Paul Mark M.
Google
The Sunset Strip—specifically the stretch between Doheny and Fairfax—is the real iconic LA boulevard. Out-of-towners often make a beeline for Hollywood Blvd expecting magic, but end up with grit and tourist traps. The Sunset Strip is where the camera-ready version of LA actually lives and breathes.
Start at Mani Brothers’ 9200 Sunset Blvd, one of LA’s most recognizable high-rises, home to Soho House and BOA Steakhouse (where deals and martinis go hand-in-hand) and nearby 9000 Sunset home to elite movie industry office and Forward One Real Estate—because yes, even real estate has a little swagger on this strip.
From there, cruise past The Roxy and Whisky a Go Go—two of the most storied music venues in America—and onward to the Comedy Store, where legends are made and egos are broken nightly. Chateau Marmont looms like a gothic Hollywood fever dream just up the hill. The billboards? They’re not ads, they’re declarations. Art installations for the fame economy.
And the street life? Peak Los Angeles. Where talent scouts, TikTokers, washed-up rockers, rising comedians, and producers with too many phones share the sidewalk. There’s a pulse here that doesn’t exist anywhere else. It’s walkable, it’s photogenic, and it’s layered with enough cultural history to make even jaded locals stop and look around once in a while.
If you want the LA you imagined, not the one from airport souvenirs, this is it. The Sunset Strip is the movie.
