Just north of Sunset Blvd and east of the Trousdale section of Beverly Hills, the Bird Streets hold some of the most expensive hillside real estate in the city.  Homes valued well over $10 million dot the hillside, and recent sales have pushed past $20 million for the right view lot.  The neighborhood gets its name from the streets that make it up: Oriole, Blue Jay, Flicker, Thrasher, Bluebird, Mockingbird, Warbler, Thrush, and Swallow, to name a few.

The main draw here is exclusivity: limited access and spectacular views, often city to ocean and sometimes the Hollywood Sign too.  The streets are small and windy, and there's no way over the hill into the Valley from this neighborhood. That keeps the riff raff out since there's little reason to come up here unless you live here or know someone who does.  A few minutes down the hill and you're in the heart of the Sunset Strip for dinner, a show, or a drink at one of the hotel bars.

Sunset Plaza

Next door is Sunset Plaza, named for the shopping complex at its base on Sunset Blvd.  The complex on both sides of the street is lined with boutiques and sidewalk cafes, and it has some of the easiest parking on the Strip, which is rare around here.  The streets in Sunset Plaza are small and windy too, and while you could technically find a way over the hill via upper Laurel Canyon, it’s not much of a shortcut.  Get stuck behind one trash truck and you’ll lose any time you thought you saved.

Kings & Queens

The next pocket is Kings & Queens, named for Kings Rd and Queens Rd.  Also just above the Sunset Strip, this neighborhood sits right over the Comedy Store, so it’s a quick trip down the hill for a hotel bar or a night of comedy.  The Comedy Store has been around since 1972 and is still where a lot of working comedians cut their teeth, so don’t be surprised if you hear laughter (or heckling) drifting up the hill some nights.

Above the Chateau Marmont

Continuing east, we go above the Chateau Marmont hotel.  Streets with familiar names like Hollywood Blvd and Crescent Heights Blvd turn tiny and winding up here, a far cry from their busier counterparts down the hill.  The Chateau itself has been a celebrity hideaway since 1929, and the old line that you're not famous until you've done something stupid at the Chateau Marmont has more or less held up.  For residents above it, though, it's mostly just a great landmark to give people directions by.

Laurel Canyon

Laurel Canyon is the big one, the famed stretch where musicians like Joni Mitchell, Crosby Stills Nash & Young, Frank Zappa, and the Beach Boys hung out and made some of the best music of the 60’s and 70’s.  Laurel Canyon Blvd itself winds up and over the hill to Studio City and is heavily trafficked; expect to get stuck during rush hour, and watch out for flooding and mudslides in a big rainstorm.  Up in the canyon, the feel changes fast.  Wooded lots big and small, some with views, plenty of trees and wildlife, and a real sense of being far from the city even though you’re minutes away.  The side streets are tight and windy, more like driveways than roads, so go slow: two cars often can’t pass each other at the same time.  On the practical side, Laurel Canyon is home to one of the city’s top public elementary schools, Wonderland Elementary, and a small shopping center up the hill anchored by the Canyon Country Store and Pace, a rustic Italian spot that’s been a fixture for decades, plus a dry cleaner.  Where Laurel Canyon Blvd meets Mulholland you’ll also find the Mulholland Tennis Club and the Laurel Canyon Dog Park, two of the most-used amenities up here (more on both under Great Places below).

Mt. Olympus

On the east side of Laurel Canyon Blvd lies Mt. Olympus, built mostly from the 60’s on.  Every street here pays homage to Greek gods (Apollo, Electra, Hercules, Jupiter, Oceanus, Achilles, Venus, Zeus) plus Mount Olympus Drive itself.  This area feels more like a planned development: wide streets, underground utilities, and homes stacked close together, many built right up to the street.  Architecture ranges from mid-century to 70’s builds to fully contemporary.  You enter via Laurel Canyon and can also cross over to Nichols Canyon via Willow Glen for an alternate route up to Mulholland.  The wide streets and lack of overhead wires and trees make it feel very different from its counterpart across Laurel Canyon Blvd.  Several homes here come with their own pools, tennis courts, and sweeping views, which is part of why it draws buyers looking for a more modern vibe than the rest of the canyons offer.

Nichols Canyon

The next canyon over is Nichols Canyon, back to that treetop, wooded feel we had in Laurel Canyon.  There's a mix of architecture and plenty of winding streets, though not quite as tight as Laurel Canyon's.  Nichols Canyon ends at Mulholland Drive via Woodrow Wilson Drive but isn’t really an easy or direct route over the hill, so it doesn't see nearly the traffic that Laurel Canyon Blvd does.  That lack of through traffic is the whole appeal: quieter than its neighbors despite being just as close to everything.

