La Cienega Boulevard's northern terminus is the
Sunset Strip in
West Hollywood. It runs as a surface street in a due south direction through
Beverly Hills and a section known as "Restaurant Row" for its historic tradition of upscale restaurants. South of Olympic, La Cienega runs through between the
Pico-Robertson,
South Carthay, and
Crestview neighborhoods of
West Los Angeles. South of the
Santa Monica Freeway, the I-10, it briefly borders
Culver City, and passes the La Cienega/Jefferson station of the
Metro E Line. Between
Obama Boulevard and
Manchester Avenue, most of La Cienega Boulevard is a divided, limited access expressway with few
traffic signals. In the late 1940s, as part of the proposed
Laurel Canyon Freeway, La Cienega was constructed to
freeway standards with several grade-separated interchanges. Emergency
call boxes like those found along the area's
freeways were also installed along that stretch in the early 1970s. The
Laurel Canyon Freeway was never completed. This stretch of La Cienega passes through the
Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area,
Baldwin Hills, the
Inglewood Oil Field, and
Ladera Heights. South of
Manchester Avenue, La Cienega becomes a surface street once more, running parallel to the
San Diego (405) Freeway through
Inglewood. It terminates at
El Segundo Boulevard in
Hawthorne along the west side of the freeway. A non-contiguous segment also named La Cienega Boulevard runs along the east side of the 405 freeway, roughly between
El Segundo Boulevard and
Rosecrans Avenue in an unincorporated strip of
Los Angeles County.
La Cienega Design Quarter The area of La Cienega Boulevard, from Beverly Boulevard to Santa Monica Boulevard, and its satellite streets is known as the La Cienega Design Quarter. Its shops and galleries house many antiques, furniture, rugs, accessories and art. Art dealer
Felix Landau operated his trend-setting gallery there in the 1960s.
Restaurant Row shop is at the corner of La Cienega and Manchester Blvd in Inglewood La Cienega in Beverly Hills, north of
Wilshire Boulevard, is known as Restaurant Row because it features many upscale restaurants. From Wilshire in Beverly Hills traveling north, the best-known establishments include The Stinking Rose, Darioush, the original
Lawry's the Prime Rib, Hakobe, Tokyo Table - Tokyo City Cuisine, Matsuhisa,
Fogo de Chão,
Gyu-Kaku, Woo Lae Oak, The Bazaar by
José Andrés, and
Morton's. ==Etymology==