# Explain Los Angeles geography **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 8, 2012, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212 "2012-02-08T17:37:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212/61 "2012-02-09T14:37:50Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > Just based on that description, I’d assume it’s taken from Mulholland Drive or thereabouts up in the Hollywood Hills. I would say one of the vistas on Mullholland between Laural Canyon and Coldwater. And I grew up in the Valley (Sherman Oaks). It’s not that bad dammit! Well, some of it is. The west valley is pretty awful, Chatsworth and Reseda and Woodland Hills and all that. But Studio City, Sherman Oaks, and even North Hollywood are all nice places. Plus the best Mexican food places in the city are all found around San Fernando Blvd. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212/62 "2012-02-09T14:38:23Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > I apologize beforehand for not remember any specific titles but a number of movies have included a very distinct scenic vista shot from up high on a mountainside looking out over some very crowded but beautiful California megalopolis. It’s usually at night and the gridded pattern of lights stretch out N,S,E and West for as far as the eye can see. It looks like a popular make-out spot, a Lover’s Leap that puts all others to shame. I’ve seen that exact same view in easily a half dozen or more shows. Is that too vague or does anyone know from where it was taken and what parts of (I’m assuming L.A.) it encompasses? There are lots of spots with views like that. For example, here’s [the view](http://sparklejet.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/shulmancasestudy22.jpg) from the patio of the Stahl House up in the Hollywood Hills. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212/63 "2012-02-09T14:42:21Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > Great descriptions for everything but this I found really cool. > > I apologize beforehand for not remember any specific titles but a number of movies have included a very distinct scenic vista shot from up high on a mountainside looking out over some very crowded but beautiful California megalopolis. It’s usually at night and the gridded pattern of lights stretch out N,S,E and West for as far as the eye can see. It looks like a popular make-out spot, a Lover’s Leap that puts all others to shame. I’ve seen that exact same view in easily a half dozen or more shows. Is that too vague or does anyone know from where it was taken and what parts of (I’m assuming L.A.) it encompasses? There is a [similar view from Griffith Observatory](http://kathika.com/wp-content/uploads/griffith-observatory-ll.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212/64 "2012-02-09T14:52:10Z")
The last time I went out West, I went to LA specifically to drive on the hills and see the vistas specifically because I knew they _were_ the stereotypical Lover’s Lane vistas (even though many if not all of them are closed at dark, I saw them in the daytime.) I also drove through Hollywood to get there, but I didn’t even stop. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212/65 "2012-02-09T15:35:13Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > And I grew up in the Valley (Sherman Oaks). It’s not that bad dammit! Well, some of it is. The west valley is pretty awful, Chatsworth and Reseda and Woodland Hills and all that. But Studio City, Sherman Oaks, and even North Hollywood are all nice places. Plus the best Mexican food places in the city are all found around San Fernando Blvd. I spent six months living in Studio City before moving to Van Nuys. I agree with you about there and Sherman Oaks and NH. However, Studio City and Sherman Oaks very much have a “I’m here to be seen” vibe to them. The Ralph’s I shopped at in Studio City had way too high a percentage of people dressed up for grocery shopping in the middle of the day on a weekend. Really not my thing. But in terms of nice neighborhoods, they are great, and there’s a lot of really good food in the area. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212/66 "2012-02-09T15:42:16Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > The _Holly_wood\* Sign > [@Musicat](#): > > _Holly_Wood\* Sign > [@Musicat](#): > > the [_Holly_Wood\* sign](http://www.hollywoodsign.org/) 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212/67 "2012-02-09T15:48:49Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > … > [Here’s a pic](http://doorbell.net/tlr/signs) I took from behind the sign once (scroll down). Thanks. That was funny. Did you do that yourself? ---
**Author:** ![mkecane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@mkecane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkecane)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212/68 "2012-02-09T15:57:45Z")
I have nothing to add about LA/SoCal, but this thread is really interesting to me. Thanks, all. I ended up wiki’ing way too much, and way too late, last night about the various parts of LA, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212/69 "2012-02-09T16:44:39Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > I apologize beforehand for not remember any specific titles but a number of movies have included a very distinct scenic vista shot from up high on a mountainside looking out over some very crowded but beautiful California megalopolis. It’s usually at night and the gridded pattern of lights stretch out N,S,E and West for as far as the eye can see. It looks like a popular make-out spot, a Lover’s Leap that puts all others to shame. I’ve seen that exact same view in easily a half dozen or more shows. Is that too vague or does anyone know from where it was taken and what parts of (I’m assuming L.A.) it encompasses? Isn’t there a scene like that in _ET_? > [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > 😕 Yeah, I was going to ask about that too. What’s the deal with the asterisks? ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212/70 "2012-02-09T17:51:32Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > There is a [similar view from Griffith Observatory](http://kathika.com/wp-content/uploads/griffith-observatory-ll.jpg). The street in the middle is Normandie, and the one to the right is Western Ave, which goes straight south from there over 30 miles, just about all of it urban. From the 1900 North block at the base of Griffith Park to the 30,000 South block, almost hitting the port of San Pedro. If you want to see the whole spectrum of Los Angeles, drive the full length of that street. You’ll go from Griffith Park (American Film Institute), Los Feliz (_Swingers_, former homes of Madonna & DiCaprio), to Hollywood, to Wilshire Center/Mid-Wilshire/Koreatown/Pico Union (_Collateral_, 18th Street and MS-13 gangs), to Arlington/Harvard Heights (First AME Chruch), to West Adams, to South Central (Jefferson Park/Exposition Park [USC], Vermont Square, Manchester Square, Grammercy Square, Westmont, Athens), to Hawthorn (The Beach Boys, _Pulp Fiction_), Gardena, Torrance (_Jackie Brown_), Carson (BP-Arco Oil Refineries; Harbor UCLA Medical Center), to San Pedro / Los Angeles Harbor (_Madmen_, _Chinatown_, etc.), not far from the Queen Mary. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212/71 "2012-02-09T18:03:02Z")
