The Avenue of the Stars is the main thoroughfare in

Century City Century City is a 176-acre (71.2 ha) neighborhood and business district in Los Angeles, California. Located on the Westside to the south of Santa Monica Boulevard around 10 miles (16 km) west of Downtown Los Angeles, Century City is one of ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Location

The avenue is one of the main roads in Century City, a neighborhood of West Los Angeles. It runs from the Hillcrest Country Club at West

Pico Boulevard Pico may refer to: Places The Moon * Mons Pico, a lunar mountain in the northern part of the Mare Imbrium basin Portugal * Pico, a civil parish in the municipality of Vila Verde * Pico da Pedra, a civil parish in the municipality of Ribei ...

north to the

Los Angeles Country Club The Los Angeles Country Club is a golf and country club on the west coast of the United States, located in Los Angeles, California. History In the fall of 1897, a group of Los Angeles residents organized the Los Angeles Golf Club, and a lot wa ...

Santa Monica Boulevard Santa Monica Boulevard is a major west–east thoroughfare in Los Angeles County. It runs from Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica near the Pacific Ocean to Sunset Boulevard at Sunset Junction in Los Angeles. It passes through Beverly Hills and West ...

.Google Map It is crossed by Constellation Boulevard, West Olympic Boulevard, and two smaller streets: Galaxy Way and Empyrean Way.

History

Like most of Century City, the land on which this avenue was built was originally part of a ranch owned by cowboy actor

Tom Mix Thomas Edwin Mix (born Thomas Hezikiah Mix; January 6, 1880 – October 12, 1940) was an American film actor and the star of many early Western films between 1909 and 1935. He appeared in 291 films, all but nine of which were silent films. He w ...

(1880–1960).Gary Baum
Why Century City Ranks Among the Worst Real Estate Deals in Hollywood History
''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'', September 26, 2013 Later, the land became the

backlot A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction. Uses Some movie studios build a wide variety of ...

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

. It was later sold to

Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for Aluminum Company of America) is a Pittsburgh-based industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary ...

, which hired real estate developer

William Zeckendorf William Zeckendorf Sr. (June 30, 1905 – September 30, 1976) was a prominent American real estate developer. Through his development company Webb and Knapp — for which he began working in 1938 and which he purchased in 1949 — he developed a ...

(1905–1976) to develop Century City. The first building on the avenue, the

Gateway West Building Gateway West Building was a skyscraper in Century City, Los Angeles, California. Location The Gateway West Building is located on the southwest corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and the Avenue of the Stars in Century City, a district in the city o ...

, was designed by architect

Welton Becket Welton David Becket (August 8, 1902 – January 16, 1969) was an American modern architect who designed many buildings in Los Angeles, California. Biography Becket was born in Seattle, Washington and graduated from the University of Washingt ...

(1902–1969) and built in 1963.Emporis: Gateway West Building
/ref> Located on the southwest corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and the Avenue of the Stars, it was demolished in 2015. The second building was the

Hyatt Regency Century Plaza The Fairmont Century Plaza is a landmark 19-story luxury hotel in Los Angeles. Located in Century City, the hotel forms a sweeping crescent design fronting the Avenue of the Stars, adjacent to the twin Century Plaza Towers and the 2000 Avenue of ...

, designed by architect

Minoru Yamasaki was an American architect, best known for designing the original World Trade Center in New York City and several other large-scale projects. Yamasaki was one of the most prominent architects of the 20th century. He and fellow architect Edward D ...

(1912–1986), and built from 1964 to 1966. At the same time, the Gateway East Building, on the southeast corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and the Avenue of the Stars, was completed in 1965; its exact address is 1800 Avenue of the Stars. Five years later, the 1900 Avenue of the Stars building, designed by architect Albert C. Martin, Jr. (1913–2006), was completed in 1970.Pacific Coast Architectural Database: 1900 Avenue of the Stars
/ref> More buildings in the central section of the avenue came later. For example, the

Century Plaza Towers Century Plaza Towers are two 44-story, twin towers in the Century City neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. They are the tallest buildings in California outside Downtown Los Angeles and San Francisco. Commissioned by Alcoa, the towers were ...

, designed by architect

(1912–1986), was built from 1972 to 1975. The Fox Plaza, designed by

William Pereira William Leonard Pereira (April 25, 1909 – November 13, 1985) was an American architect from Chicago, Illinois, who was noted for his futuristic designs of landmark buildings such as the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco. Remarkably pro ...

(1909–1985), was built from 1985 to 1987. The SunAmerica Center, located at 1999 Avenue of the Stars, and designed by the architectural firm Johnson Fain, was built from 1989 to 1990. The 2000 Avenue of the Stars building was built from 2004 to 2007.

Main offices

The high-rise buildings along the avenue are home to many offices and diplomatic consulates. Some of them include: * 1900 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1250: Consulate-General of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. * 1999 Avenue of the Stars:

Univision Communications TelevisaUnivision (formerly known as Univision Communications) is a Mexican-American media company headquartered in New York and Mexico City, which owns the American Spanish language broadcast network Univision. 45% of the company is held by the ...

. * 2000 Avenue of the Stars:

Annenberg Foundation The Annenberg Foundation is a family foundation that provides funding and support to non-profit organizations in the United States and around the world. Some of the Foundation's core initiatives are the Annenberg/Corporation for Public Broadcast ...

References

{{Reflist Century City, Los Angeles Streets in Los Angeles County, California Articles containing video clips