Hollywood Hills: Stay Above It All

The Hollywood Hills rise along the south face of the Santa Monica Mountains, running east from Laurel Canyon to the ridgeline above Los Feliz. They are not a neighborhood in the traditional sense but a geography: a series of canyons, ridges, and winding roads connecting private properties with sweeping views across the basin below. Where the flatlands of Los Angeles operate on a grid, the Hills operate on topography, and the driving is rarely intuitive.

Laurel Canyon is the oldest and most storied section, its narrow road climbing from West Hollywood through a canyon that retains a quieter character than the neighborhoods below. The Outpost Estates and Cahuenga Pass areas sit closer to Hollywood proper, accessible to the Sunset Strip without the isolation of the upper canyon. Beachwood Canyon, below the Hollywood Sign, holds some of the most architecturally varied blocks in the Hills, with Spanish Revival, Craftsman, and mid-century structures on streets that dead-end at the park boundary above. The Bird Streets, a cluster of winding roads above the Sunset Strip near Doheny, hold some of the most prominent contemporary architecture in the market.

Most properties in the Hollywood Hills require a car for every errand. The grades are steep, the roads are narrow, and the distances to flat commercial areas are short in miles but longer in time. Hollywood proper, West Hollywood, and Silver Lake are all within ten to fifteen minutes in good conditions. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is approximately thirty minutes from most Hollywood Hills properties. Bob Hope Airport in Burbank is significantly closer for guests arriving from the east or the Valley, and better suited to private arrivals on that side of the city.

The draw here is the view and the remove. Properties sit above the city's noise at elevations that make the basin visible in a way ground-level Los Angeles does not permit. On clear days, the view from the right hillside covers downtown, the ocean, and the mountains simultaneously. The Hollywood Bowl sits in a natural amphitheater carved into the Hills and operates one of the best outdoor performance venues in the country from late June through September, accessible by a short drive from most properties in the market.