Unspecified/General

The most celebrated stretch of the long Los Angeles boulevard is the Sunset Strip, a mile and a half of road running through West Hollywood that has been the city's nightlife heart for the better part of a century. Lined with clubs, bars, hotels and enormous billboards, the Strip is where much of the legend of Hollywood after dark was made, and it remains a magnet for music fans and night owls. Its reputation was forged in successive eras of entertainment. In the glamorous mid-century years it was home to swanky supper clubs and casinos that drew movie stars; in the 1960s and 1970s it became the epicentre of the rock scene, with venues that launched countless bands and a youth culture that occasionally spilled into the streets; and it has cycled through punk, metal and beyond ever since. The Strip's landmarks are part of music and screen history. Famous rock clubs and comedy rooms still operate along it, grand old hotels have hosted decades of celebrity scandal and tragedy, and the towering hand-painted billboards above the road, advertising albums and films, are an art form in themselves, changing with the fortunes of the industry below. Outside the clubs, the Strip is also a place to see and be seen, its sidewalks and rooftop bars busy with a mix of tourists, locals and the hopeful. For visitors the Sunset Strip is best explored on foot or by car in the evening, when its neon and billboards come alive. It is free to wander, with cover charges and drinks at the individual venues, sits at the centre of West Hollywood's dining and nightlife, and offers a tangible link to the city's long love affair with music and celebrity. Photographers and music fans make pilgrimages to its famous clubs, where the careers of generations of bands began on small stages. The hand-painted billboards above the road, advertising the latest albums and films, have become a recognised art form, changing with the fortunes of the entertainment industry below. By day the Strip is relatively quiet, but as the sun sets its neon flickers to life and the sidewalks fill, recreating the after-dark glamour that has defined it for nearly a century.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, United States