West Hollywood

In the West Hollywood Design District, fashion and the arts rule. This trendsetting area includes intimate galleries and the massive Pacific Design Center, a decorator’s dream, located on Melrose Avenue. More interior design showrooms line Beverly Boulevard, while the highest of high-end boutiques can be found on the ever-stylish Robertson Boulevard. Keep your eyes out for spendy celebrities dipping in and out of shops and head to the fabled Sunset Strip to experience the allure of gritty music venues like The Viper Room or The Roxy, where such legends as Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen have recorded live albums. If you like to stay where the action is, The Strip is also home to some of the most glamorous hotels in the city—Pendry West Hollywood, with its sumptuous rooftop pool, spa, and two Wolfgang Puck restaurants, takes up an entire block, and boutique hotel The Mondrian Los Angeles is right across the street.

Santa Monica Boulevard, the center of West Hollywood’s LGBTQ+ community, is packed with bars, clubs, and award-winning restaurants. Dance your heart out at Revolver Video Bar, get a fancy cocktail at The Abbey, or enjoy hipster comfort food in Laurel Hardware. And right at home in the nabe’s rock ’n’ roll notoriety is The Wild, a restaurant and bar opened in late 2023 by Adam Lambert and Roger Taylor of Queen. 

But West Hollywood isn’t all about flash. Tucked away on a quiet side street, there’s an icon of modern architecture: the Schindler House at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture. Tour the stylish structure, which was completed in 1922 and is an early example of California’s indoor-outdoor style of architecture. Another low-key but worthwhile find is the beloved Book Soup bookstore, with readings and signings by top writers from around the world.

Though known for being progressive and forward-looking, West Hollywood has managed to hold onto aspects of its past in some charming ways. Fun fact: Santa Monica Boulevard is actually the final stretch of Route 66, and in West Hollywood you can still find traces of that bygone era when the roadway earned its vaunted place in American culture. Check out an incredible collection of vintage and modern custom motorcycles at Thunder Road, right on the boulevard, then have a meal at the trolley-car Formosa Café, a Hollywood fixture has been around since 1939 and was a favorite among movie stars like Ava Gardner and John Wayne.