.J. Whitley, and Griffith J. Griffith.

In May 1900, the railroad connecting Hollywood and Los Angeles was completed, and another one was under construction. In 1901, the Town of Hollywood opened the new macadamized road surface with electric railway that ran down its center between Laurel Canyon and Western. Eventually, the road was widened from 20 feet wide to almost 100 feet wide in some areas.

In 1910, the town of Hollywood was incorporated into Los Angeles, and Prospect Avenue was officially renamed Hollywood Boulevard.

1920s

In the early 1920s, real estate developer Charles E. Toberman (the "Father of Hollywood") envisioned a thriving Hollywood theater district. Toberman was involved in 36 real estate development projects while building the Max Factor Building, Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and the Hollywood Masonic Temple. He partnered with Sid Grauman, and they opened the three themed theaters: Egyptian, El Capitan ("The Captain") (1926), and Chinese.

In 1958, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which runs from La Brea Avenue east to Gower Street (and an additional three blocks on Vine Street), was created as a tribute to artists working in the entertainment industry.

In 1985, a portion of Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the "Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District". In 1992, the street was paved with glittery asphalt between Vine Street and La Brea Boulevard.

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Hollywood Boulevard", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0