Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles

24 April 2021 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Greater Los Angeles Area Reading Time:  7 minutes

© flickr.com - KimonBerlin/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – KimonBerlin/cc-by-sa-2.0

Mulholland Drive is a street and road in the eastern Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. It is named after pioneering Los Angeles civil engineer William Mulholland. The western rural portion in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties is named Mulholland Highway. The road is featured in a significant number of movies, songs, and novels. David Lynch, who wrote and directed a film named after Mulholland Drive, has said that one can feel “the history of Hollywood” on it. Academy Award–winning actor Jack Nicholson has resided at Mulholland Drive for many years and still lives there today.   read more…

Theme Week Los Angeles – Griffith Park

10 February 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Greater Los Angeles Area, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  10 minutes

Griffith Observatory © Matthew Field/cc-by-2.5

Griffith Observatory © Matthew Field/cc-by-2.5

Griffith Park is a large municipal park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles. The park covers 4,310 acres (1,740 ha) of land, making it one of the largest urban parks in North America. It is the second-largest city park in California, after Mission Trails Preserve in San Diego, and the 11th largest municipally owned park in the United States. It has also been referred to as the Central Park of Los Angeles but is much larger, more untamed, and rugged than its New York City counterpart. After successfully investing in mining, Colonel Griffith J. Griffith purchased Rancho Los Feliz (near the Los Angeles River) in 1882 and started an ostrich farm there. Although ostrich feathers were commonly used in making women’s hats in the late-19th century, Griffith’s purpose was primarily to lure residents of Los Angeles to his nearby property developments, which supposedly were haunted by the ghost of Antonio Feliz (a previous owner of the property). After the property rush peaked, Griffith donated 3,015 acres (1,220 ha) to the city of Los Angeles on December 16, 1896. Afterward Griffith was tried and convicted for shooting and severely wounding his wife in a 1903 incident. When released from prison, he attempted to fund the construction of an amphitheater, observatory, planetarium, and a girls’ camp and boys’ camp in the park. His reputation in the city was tainted by his crime, however, so the city refused his money.   read more…

Theme Week Los Angeles

21 March 2015 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Greater Los Angeles Area, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  17 minutes

East Los Angeles Basin, seen from Mulholland © Lan56/cc-by-sa-3.0

East Los Angeles Basin, seen from Mulholland © Lan56/cc-by-sa-3.0

Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles, often known by its initials L.A., is the most populous city in the U.S. state of California and the second-most populous in the United States, after New York City, with a population of 3,9 million. It has a land area of 469 square miles (1,215 km2), and is located in Southern California. The city is the focal point of the larger Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim metropolitan statistical area and Greater Los Angeles Area region, which contain 13 million and over 18 million people in Combined statistical area respectively as of 2010, making it one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated and one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the United States, while the entire Los Angeles area itself has been recognized as the most diverse of the nation’s largest cities. The city’s inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos. Los Angeles hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984.   read more…

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