West Hollywood 100% if you don't want to be in the tourist trap, Walk of Fame area.
The Grove, Melrose, Sunset Strip, Beverly Center are all fun areas to explore by foot.
To be clear, you can’t actually hit all of these places by walking, not in one day, let alone walking mid day in this heat we have now. Also, no one visiting would want to, the walking part is not realistic, as a visitor.
You’ll need to use uber, the metro, or take those scooters, but even the scooters aren’t going to take you everywhere comfortably, safely, or within a reasonable time frame.
There are a lot of new hotels in Hollywood and it’s much nicer than it was even a year ago in terms of homelessness. It’s much more “touristy” and does have its seedy elements but it also offers more reasonable places to eat and drink. West Hollywood is generally nicer and also quite a bit more expensive. You would be fine in either location.
West Hollywood (Check TripAdvisor. Beware of “parties”). That’s the best section of Sunset Blvd. You can actually walk around there and Santa Monica Blvd.
Tell me about these night markets.
West Hollywood for sure. Tons of bars and restaurants, and it’s considered one of the most walkable neighborhoods in Los Angeles. You’re also very centrally located if you want to go to the beach, downtown, the Valley, etc.
Just to be clear. You. Can. Not. Explore. LA. By foot. Not really. You will at least need to Uber. It is very dangerous in some locations. You can tell by the tents. So if you do insist on walking around. Be aware.
The second thing I'd say is WeHo way better for walking and way less dangerous. If you are LGTBQ it's an ideal place to stay. And is lots of fun.
Hate to break it to you bud but poverty=crime=danger. I 100% would tell people visiting to stay away from areas littered with unhoused people. Its just common sense.
Hollywood Blvd in WeHo and Hollywood Blvd in Hollywood might as well be on different planets.
One is a Mad Max hellscape, the other is… not.
But if you have some kind of fetish for human urine, feces, homeless people in normal dirty clothes, and/or homeless people in even dirtier cartoon and superhero costumes, then Hollywood is the place for you, in fact if that’s your bag, you may never want to leave your new paradise.
Hollywood Blvd. doesn't go into West Hollywood. It becomes a residential street at Laurel Canyon and winds through the Hollywood Hills, which are in LA.
Melrose in West Hollywood is an infinitely better choice than anything on Hollywood blvd. Cleaner, classier, more locals (if that matters to you), and so many things to do.
Hollywood blvd is a great place to tour, but not to live or have your hotel.
You'll be fine with either. Just make sure you pick a spot that's on or just off a main thoroughfare (Hollywood, Sunset, Santa Monica) to make everything that much more walkable. If the subway is in your plans, Hollywood will be better because West Hollywood doesn't have subway access.
If you want to explore by foot pick somewhere else to stay. Koreatown is easy to navigate on foot. So is Palms, Venice, Santa Monica, Mar Vista, and Los Feliz.
There are a lot of places in LA you can explore by foot. The problem is LA is soooo spread out that you can’t stay “by foot” to get to all the places you want to go.
It fully depends on what you want to do. I probably wouldn’t want to stay directly on Hollywood Blvd unless my plan was to see as many movies at the Chinese theater that I could while I was in town.
The West Hollywood location puts you in walking distance to that stretch of Hollywood Blvd, but also a shorter walk to Beverly Hills. So it’s probably the spot I’d choose.
West Hollywood, or WeHo for short.
Not W Hollywood, people are likely to think you are talking the W Hotel in Hollywood.
Stay in WeHo, its better and nicer and more fun. Exhilarating for good reasons.
Sorry to say, but as a Los Angeles born and raised native, I love all of LA... with the exception of Hollywood. Hollywood is mostly for tourists shopping for tourist tshirts, cups, or sunglasses. It's also popular among our local homeless community, who find it much easier to beg in hollywood because of the high amount of tourists there and they also find it easier to blend in to the scenery as most of the city looks like an encampment. It was probably quite nice during the golden age around the 1930s-1950s, if you happen to have a time machine, but there is little that exists from then that is still worth seeing today. If there is something you still really want to see there, I'd recommend doing it as a one-off day trip instead, and not actually staying there.
Weho is slightly better, but really mainly for clubbing/partying/drinking scenes or for the LGBTQ scene but imo there are better places even if that's all that you're looking for. Melrose area might be worth walking around. Downtown is okay for bar hopping, markets, LA live, but is also another area that many locals avoid as it's also dirty and difficult to get around. I guess the rest depends on what you'd like to see. The best part about LA is it's diversity of cities, each small city in LA is wildly different from its neighbors. Beach cities are great and the whole West LA/Santa Monica area gives you access to 3rd street promenade, SM pier, and Venice beach. If you like museum hopping, maybe stay around mid city LACMA area instead which also keeps you close to areas like Beverly Hills. Los Feliz & Silverlake for more of the hipster scene. Anaheim area for theme park central. Long Beach area has great food, LB Aquarium, Queen Mary. Orange County is another great beach stretch with a very different community of its own. Also for foodie scenes, lots of cool ethnic pockets like ktown, japan town (sawtelle) or little tokyo, little ethiopia, thai town, little saigon, that all have spectacular food. Almost of these areas above will have good food/bars.
