Melrose Avenue
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Melrose Avenue is a well-known Los Angeles street that starts from Santa Monica Boulevard at the border between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood and ends at Hoover Street in Silver Lake. Melrose runs north of Beverly Boulevard and south of Santa Monica Boulevard.
Melrose is also useful as an east-west thoroughfare since it is usually at least four lanes in width, and left turns are prohibited during rush hour.
Lately, it has become home to some of the most internationally recognized fashion houses such as A Bathing Ape, Marc Jacobs, Diane von Furstenberg, Carolina Herrera, Fátima Lopes, Mulberry, Costume National, Sergio Rossi, Alexander McQueen, Miu Miu, Oscar de la Renta, Max Azria, Shay Todd, Paul Smith, John Varvatos and others like Balenciaga, and Vera Wang are expected to open soon.
[edit] Melrose District
Its most famous section, known as the Melrose District, is the west end through West Hollywood and Hollywood. The western end, popularly referred to as Melrose Heights, runs from Santa Monica Blvd. to Fairfax Avenue and features a variety of upscale restaurants, boutiques, and salons such as Elixir (teahouse), The Bodhi Tree (metaphysical and New Age bookstore), Fred Segal, and The Improv (world famous comedy club.)
North of the intersection with La Cienega Boulevard is Melrose Place, a branch of the main avenue made famous thanks to the TV show of the same name. However, in actuality, Melrose Place does not feature any residences, but instead is home to a number of high-end boutiques and salons.
The eastern end of the district, which runs from Fairfax to Highland Avenue, became a popular underground and new wave shopping area in the early 1980s, featuring the opening of stores such as Vinyl Fetish and Retail Slut, both of which closed several years ago. The Burger That Ate L.A., a landmark fast food stand, was replaced with a Starbucks in recent years, and the area has witnessed an upsurge in tourism and a significant decrease of the underground and countercultural elements. The original Johnny Rockets opened in this part of Melrose in 1986.
At the corner of Fairfax and Melrose is the Fairfax High School, which marks the start of the Fairfax District.
At the corner of Highland and Melrose is, what has been described by the Los Angeles Times as the "boss of LA's Italian dining scene", Osteria Mozza (See Los Angeles Times, Thursday, August 7, 2007, pg. E46), which marks the eastern end of the Fairfax District.
