North Hollywood

Los Angeles, California Travel Guide

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North Hollywood

Area: North and East Valley

Overview: Hollywood is on people’s radar. North Hollywood? Not so much. Here’s the good news about North Hollywood: it has a couple of the most interesting and fun attractions in Los Angeles County. North Hollywood is adjacent – just north of – to Hollywood and adjacent to Studio City in the San Fernando Valley.

North Hollywood happens to the city where California attained statehood in 1847 with the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga between Lt. Col. John Fremont of the United States and General Andres Pico of Mexico. Folks like Isaac Lankershim (Lankershim Blvd), Isaac Newton Van Nuys (city of Van Nuys) purchased the North Hollywood area in the late 1880’s and were the early developers of North Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley.

Hollywood proper and the coastline of Los Angeles have overshadowed the presence and attraction of North Hollywood over the years. But, North Hollywood is making huge strides in becoming a real destination to visit. Consider North Hollywood’s NoHo Arts District the epicenter of culture in Los Angeles. North Hollywood also adds to it’s impressive resume the outlandish and fun Universal Studios Hollywood and its accompanying pedestrian-only Universal City Walk. Of course, North Hollywood offers an endless array of restaurants, shops and its nightlife is not too shabby either.

UNIVERSAL CITY
The lines of distinction are blurred as far as Universal City and North Hollywood boundaries start and end. But, both have joined forces to create the Universal City North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce (UCNH). So, North Hollywood has a bright and shining amusement park star – and one of the most popular in the nation at that – Universal Studios Hollywood. Universal Studios is located at the south end of the North Hollywood in the Universal City area. It has one of the greatest rides of all amusement parks in Los Angeles – The Simpsons. Adjoining the amusement park is the always fun, humongous outdoor entertainment center, Universal City Walk, with retail stores, restaurants, bars, movie theatre and more. Within the Universal City Walk is the popular Gibson Amphitheatre (formerly, Universal Amphitheatre).

NOHO ARTS DISTRICT
If you are a serious artist, dancer, musician or actor, it’s would definitely behoove you to link into to the NoHo Arts District in North Hollywood. If you are a connoisseur of theater, arts or music, it would behoove you as well. The NoHo Arts District reportedly has the greatest concentration of live theaters and recording studios in the west. When you hit Vineland or Lankershim at Camarillo St, you will notice the “NoHo” flags up and down the streets. The NoHo Arts District is a one square mile area in North Hollywood where the arts are taken seriously and in return, where the visitor can experience the carefully crafted arts on stage. Whether the art takes place on stage or in the numerous galleries, you’ll be sure to enjoy yourself amidst the electic NoHo art scene. Carefully time your visit and you can participate in the annual NoHo Theatre and Arts Festival.

Accessibility: North Hollywood and the NoHo Arts District and Universal City are wheelchair accessible. Some of the smaller art spaces in the NoHo Arts District may not have elevators but they very few and far between.

Getting There: www.metro.net, www.ladottransit.com, www.burbankbus.org