Thanks for the links and suggestions. I’ll make a mental note next time I see it in a movie. Griffith Observatory’s from _Rebel_ eh? I’d never tire of driving around California visiting places where my favorite movie scenes were shot. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212/72 "2012-02-09T19:21:21Z")
Well, since we can’t see the sign at night, we’ll just jot up to San Francisco for a quick bite. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212/73 "2012-02-09T19:28:18Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > … I used to return to North Hollywood from playing piano bar in El Monte at 3AM Sunday AM (bar closed at 2 then we went to breakfast at Sambo’s) and I had most (not all!) of the road to myself. Zippety-zip in my convertible with the top down doing 70MPH! Somehow I get the feeling that you have a _lot_ of interesting stories you could tell. With an Early Tom Waits soundtrack… ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212/74 "2012-02-09T19:30:04Z")
> [@Antinor01](#): > > That would be West Hollywood. Ha! I almost wrote exactly that, then decided to leave it hanging out there as a … I hesitate to say … straight line. This being the SDMB, I knew someone would pick up on it! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212/75 "2012-02-09T19:32:35Z")
I can’t seem to find a map that ties all this information together – geographic features (particularly the hills and mountains), municipal and neighborhood boundaries, and major thoroughfares. Every map is missing at least one. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212/76 "2012-02-09T21:59:38Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I can’t seem to find a map that ties all this information together – geographic features (particularly the hills and mountains), municipal and neighborhood boundaries, and major thoroughfares. Every map is missing at least one. What is [this](http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/) missing? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212/77 "2012-02-09T23:20:23Z")
> [@B.Serum](#): > > What is [this](http://projects.latimes.com/mapping-la/neighborhoods/) missing? Oooo, that’s a good one. Thanks! Things are so much more clear now. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212/78 "2012-02-10T01:57:15Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Yeah, I was going to ask about that too. What’s the deal with the asterisks? Not unlike M_A_S_H. If you ever lived there, you’d know that it’s less like Hllywd and more like HO_L_L_Y\*\*W_O_O_D_, or to put it another way, a shameless self-promoting town, inflating something that isn’t there in the first place. Ever heard it called “Tinsel Town”? Des Moines, it ain’t. > [@Gagundathar](#): > > Thanks. That was funny. Did you do that yourself? Yes, I took a friend from out of town on a hike that he wasn’t likely to do himself, in the heart of L.A. and right in my own backyard. > [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Somehow I get the feeling that you have a _lot_ of interesting stories you could tell. With an Early Tom Waits soundtrack… Soundtrack auditions in the rear…Yeah, it was a fun time, before I realized that it was important to earn a living and not just party until something better comes along. {sigh} ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212/79 "2012-02-10T02:12:33Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > I spent six months living in Studio City before moving to Van Nuys…and there’s a lot of really good food in the area. If you mean the Studio City, Ventura Blvd, area, do the gay bars still have the Tuesday & Thursday Two For One specials? I was not of that persuasion, but when someone clued me in to the fact that many gay dives had really good, high-class food (prime rib, steaks, etc.) and the price was cut in half if you dined with a friend on certain nights, I often took girls there on dates. It was a good way to find out if they were irrationally prejudiced (none were, we were hip). Okay, okay, just for **Bridget Burke.**..While playing piano in El Monte one night, I struck up a conversation with a guy who said he was a bartender in Hollywood (cue the asterisks) on Cahuenga. He invited me and some friends to stop by since I closed up the piano early that night and said he’d buy us all a round. It was on our way home, so why not. It was a VERY dingy, crowded bar. After he wetted us down, we began to adjust to the dark. Quite a few, uh, good looking ladies, uh, decent looking, uh, questionable females, uh…what? It finally dawned on us that NONE of them were ladies. It was a 100% transvestite and transsexual bar. Talk about a sudden education. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2012, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212/80 "2012-02-10T02:20:26Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > If you mean the Studio City, Ventura Blvd, area, do the gay bars still have the Tuesday & Thursday Two For One specials? I was not of that persuasion, but when someone clued me in to the fact that many gay dives had really good, high-class food (prime rib, steaks, etc.) and the price was cut in half if you dined with a friend on certain nights, I often took girls there on dates. It was a good way to find out if they were irrationally prejudiced (none were, we were hip). I was previously unaware, but I have gay friends in the Valley, so I may have to ask some questions. Why was I not informed?!? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-los-angeles-geography/612212.md?page=5)