Buildings and streetscapes that tell the story of Hollywood’s boom years. 16 places, each with a map.
Hollywood Blvd. & Vine St. · Hollywood
More than 2,850 brass-and-terrazzo stars line fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street. The first were installed in 1960, and new stars are still dedicated in public ceremonies most months. Use our star directory to find your favorites and see exactly where they are before you go.
Hollywood Blvd. at La Brea Ave. · Hollywood
Catherine Hardwicke designed this silver gazebo, dedicated in 1994, as the western gateway to the Walk of Fame. Its columns carry figures of Dolores del Río, Mae West, Dorothy Dandridge and Anna May Wong, representing women of different backgrounds who shaped the film industry. A figure of Marilyn Monroe turns on the top.
6801 Hollywood Blvd. · Hollywood
This shopping and entertainment center around the Dolby Theatre opened in 2001. Its Babylon Court recreates the gateway and elephant-topped columns of D.W. Griffith’s 1916 Intolerance set, and an archway frames a clear view of the Hollywood Sign. The upper terraces are one of the easiest photo spots in the neighborhood.
6671 Sunset Blvd. · Hollywood
Opened in 1936, this was one of the country’s first outdoor shopping malls, designed by Robert V. Derrah as a village of international storefronts around a building shaped like an ocean liner. Its revolving globe tower is a Sunset landmark. The shops are now offices, but the courtyard can still be admired from the street.
4800 Hollywood Blvd. · Los Feliz
Frank Lloyd Wright designed this house for oil heiress Aline Barnsdall between 1919 and 1921, crowning the hill now called Barnsdall Art Park. Its stylized hollyhock motifs and Mayan-inspired forms made it his first Los Angeles commission. In 2019 it joined UNESCO’s World Heritage List; tours run most weeks.
2607 Glendower Ave. · Los Feliz
Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1924 textile-block house looks like a Mayan temple on the Los Feliz hillside. Its patterned concrete blocks have made it a favorite film location, most famously inspiring Deckard’s apartment in Blade Runner. The house is privately owned, so view it respectfully from Glendower Avenue.
6280 Hollywood Blvd. · Hollywood
Completed in 1923 at the southeast corner of Hollywood and Vine, the twelve-story Taft was one of Hollywood’s first high-rises. Talent agents, publicists and the doctors and dentists of the stars rented its offices for decades. It still anchors the most famous intersection in Hollywood.
6777 Hollywood Blvd. · Hollywood
Topped by a Gothic tower with carved figures, this 1927 bank was for years among the tallest buildings in Hollywood. It anchors the corner of Hollywood and Highland with the grandeur the booming movie town wanted to project. Its tower is best seen from across the boulevard near the Dolby Theatre.
6840 Hollywood Blvd. · Hollywood
Built in 1921 as Hollywood’s Masonic Temple, this neoclassical building beside the El Capitan hosted lodge meetings for many early film figures. Disney converted it into a television studio, and Jimmy Kimmel Live! has been taped here since 2003. Free audience tickets are offered for many tapings.
2178 High Tower Dr. · Hollywood Hills
A private elevator tower rising above a hidden hillside courtyard, High Tower was built in the 1920s so residents of the steep homes above could reach their front doors. Robert Altman filmed The Long Goodbye in the surrounding apartments. Walk the public stairways nearby for a glimpse of this Italian-style campanile.
6200 Franklin Ave. · Hollywood
This 1929 French Normandy apartment building, with its tall rooftop sign facing the 101 freeway, housed many actors in its early years. Many fans believe it inspired the Hollywood Tower Hotel of Disney’s Tower of Terror rides. It is a private residence, but its silhouette is an easy landmark from Franklin Avenue.
6541 Hollywood Blvd. · Hollywood
This 1903 Queen Anne Victorian is the last of the grand family homes that once lined Prospect Avenue, now Hollywood Boulevard. The Janes sisters ran a school here that taught children of Hollywood’s film pioneers. Today it sits behind a small courtyard off the boulevard, a reminder of Hollywood before the movies.
1824 N. Curson Ave. · Hollywood
Omaha banker Gurdon Wattles built this Mission Revival winter home in 1907, surrounded by terraced gardens that once climbed the hillside. The city later acquired the estate as a park. The mansion is used for events, and the grounds, including a community garden, make a quiet escape a few blocks from the boulevard.
Whitley Terrace & Wedgewood Pl. · Hollywood Hills
Developer H.J. Whitley laid out this Mediterranean hillside enclave in the 1910s and 1920s, and it quickly filled with film people, including Rudolph Valentino. Now a historic district, its winding lanes and villas above the 101 still evoke the silent era. It is a residential area, so please respect residents’ privacy.
7001 Franklin Ave. · Hollywood
This 1909 Victorian mansion has been the clubhouse of the Academy of Magical Arts since 1963. Behind a secret bookcase entrance are bars, parlors and small theaters where magicians perform nightly. It is a private club: visitors need an invitation from a member or a stay at the neighboring Magic Castle Hotel, and a dress code applies.
1645 N. Vine St. · Hollywood
Built in 1927 as the B.H. Dyas department store and later the Broadway Hollywood, this building at Hollywood and Vine still carries its rooftop neon sign. It was one of Hollywood’s first big department stores, serving the stars who lived and worked nearby. The upper floors are now apartments.