My Favorite Los Angeles Intersection: Sunset and Cahuenga

Los Angeles is a huge place.  I think people often lose sight of the fact that, yes, Los Angeles is spread out, but it is - just in the City of Los Angeles, home to around four million people.  Those numbers expand rapidly when you account for all of Los Angeles County (which includes places like Santa Monica, West Hollywood, and the San Fernando Valley) and then the entire Southern California region.  Despite its size and obvious shortcomings, Los Angeles stacks up to Manhattan and San Francisco as an urban place.  The key to living in Los Angeles, if you like urbanity, is living in its urban core, which I think extends from Downtown to West Hollywood.  Right in the middle of this stretch is urbanity as its finest:  In the heart of Hollywood, the corner of Sunset and Cahuenga Boulevards.

I can (and do) sit at this corner and people watch, contemplate, zone out, and hang out for hours at a time.  Each portion of this corner (for the most part!) and each direction from Sunset and Cahuenga has an amazing density of things to do, places to eat and drink, people to see, and places to explore.  In this hub, I will look at each corner, and in a future hub, I will extend my reach along Cahuenga Boulevard between Sunset and Hollywood Boulevard.

I am not a big fan of CNN. I think that CNN, along with the other sources of what we call 'news,' are responsible for inducing anxiety in our society and turning the news business into a thoughtless form of show business. Case in point - their coverage of the swine flu. But, I digress. It is still cool to have this hulk of a modern tower in the heart of Hollywood.

Often when something big happens in and around Los Angeles, like an earthquake, CNN will throw up a shot of this building. It's at the corner of Sunset and Cahuenga. In some ways, it is a bit of a community gathering spot. This part of LA gets lots of foot traffic and, in recent years, has added a good number of residents. Groundwork Coffee (located just across the street) has opened a small kiosk here adding to that feel. I was part of an impromptu crowd of 100 or so that gathered to watch Obama's inauguration on the various big screens displayed in the windows and in front of the CNN Los Angeles building.

Despite the presence of the CNN Los Angeles Headquarters, the most popular establishment at Sunset and Cahuenga probably is the legendary Amoeba Records.  With additional locations in San Francisco and Berkeley, the Hollywood location is easily the cream of the crop.  Amoeba Records sells a mix of new and used CDs, cassette tapes, and vinyl.  They also have concert posters and other art on the walls that a music lover could spend hours looking at and drooling over. 

The great thing about Amoeba Records is that they literally stock everything.  It is not just a hang out for young Indie Rock fans; the jazz section, for example, at Amoeba on Sunset and Cahuenga is huge taking up a good chunk of the store.  Amoeba also has live music almost nightly. 

I am not a big fan of fast food... well, wait, in the spirit of full disclosure I love some of the secondary fast food places - In 'n Out and Jack in the Box being two of them.  But I know I should not there at all and when I do I feel like crap afterwards so I don't very often.  That said - there is something, dare I say, special about the Jack in the Box at Sunset and Cahuenga.  Maybe it is because they buzz me into their bathroom even when I don't buy something?  More so, though, it could just be the genius of the whole "Jack" concept, easily the best advertising on TV.

The "fourth corner" at Sunset and Cahuenga is anchored by Groundwork Coffee.  This is my perch.  I wish they had more tables on the sidewalk, but I am usually able to grab a chair, sit in the sun on Sunset, and watch the street theater in action.  Groundwork is not good only for people-watching.  I am not sure about their coffee, but their tea selection is LOOSE LEAF and out of this world.  At $1.75 it is reasonably priced considering that you have pick of the litter from the many tins of fantastic and eclectic teas they carry.  Good cold drinks, snacks, always bustling - it's what a corner coffee shop in Urban America ought to be.

In an upcoming hub, I plan on 'cyber-ly" walking north on Cahuenga as the stretch between Sunset and Hollywood is densely packed with fun "stuff." It's worth a rundown.