Laurel Canyon Boulevard is a major street in 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 ...

. It starts off at Polk Street in

Sylmar Sylmar is a suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley and is the northernmost neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles. Historically known for its profusion of sylvan olive orchards, Sylmar can trace its past to the 18th century and th ...

in the northern

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 ...

near the junction of the

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

( Interstate 405) and the Golden State (I-5)) freeways. Laurel Canyon Boulevard bypasses the city of San Fernando to the west, running parallel to I-5 in the vicinity of Pacoima and Arleta. The portion through Sun Valley passes through rock quarries and a great deal of open space. From the intersection with Webb Avenue, Laurel Canyon Boulevard heads due south, cutting through North Hollywood, closely following 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 shortcu ...

( SR 170). Laurel Canyon Boulevard passes through the Valley Village neighborhood, one mile (1.6 km) west of the Hollywood Split (the intersection of the

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

( U.S. 101/ SR 170) and Ventura (U.S. 101/ SR 134) freeways). This would have been the start of the proposed Laurel Canyon Freeway, which would have provided a direct freeway connection from the southeastern San Fernando Valley to the

Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the ...

. The proposed route was along the current routing of Laurel Canyon Boulevard, but the emergence of the Laurel Canyon neighborhood as a movie star enclave doomed the project, as did local opposition. Laurel Canyon itself found counterculture fame in the 1960s as home to many of L.A.'s top rock musicians, such as

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of ...

. The bohemian spirit endures; every year, residents gather for a group photograph at the country market. Laurel Canyon Boulevard was also immortalized by

The Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential rock acts ...

in their 1968 song " Love Street." Laurel Canyon Boulevard crosses Laurel Canyon G Line station at its intersection with Chandler Boulevard in Valley Village. Laurel Canyon Boulevard is served by

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 a ...

lines 218 (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 ...

) and 230 (north of Ventura Boulevard). South of

in Studio City, Laurel Canyon Boulevard ascends the Santa Monica Mountains, where it maintains a width of four lanes until the intersection of Mulholland Drive. The road climbs up Lookout Mountain before descending into

West Hollywood West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. It is considered one of the most prominent gay villages ...

, passing through Hollywood Boulevard. Laurel Canyon Boulevard’s southern terminus is at its intersection with Sunset Boulevard and Crescent Heights Boulevard. Laurel Canyon Boulevard and

Coldwater Canyon Avenue Coldwater Canyon Avenue (designated as Coldwater Canyon Drive south of Mulholland Drive) is a street, primarily within the City of Los Angeles, in Los Angeles County, California. It runs from North Beverly Drive at Coldwater Canyon Park in Bever ...

to the west between the southern San Fernando Valley and West Hollywood are also popular alternate routes to the

( US 101) during rush hour.

Laurel Canyon Freeway

The Laurel Canyon Freeway was to have been a north-south

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

Central Los Angeles __NOTOC__ Central Los Angeles is the historic urban region of the City of Los Angeles, California. Geography The City of Los Angeles The Los Angeles Department of City Planning divides the city into Area Planning Commission (APC) areas, each fu ...

and its suburbs. It derived its name from Laurel Canyon, the proposed route by which the freeway would traverse the Santa Monica Mountains. Its proposed alignment was from the intersection of the

(U.S. Route 101) and the Ventura Freeway (California State Route 134) in the southeastern

— to the San Diego Freeway ( I-405) near

. However, the emerging popularity of Laurel Canyon as a movie star enclave in the 1960s ultimately doomed the project. The only portion of the freeway that was built was a small section of La Cienega Boulevard through the Baldwin Hills district of southwestern Los Angeles.

History

In 1919

Harry Houdini Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American Escapology, escape artist, Magic (illusion), magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his Escapology, escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to ...

rented the cottage at 2435 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, while making movies for Lasky Pictures. His wife occupied it for a time after his death. As of 2011 that site was a vacant lot. The main mansion building itself was rebuilt after it was destroyed in the 1959 Laurel Canyon fire, and is now a historic venue. While Houdini did not likely live at the "mansion," there is some probability that his widow did.

References

Notes

Citations

{{coord, 34.1959, -118.3965, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-CA, display=title Streets in Los Angeles Streets in Los Angeles County, California Streets in the San Fernando Valley Boulevards in the United States Hollywood Hills Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles North Hollywood, Los Angeles Pacoima, Los Angeles San Fernando, California Studio City, Los Angeles Sun Valley, Los Angeles Streets in West Hollywood, California San Fernando Valley Santa Monica Mountains