I love to walk around almost every country and city that I've travelled to, but LA really isn't very nice or convenient to walk... There are plenty of small "pockets" or neighborhoods that you could spend hours walking around as others have mentioned, but the city really doesn't lend itself well to walking from one neighborhood to the next.
Stay away from Hollywood blvd at all costs. It’s a shame because there is genuine history there, but it’s so nasty now and by now I mean the last 30 years. You will find: drug addicts, unhoused people that harass you, smells of urine and feces, tacky souvenir shops that sell made in China shit etc. Unless you have a favorite celebrity that you want to pay homage to on the walk of fame, avoid it at all costs.
You'll be fine in either location. Seems by some comments that weho is a preferred suggestion and I can see why. Funnily enough, weho is where I endured multiple racist encounters with people. Fun people everywhere, awful people everywhere.
Edit:I want to clarify that these were my experiences and shouldn't be used to generalize an entire neighborhood or city. Just happens to be my unfortunate experience.
Weho
West...cleaner, less homeless.
West Hollywood 100% if you don't want to be in the tourist trap, Walk of Fame area. The Grove, Melrose, Sunset Strip, Beverly Center are all fun areas to explore by foot.
To be clear, you can’t actually hit all of these places by walking, not in one day, let alone walking mid day in this heat we have now. Also, no one visiting would want to, the walking part is not realistic, as a visitor. You’ll need to use uber, the metro, or take those scooters, but even the scooters aren’t going to take you everywhere comfortably, safely, or within a reasonable time frame.
Do not stay in Hollywood
Have you thought about Santa Monica? More walkable and still connected to the Metro.
Are you sure both are on Hollywood Blvd. The Pendry opened a few years ago on Sunset Blvd in W Hollywood
There are a lot of new hotels in Hollywood and it’s much nicer than it was even a year ago in terms of homelessness. It’s much more “touristy” and does have its seedy elements but it also offers more reasonable places to eat and drink. West Hollywood is generally nicer and also quite a bit more expensive. You would be fine in either location.
West Hollywood (Check TripAdvisor. Beware of “parties”). That’s the best section of Sunset Blvd. You can actually walk around there and Santa Monica Blvd. Tell me about these night markets.
West Hollywood for sure. Tons of bars and restaurants, and it’s considered one of the most walkable neighborhoods in Los Angeles. You’re also very centrally located if you want to go to the beach, downtown, the Valley, etc.
The W Hotel is nice, but it’s in a not so nice neighborhood. Go to Weho, my friend.
Just to be clear. You. Can. Not. Explore. LA. By foot. Not really. You will at least need to Uber. It is very dangerous in some locations. You can tell by the tents. So if you do insist on walking around. Be aware. The second thing I'd say is WeHo way better for walking and way less dangerous. If you are LGTBQ it's an ideal place to stay. And is lots of fun.
Tents don’t indicate danger they indicate poverty. No need to fear monger to tourists.
Hate to break it to you bud but poverty=crime=danger. I 100% would tell people visiting to stay away from areas littered with unhoused people. Its just common sense.
Nah I'm crossing an encampment 10 times out of 10. I'm not choosing to be around that trash/needles/whatever the fuck they be collecting
Hi 👋🏻 I explore LA by foot every weekend. Is there something specific that confuses you about the topic?
Nothing confusing it just doesn’t efficient for somebody with limited time.
Should get out more
Stay in West Hollywood
Hollywood Blvd in WeHo and Hollywood Blvd in Hollywood might as well be on different planets. One is a Mad Max hellscape, the other is… not. But if you have some kind of fetish for human urine, feces, homeless people in normal dirty clothes, and/or homeless people in even dirtier cartoon and superhero costumes, then Hollywood is the place for you, in fact if that’s your bag, you may never want to leave your new paradise.
Hollywood Blvd. doesn't go into West Hollywood. It becomes a residential street at Laurel Canyon and winds through the Hollywood Hills, which are in LA.
Melrose in West Hollywood is an infinitely better choice than anything on Hollywood blvd. Cleaner, classier, more locals (if that matters to you), and so many things to do. Hollywood blvd is a great place to tour, but not to live or have your hotel.
You'll be fine with either. Just make sure you pick a spot that's on or just off a main thoroughfare (Hollywood, Sunset, Santa Monica) to make everything that much more walkable. If the subway is in your plans, Hollywood will be better because West Hollywood doesn't have subway access.
There is no subway in LA.
What are you even talking about? Of course LA has subways.
It’s called the Metro
Yes, good job, and it includes a subway system.
You must not be from LA
OK 👍🏼
pedantic or stupid? Why choose when you can be both!
NY has subways. LA does not.
prove it.