Outpost Estates

The next major area is Outpost Estates, a mix of architecture from the 20’s to modern day.  Some sections went up in the 20s, including the Bob Barker estate down near the bottom, about a block from Franklin.  That same stretch of Franklin is also home to the Magic Castle and above it, the famed Yamashiro restaurant.  The Magic Castle has been the private clubhouse for the Academy of Magical Arts since 1963, set inside a Victorian mansion built in 1909, and Yamashiro is even older: an early 1900’s hillside estate built by the Bernheimer brothers that’s been a restaurant since the early 60’s and still one of the best view dinners in the city.  Other sections of Outpost went up in the 70’s, including much of the Outpost Cove area near Mulholland.  Outpost sits just east of Runyon Canyon State Park, so wildlife is part of the deal here: bobcats, coyotes, snakes, and more.  Only the handful of homes that actually back up to the park get true walk-out access to the trails; everyone else drives down to the Fuller Ave or Mulholland entrances like the rest of the city (more on that under Hiking & Outdoor Activities below).  Some of the homes are grand old estates from the 20s or 30s on large plots of land.  Director David Lynch’s mid-century compound recently sold for $15 million, and Brad Pitt just bought an estate in Outpost for $12 million.  The neighborhood is dotted with city signs banning tour buses, thanks to the sheer number of celebrities who call it home.  The east side of Outpost overlooks the Hollywood Bowl, so some of those homes get treated to free music in the summertime.

Near Mulholland Drive: Briar Summit, Torreyson, Flynn Ranch, Laurelwood & Laurel Pass

Closer to Mulholland Drive, the dividing line between the city and the Valley (it’s where the area code switches to 818), are a few more pockets with their own names: Briar Summit, Torreyson, Flynn Ranch, Laurelwood, and Laurel Pass, to name a few.  This stretch of Mulholland is also the gateway to Fryman Canyon Park, one of the best hiking loops in the area (more on that under Hiking & Outdoor Activities below).

Whitley Heights & Hollywood Heights

Closer to the city side, near both Franklin and the freeway, lie Whitley Heights and Hollywood Heights.  These pockets can be hit or miss on noise, depending on freeway or city traffic.  Both have some beautiful old homes, though, and Hollywood Heights has one particularly special corner: a walking-streets-only neighborhood with no cars allowed.  You park at the base, take an elevator up, and walk the rest of the way to your house.  It’s a tiny, unusual pocket that most Angelenos don’t even know exists.  

Cahuenga Pass

Cahuenga Pass is technically part of Hollywood Hills West since it sits on the west side of the 101, but plenty of people think of it as Valley or Hollywood Hills East instead.  The neighborhood runs along the west side of the freeway, and for a good stretch it really does feel like the Valley, especially as you come out onto Cahuenga Blvd near Universal Studios.  With the hills behind you by that point, it just reads as Valley.  Like some of the other neighborhoods, freeway noise can be an issue and it is really house to house.  One side of a street could be fine while the other sounds like you are standing on the side of the freeway itself. You will get a bit for your money in the Pass due to the things mentioned above. The pass has actually been a route over the hills since before the freeway existed, used first by the Tongva people and later by stagecoaches, and the Hollywood Bowl sits right at its mouth on the Hollywood side.

The Hollywood Hills West are home to a vast variety of architectural styles, from 1920’s Spanish to $100 million brutalist mansions.  The vast majority of housing is single family homes or family compounds with a some condos or apartments lower down on the hillside.  A Paul Williams designed condo complex called the Highlands off of Cahuenga on Hillpark Drive is a bit of a well-kept secret.  192 residences span across 4 low rise buildings, each with their own pool, gardens and parking.

Few stretches of pavement anywhere carry as much music history as the mile and a half of Sunset Boulevard running through WeHo. The Whisky a Go Go, the Roxy, the Troubadour, and the Viper Room have each hosted career-defining sets, from The Doors' residency at the Whisky to Elton John's 1970 U.S. debut at the Troubadour, and they still book working bands most nights of the week. Chateau Marmont, reopened to the public after a brief and short-lived members-only experiment, remains the hideaway of choice for anyone who wants Old Hollywood without the crowds. The Comedy Store and the Laugh Factory keep the Strip's other tradition alive, with A-list comics still dropping in alongside the lineup. It's a corridor that has outlasted nearly every trend it helped create.