![Lankershim blvd noho night](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Lankershim_blvd_noho_night.jpg)
Lankershim Boulevard is a major north-south thoroughfare in the eastern
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...
, primarily within the
City 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
Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...
.
Geography
![Lankershim blvd at hollywood fwy](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lankershim_blvd_at_hollywood_fwy.jpg)
Lankershim Boulevard begins at
San Fernando Road
San Fernando Road is a major street in the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County. Within the Burbank city limits it is signed as San Fernando Boulevard, and north of Newhall Pass it is signed as The Old Road. It was previously designated ...
in the
Sun Valley portion of the
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...
. In addition to Sun Valley, it runs through
North Hollywood
North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The North ...
and
Universal City. It runs for about before ending directly south of
Ventura Boulevard
Ventura Boulevard is one of the primary east–west thoroughfares in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California. Ventura Boulevard is one of the oldest routes in the San Fernando Valley as it was originally a part o ...
. It crosses intersections with
Interstate 5
Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Califor ...
,
State Route 134, and
US Route 101
U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States. It is also known as (The Royal Roa ...
. From a 5-way intersection at
Victory Boulevard it runs diagonally to the southeast, creating 6-way intersections at the crossings of Burbank Boulevard and Tujunga Avenue, as well as
Vineland Avenue
Vineland Avenue is a major north-south thoroughfare in the San Fernando Valley.
Geography
Vineland Avenue begins as a very small residential street north of the railroad tracks at San Fernando Road. It cuts at the tracks, but then turns into a m ...
and Camarillo Street.
At its busy southern end, Lankershim crosses the
Los Angeles River
, name_etymology =
, image = File:Los Angeles River from Fletcher Drive Bridge 2019.jpg
, image_caption = L.A. River from Fletcher Drive Bridge
, image_size = 300
, map = LARmap.jpg
, map_size ...
as it briefly merges with Cahuenga Boulevard before passing the historic
Campo de Cahuenga and the
Universal City/Studio City Metro Station, then crossing the
Hollywood Freeway
The Hollywood Freeway is one of the principal freeways of Los Angeles, California (the boundaries of which it does not leave) and one of the busiest in the United States. It is the principal route through the Cahuenga Pass, the primary shortcut ...
and Ventura Boulevard, all within the space of about .
Transportation
Metro Local
Los Angeles Metro Bus is the transit bus service in Los Angeles County, California operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of .
, there are ...
line 224 serves Lankershim Boulevard.
It passes two
Metro Rail stations,
North Hollywood
North Hollywood is a neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, located in the San Fernando Valley. The neighborhood contains the NoHo Arts District, the El Portal Theatre, several art galleries, and the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. The North ...
and
Universal City/Studio City, both served by the
B Line, and the former station is also served by the
G Line.
History
![North Hollywood Pacific Electric Car Station, 1919 (LAVC15)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/North_Hollywood_Pacific_Electric_Car_Station%2C_1919_%28LAVC15%29.jpg)
Named for
one of the area's founding families, Lankershim Boulevard is one of the oldest streets in the area surrounding what is now the neighborhood of North Hollywood. It was a major thoroughfare for the town of Toluca (which was itself renamed "Lankershim" in 1896), connecting it to Los Angeles by way of the
Cahuenga Pass
The Cahuenga Pass (, ; Tongva: ''Kawé’nga'') is a low mountain pass through the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains in the Hollywood Hills district of the City of Los Angeles, California. It has an elevation of . The Cahuenga Pass connec ...
. In the center of Toluca, it crossed the
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
, with a depot near the current location of the North Hollywood Metro Station at Chandler Boulevard.
The foundations of the original Campo de Cahuenga adobe were unearthed beneath Lankershim Boulevard during construction of the Metro Red Line subway. These parts of the foundations within the park are preserved as an exhibit, and the "footprint" of the foundations under the street and sidewalk is marked by decorative pavement.
Lankershim Boulevard around Magnolia Boulevard was the heart of the town of Lankershim and of North Hollywood and until the mid-1950s boasted the largest concentration of retail stores, banks, restaurants, and entertainment in the Valley. In 1953, for example, the shopping strip included three full-line department stores:
J.C. Penney at 5261 Lankershim, Yeakel & Goss department store at 5272, and the upscale single-location
Rathbun's department store at 5307–15. There were also branches of the large
Harris & Frank clothing chain at 5236 Lankershim,
J. J. Newberry
J. J. Newberry's was an American five and dime store chain in the 20th century. It was founded in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, United States, in 1911 by John Josiah Newberry (1877–1954). J. J. Newberry learned the variety store business by working ...
five and dime
A variety store (also five and dime (historic), pound shop, or dollar store) is a retail store that sells general merchandise, such as apparel, automotive parts, dry goods, toys, hardware, home furnishings, and a selection of groceries. It us ...
at 5321, and
Safeway
Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...
at 5356. However, the nearby
Valley Plaza
Valley Plaza was a shopping center in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, one of the first in the San Fernando Valley, opened in 1951. In the mid-1950s it claimed to be the largest shopping center on the West Coast of the United States and the third ...
shopping center, designed for accessibility by car with plenty of free parking, opened in 1951 and kept growing until 1956 when it claimed to be the third-largest shopping center in the country.
It was difficult for the Lankershim retail district to compete and by 1980, most stores had closed including Rathbun's.
CicLAvia
In 2015, Lankershim Boulevard, along with Ventura Boulevard, was the site of
CicLAvia
CicLAvia is a nonprofit, car-free streets initiative in Los Angeles, California. The organization temporarily closes streets to motor vehicles to make them accessible to vendors and the public. It runs six times a year (once every two months) on ...
, an event sponsored by the
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), commonly branded as Metro, LA Metro, and L.A. Metro, is the state agency that plans, operates, and coordinates funding for most of the transportation system in Los Angele ...
in which major roads are temporarily closed to motorized vehicle traffic and used for recreational
human-powered transport
Human-powered transport is the transport of person(s) and/or goods using human muscle power. Unlike animal-powered transport, human-powered transport has existed since time immemorial in the form of walking, running and swimming. Modern techno ...
.
References
{{Streets in Los Angeles
Streets in the San Fernando Valley
Streets in Los Angeles
Streets in Los Angeles County, California
Boulevards in the United States
North Hollywood, Los Angeles
Sun Valley, Los Angeles
Universal City, California
Former shopping districts and streets in Los Angeles