La Cienega Boulevard
Major LA arterial with historic Restaurant Row and studio zone.
La Cienega Boulevard is a major north–south arterial road in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, running from the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood in the north to El Segundo Boulevard in Hawthorne in the south. It was named for Rancho Las Cienegas, literally "The Ranch Of The Swamps," an area of marshland south of Rancho La Brea. Landmarks along La Cienega Boulevard include Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, Restaurant Row, the Beverly Center mall and other shops in the La Cienega Design Quarter, and its intersection with Beverly Boulevard that is traditionally considered the epicenter of the studio zone.
Quick Facts
- Northern terminus
- Sunset Strip, West Hollywood
- Southern terminus
- El Segundo Boulevard, Hawthorne
- Named after
- Rancho Las Cienegas
- Landmarks
- Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area
- Restaurant Row
- Beverly Center
- La Cienega D
- Metro lines served
- Metro Local line 105
- Metro E Line
- Metro D Line
Facts from the source article.
Did You Know?
- The southeast corner of Beverly and La Cienega Boulevards is considered the center of the studio zone, a 30 mi radius used by the American entertainment industry to determine employee benefits.
- The area named 'Las Ciénegas' was a continual marshland due to the Los Angeles River's course before a massive southerly shift in 1825.
Route description
La Cienega Boulevard begins at the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood and runs due south as a surface street through Beverly Hills and the Restaurant Row area, known for its historic upscale dining. After crossing the Santa Monica Freeway (I-10), it briefly borders Culver City and serves the La Cienega/Jefferson station of the Metro E Line. Between Obama Boulevard and Centinela Avenue, most of La Cienega becomes a divided, limited-access expressway with few traffic signals, built to freeway standards in the late 1940s as part of the never-completed Laurel Canyon Freeway.
This stretch includes grade-separated interchanges, emergency call boxes installed in the early 1970s, and two pedestrian bridges—one just north of Fairview and another in Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area. It passes through Kenneth Hahn SRA, Baldwin Hills, the Inglewood Oil Field, and Ladera Heights. South of Centinela Avenue, La Cienega reverts to a surface street through a short section of North Inglewood, connecting to the San Diego (405) Freeway via an incomplete interchange.
This segment creates traffic problems due to traffic signals, street parking, and apartment garages opening onto the northbound side. Plans to grade-separate intersections with Centinela Avenue and La Tijera Boulevard have been proposed repeatedly but not implemented. The boulevard ends at El Segundo Boulevard in Hawthorne, with a non-contiguous segment running along the east side of the 405 freeway between El Segundo Boulevard and Rosecrans Avenue in an unincorporated county strip.
Etymology
La Cienega Boulevard takes its name from Rancho Las Cienegas, a Mexican land grant in what is now West Los Angeles. The Spanish phrase la ciénaga means 'the swamp,' and the area was a continual marshland due to the Los Angeles River's course before a major southerly shift in 1825. The spelling difference between the Castilian ciénaga and the boulevard's name, common in other Iberian languages like Extremaduran, originated with the ranch's name.
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