Sunset Boulevard

Route map:
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Sunset Blvd
)

This article is about the street in the Los Angeles area. For the 1950 film, see Sunset Boulevard (film). For other uses, see Sunset Boulevard (disambiguation).
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard near Vine Street in Hollywood
Location
Nearest metro station
SR 110/Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles
Signs along the Sunset Strip
Sunset Blvd at the West Gate of Bel Air
Emerson College Los Angeles Center at 5960 Sunset Blvd

Sunset Boulevard is a

Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in the cities of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood (including a portion known as the Sunset Strip), as well as several districts in Los Angeles
.

Geography

Approximately 23.6 miles (38 km) in length,

Pueblo de Los Angeles to the ocean.[2]

From Downtown Los Angeles, the boulevard heads northwest, to

Pacific Palisades
, where it terminates at the Pacific Coast Highway intersection.

The boulevard has curvaceous winding stretches, and can be treacherous for unalert drivers in some sections. Sunset Boulevard is at least four lanes wide along its entire route. Sunset is frequently congested with traffic loads beyond its design capacity.

Sunset Boulevard historically extended farther east than it does now, starting at Alameda Street near

union leader and civil rights activist
.

History

In 1877, Harvey Henderson Wilcox, one of the earlier real estate owners from "back East", decided to subdivide more than 20 acres (8.1 ha) of land (mostly orchards and vineyards) along Sunset Boulevard, including what is today Hollywood and Vine.[3]

In 1890, Belgian diplomat Victor Ponet bought 240 acres (97 ha) of the former Rancho La Brea land grant.[4] His son-in-law, Francis S. Montgomery, inherited this property and created Sunset Plaza.[5][irrelevant citation]

According to a 1901 article in the

Echo Park district in the east.[6] The Board of Public Works proposed to extend Sunset east to Main Street in the Plaza by routing the road over the existing section of Bellevue Avenue,[7] but the plan was delayed until approximately 1904,[8][9] due to active opposition by affected land owners.[10] According to the 1910[11] Baist Real Estate Survey Atlas, Sunset Boulevard reached the Plaza by that time, but it did so by two short and narrow segments which were not aligned with each other and thus did not provide a proper thoroughfare to it. In late 1912, several properties along the route were condemned so that the boulevard could be changed in both its width and its alignment.[12][13] With these changes completed, Sunset Boulevard now reached North Main Street and continued as Marchessault along the northern end of the Plaza. This section, variously marked and signed as Marchessault Street or East Sunset Boulevard, remained open to traffic until the late 1960s or early 1970s.[14]
At that time, Sunset was realigned one block north and Marchessault was closed to motor traffic.

In 1921 a westward expansion of Sunset began, extending the road from the then-current terminus at

Sullivan Canyon toward the coast. This land, a portion of the original 1838 holdings of Francisco Marquez, stretched across a mesa and became known as the "Riviera section". Will Rogers, who had bought much of this land as an investment, later donated it to the State of California creating Will Rogers State Historic Park.[15] c. 1931, Sunset was a paved road from Horn Avenue to Havenhurst Avenue.[16]

Cultural aspects

The Sunset Strip portion of Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood has been famous for its active nightlife since at least the 1950s.[17]

In contrast to other American cities where it referred to a concentration of radio retailers, in Los Angeles, Radio Row was understood in the 1940s–1950s as the area around the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, where the broadcasting facilities of all four major radio networks were located.[18]

In the 1970s, the area between Gardner Street and

Western Avenue was a center for street prostitution.[19] Shortly after a much publicized incident
in late June 1995, police raids drove out the majority of prostitutes on the Boulevard.

Part of Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood is also sometimes called "Guitar Row" due to the large number of guitar stores and music industry-related businesses,

Sunset Sound Studios and United Western Recorders
.

The portion of Sunset Boulevard that passes through Beverly Hills was once named Beverly Boulevard.

The boulevard is commemorated in

For What It's Worth" was written about a riot at Pandora's Box, a Sunset Strip club, in 1966.[22]

a subway station at Vermont Avenue
.

At 4334 W. Sunset Boulevard lies the wall featured on the cover of the late singer-songwriter Elliott Smith's 2000 album Figure 8. Since Smith's death in 2003, the wall has become a memorial for the artist; fans have left many personal messages there over the years.

Landmarks (past and present)

See also

Notes

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-0-06-172627-9
    . Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  2. ^ Hawthorne, Christopher (July 14, 2012). "For Sunset, a new dawn". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  3. ^ Kennelley 1981, p. 69.
  4. ^ Kennelley 1981, p. 165.
  5. OCLC 920607532
    .
  6. ^ "Board Acts With Favor: Sunset Boulevard May Be Extended: Proposed Improvement Will Cost Hundred Thousand Dollars: Estimates Are Presented to Board of Public Works by Fred Eaton and That Body Grants Petition, for Its Extension—Cost of Widening Bellevue Avenue to a Point Near Plaza". Los Angeles Herald. Vol. 28, no. 4. October 5, 1901. p. 9 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection. Sunset boulevard at present extends from Hollywood, in the beautiful Cahuenga valley, to Marion avenue. It is now proposed to make Bellevue avenue an extension of the system from Marion avenue to Main street. In order to make the driveway a uniform width It will be necessary to widen Bellevue avenue from seventeen to twenty feet in many places between Marion avenue and the plaza.
  7. ^ "Sunset Boulevard May Reach Plaza: City Councilmen Encourage The Extensive Project. Committee of Business Men Secures Favorable Action from the Board of Public Works". Los Angeles Times. October 5, 1901. p. A2. Alternate Link via ProQuest.
  8. ^ "New Boulevard Is Completed: Suburban Residents Will Celebrate Saturday". Los Angeles Herald. Vol. 31, no. 227. May 13, 1904. p. 12 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  9. ^ "Los Angeles And Hollywood Unite In Opening Of Sunset Boulevard". Los Angeles Herald. Vol. 31, no. 229. May 15, 1904. p. 5 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  10. ^ "Protest Against Improvement". Los Angeles Herald. Vol. 29, no. 315. August 14, 1902. p. 6 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
  11. OCLC 19764849
    .
  12. ^ "Old-day Buildings to Go for Street". Los Angeles Times. September 17, 1912. p. I7. Alternate Link via ProQuest.
  13. ^ Baist Real Estate Survey Atlas, Los Angeles. Plate 003 (Map). Philadelphia: G. W. Baist. 1914.
  14. ^ More research is needed to pin down the year
  15. ^ Kennelley 1981, p. 219-221.
  16. ^ Kennelley 1981, p. 182.
  17. ISBN 978-0-679-74072-8
    . Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  18. ^ "11 Aug 2005, Page 10 - The Los Angeles Times at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com.
  19. ISBN 978-0-313-32968-5
    . Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  20. ISBN 978-1-57424-217-1
    . Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  21. ISBN 978-0-8118-5600-3
    . Retrieved August 9, 2012.
  22. ^ Rasmussen, Cecilia (August 5, 2007). "Closing of club ignited the 'Sunset Strip riots'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 9, 2012.

References

  • Kennelley, Joe; Hankey, Roy (1981). Sunset Boulevard: America's Dream Street. Burbank, California: Darwin Publications.
    OCLC 9759543
    .

External links

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