Like other major Los Angeles streets, Olympic is at least four lanes in width. Unlike other east-west arterial roads such as Wilshire Boulevard, Santa Monica Boulevard, and
Sunset Boulevard, it does not cross major attractions and sites and therefore contains far less traffic. While Wilshire crosses through the heart of Los Angeles, Olympic runs through the southern end of principal areas such as
West Los Angeles,
Westwood,
Century City,
Beverly Hills,
Hancock Park,
Koreatown,
Westlake and Downtown Los Angeles.
Little Ethiopia is east of
Fairfax Avenue and Olympic. Proceeding east on Olympic, it breaks off in Downtown LA's Fashion District but continues on from there, passing the southern areas of
Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles,
Commerce, and
Montebello with an eastern terminus in
Pico Rivera as a small neighborhood street. Olympic Boulevard is primarily a commercial, urban street. There is a grass divider with trees in the Santa Monica portion. Around
Carthay, Olympic passes through residential neighborhoods. A number of schools are located on Olympic as well.
Crossroads School is located at Olympic and 20th in Santa Monica,
New Roads Middle School is located at the Franklin/Berkeley St. area in Santa Monica. and
Wildwood School is located in between Bundy and Barrington.
Los Angeles High School is located slightly to the east of Olympic and
Highland Avenue. Olympic expands to six lanes starting east of Santa Monica and generally maintains a speed limit of . Even so, due to Los Angeles traffic, Olympic often becomes congested. It was originally named 10th Street, but was renamed Olympic Boulevard for the
1932 Summer Olympics, as that was the occasion of the tenth modern event. Tenth Street School, at Olympic and Grattan, was founded in 1888 and has kept the original name. Parts of the old 10th Street exist as smaller streets near Hancock Park, in Westlake, and in the Central City East area southeast of Downtown. ==Transportation==