Santa Monica Boulevard is a street in Los Angeles, California, United States. It runs from the eastern part of Hollywood to Santa Monica and passes through the communities of Hollywood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Century City, West Los Angeles, and Santa Monica. Of these communities, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica are incorporated cities; the others are districts of the city of Los Angeles. It also passes through the neighborhood of Little Armenia.
For its entire length, until the tracks were removed, Santa Monica Boulevard followed the tracks of the Pacific Electric Railway. In the portion from Holloway Drive in West Hollywood to Sepulveda Boulevard in West Los Angeles, the tracks were in a separate right-of-way, with two roadways on either side of the tracks. For the rest of the route, the tracks ran in the traffic lanes.
Except for a short portion at its eastern end, Santa Monica Boulevard was adopted as a California state highway in 1933. From 1934 to about 1937, it was signed as State Route 2. Then it became U.S. Highway 66. When U.S. Highway 66 was truncated to Pasadena in 1964, Santa Monica Boulevard once again became State Route 2 as far east as the Hollywood Freeway. Today, the State Route 2 portion of Santa Monica Boulevard is defined from the Santa Monica/Los Angeles city limits to US-101.
Santa Monica Boulevard, being a major street, is for most of its length at least four lanes wide. On its western end to Beverly Hills, it runs south of Wilshire Boulevard along a southwest-northeast route. After intersecting with Wilshire in Beverly Hills, Santa Monica Boulevard continues northeast towards West Hollywood, spawning Beverly Boulevard and Melrose Avenue. In the middle of West Hollywood, Santa Monica turns to run east-west north of Wilshire Boulevard.
At the west end of its run, Santa Monica Boulevard starts off of Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. From there until Sepulveda Boulevard, Santa Monica Boulevard is a densely urban commercial street. Most of the Westside car dealerships are located on Santa Monica Boulevard. After Sepulveda, Santa Monica Boulevard passes by Century City and its shopping center, and intersects with Wilshire in Beverly Hills. From Doheny Drive to La Cienega Boulevard in West Hollywood is the center of gay life in Los Angeles. Entering Hollywood, Santa Monica Boulevard becomes considerably more gritty. One of the most famous spots for male prostitution and transgender prostitution is Santa Monica Boulevard in the Hollywood area, especially the area east of La Brea Avenue.
Santa Monica Boulevard underwent reconstruction from the western city limits of Beverly Hills to Sepulveda Boulevard. It consists of three roadways, the center roadway being for through traffic, and the two side roadways for local access (named Santa Monica Blvd North and Santa Monica Blvd South).
South Santa Monica Boulevard, often called Little Santa Monica, runs parallel to Santa Monica Blvd. from Sepulevda Blvd. to Beverly Drive. After Beverly Drive, Little Santa Monica ends, becoming Burton Way. Burton Way merges into San Vicente Boulevard at its intersection with La Cienega Boulevard.