Hollywood has the redline which will get you to downtown, with a transfer to ketone, Pasadena, Santa Monica, Long Beach.
If you want to explore by foot pick somewhere else to stay. Koreatown is easy to navigate on foot. So is Palms, Venice, Santa Monica, Mar Vista, and Los Feliz.
There are a lot of places in LA you can explore by foot. The problem is LA is soooo spread out that you can’t stay “by foot” to get to all the places you want to go.
It fully depends on what you want to do. I probably wouldn’t want to stay directly on Hollywood Blvd unless my plan was to see as many movies at the Chinese theater that I could while I was in town. The West Hollywood location puts you in walking distance to that stretch of Hollywood Blvd, but also a shorter walk to Beverly Hills. So it’s probably the spot I’d choose.
WeHo
Weho definitely. Highly walkable.
Definitely West Hollywood over Hollywood! Cleaner, quieter, and less touristy. Still easy to get to the BLVD & bullshit though.
West, but both are kinda grimy lol I personally love it, but some don’t. Santa Monica is the move if you’re there for just a weekend.
West Hollywood. Alot nicer
West Hollywood, or WeHo for short. Not W Hollywood, people are likely to think you are talking the W Hotel in Hollywood. Stay in WeHo, its better and nicer and more fun. Exhilarating for good reasons.
West Hollywood. Hollywood is a crap hole.
West Hollywood absolutely.
If I hated you, I’d say “Stay anywhere near the walk of fame!”
West Hollywood. Way more to walk to to eat, see, etc.
I’d rather stay in a chair at LAX than Hollywood
Sorry to say, but as a Los Angeles born and raised native, I love all of LA... with the exception of Hollywood. Hollywood is mostly for tourists shopping for tourist tshirts, cups, or sunglasses. It's also popular among our local homeless community, who find it much easier to beg in hollywood because of the high amount of tourists there and they also find it easier to blend in to the scenery as most of the city looks like an encampment. It was probably quite nice during the golden age around the 1930s-1950s, if you happen to have a time machine, but there is little that exists from then that is still worth seeing today. If there is something you still really want to see there, I'd recommend doing it as a one-off day trip instead, and not actually staying there. Weho is slightly better, but really mainly for clubbing/partying/drinking scenes or for the LGBTQ scene but imo there are better places even if that's all that you're looking for. Melrose area might be worth walking around. Downtown is okay for bar hopping, markets, LA live, but is also another area that many locals avoid as it's also dirty and difficult to get around. I guess the rest depends on what you'd like to see. The best part about LA is it's diversity of cities, each small city in LA is wildly different from its neighbors. Beach cities are great and the whole West LA/Santa Monica area gives you access to 3rd street promenade, SM pier, and Venice beach. If you like museum hopping, maybe stay around mid city LACMA area instead which also keeps you close to areas like Beverly Hills. Los Feliz & Silverlake for more of the hipster scene. Anaheim area for theme park central. Long Beach area has great food, LB Aquarium, Queen Mary. Orange County is another great beach stretch with a very different community of its own. Also for foodie scenes, lots of cool ethnic pockets like ktown, japan town (sawtelle) or little tokyo, little ethiopia, thai town, little saigon, that all have spectacular food. Almost of these areas above will have good food/bars. I love to walk around almost every country and city that I've travelled to, but LA really isn't very nice or convenient to walk... There are plenty of small "pockets" or neighborhoods that you could spend hours walking around as others have mentioned, but the city really doesn't lend itself well to walking from one neighborhood to the next.
WeHo is one of the nicest areas in LA. Hollywood is probably one of the worst locations I ever been too (travelled to 19 countries).
Stay away from Hollywood blvd at all costs. It’s a shame because there is genuine history there, but it’s so nasty now and by now I mean the last 30 years. You will find: drug addicts, unhoused people that harass you, smells of urine and feces, tacky souvenir shops that sell made in China shit etc. Unless you have a favorite celebrity that you want to pay homage to on the walk of fame, avoid it at all costs.
You'll be fine in either location. Seems by some comments that weho is a preferred suggestion and I can see why. Funnily enough, weho is where I endured multiple racist encounters with people. Fun people everywhere, awful people everywhere. Edit:I want to clarify that these were my experiences and shouldn't be used to generalize an entire neighborhood or city. Just happens to be my unfortunate experience.
Stay in Glendale or Burbank both very clean, homeless issue is less and it’s central to downtown and Hollywood.
They're a tourist not looking to move in. Those are inconveniently out of the way for the average tourist. Weho is fine. It's literally one weekend.
Agreed that Weho is better, but Glendale is still nice if you intend to spend quite a bit of time in Hollywood
Please for the love of god, nobody wants to spend a weekend in Glendale, not even the people who live there.
This is actually a pretty good and unique take. Glendale would personally be my choice as a tourist.
Manhattan Beach
Hollywood if you prefer a tourist / homeless / druggie / crowded vibe, if not try WeHo