The Party Moves North

We’ve left my cousins in Orange County and moved north to Hollywood. I405 and I5: Boring! There are beautiful parts of SoCal, few of which are passed on this drive.

Hats of to Google Navigation which mislabeled the 101 Freeway as Cahuenga. It is not.

Note to tourists: It’s pronounced kəˈwɛŋɡə. La Canada has a ‘yada’ in it.

Helaine and I took a walk from our hotel, close by Hollywood and Highland, down to the actual Cahuenga. Though Hollywood Boulevard has been rehabilitated and cleaned up for tourists west of Highland, east is a different story! There was a sketchy coterie of characters including a Marilyn Monroe wannabe of questionable gender.

Hollywood Boulevard is the Walk of Fame and there are ‘stars’ embedded all along the route. Lots were names I barely remember, or dead before I was born. It was nice to see Betty White’s star facing Allen Ludden’s, as it should be.

Stef lives in hollywood. Short visit this afternoon. Longer visit tomorrow.

IMG_8061 Hollywood

IMG_8066 Hollywood

IMG_8073 Hollywood

4 thoughts on “The Party Moves North”

  1. Good old Rt 101! That was the major freeway that I travelled, some eons ago, when I went south to Redondo Beach to visit friends. They are still out there—San Clemente, now–but I came back to CT.
    Anyhow—you folks be safe. I am sure you know there are fires raging out there===the one in Camarillo, is the biggest–from what they showed on the news tonight. That one was burning right in the hills along 101. With the heat and the Santa Ana winds, the tiniest spark becomes a major problem.
    Take that into consideration while you look for your new house.

  2. [sniff] These pictures make me homesick and I’ve never even lived there! My favorite In N Out Burger is on the corner of Sunset and Orange.

  3. Welcome to the ‘hood.

    Cahuenga is confusing. From Hollywood, if you travel north on Cahuenga, it will eventually run parallel to the 101, and the street name changes to “Cahuenga East” and becomes one-way. It ends at Barham Blvd near Universal.

    Confusingly, if you are in Hollywood and travel north on Highland, when you get to the Hollywood Bowl, Highland becomes “Cahuenga West” and also runs parallel to the 101, but on the other side of the freeway from Cahuenga East. Cahuenga West then becomes Ventura Boulevard at Lankershim (also near Universal.) All three roads — Cahuenga East, Cahuenga West and the 101 — run through the canyon known as the Cahuenga Pass. Little wonder Google was confused.

    And here’s an important safety tip: identify freeways by their route numbers, not their names. For instance, the Hollywood Freeway is both route 101 and 170 (in the Valley.) And the 101 changes names and becomes the Ventura Freeway in Studio City. Oh, if you’re heading to Santa Barbara on the 101, be sure to head north. Or west, depending on the sign you’re looking at — they’re used interchangeably. And the 405, known as the San Diego Freeway, ends well north of the San Diego county line. You can’t get to San Diego on the 405.

    See, easy, right?

  4. OH Geoff, I pray that you and your family and everyone out there are safe from the fires I just saw on the news. Certanly will miss your physical presence here but feel lucky to have you in the cyber world. Be safe. 🙂

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