Fountain Ave, West Hollywood

Fountain is not an eventful street but it's definitely worth mentioning for one reason: we call it the Fountain Freeway. This is the the underground best way to get through Hollywood. The lights are all coordinated perfectly, and for some reason, not that many people take this street. You can, literally, fly down Fountain at night (as long as you're careful because there are no turn lanes on this street). And, during rush hour, it is the only street I ever take if I can at all help it. I don't know why it's so much faster than Sunset or Santa Monica because it's only a block away from both, but you can get from La Cienega to Cahuenga in half the time of any other street in this area.
There isn't much else to report on this street. There are, literally, no restaurants, no stores . . . nothing. There are only apartments and a fast-movin street. Because there is some traffic and because cars fly down this street when there isn't traffic, I would never live in an apartment on this street. Its loud, dangerous and I shudder to think how long it would take to get out of your driveway in the morning. The apartments are kind of expensive because of the area and proximity to Sunset. So, that makes living on this street doubly unsavory. You pay a lot of money to live on a street that's not aesthetically pleasing, dangerous and has nothing to do. So, skip it for anything other than driving. But, drive on it as often as you can.

Running parallel and in between Sunset and Santa Monica Boulevards, Fountain in fact constitutes a major artery through Hollywood ending to the west at La Cienega Boulevard, and running east until the freeway.

Fountain is a combination of small homes and retail shops, the latter made up primarily of grocery stores like Ralph's, Von's and towards the east the Arclight Cinema and several strip malls that international cuisine and automotive repair shops.

Although frequently busy with traffic, and thus not the quietest street front for living, Fountain is always a good alternative to Sunset Blvd. on a busy weekend night or the ever-gridlocked Santa Monica Boulevard. It is a colorful and interesting cruise through the heart of the real Hollywood neighborhoods.

As the ever quotable Mae West confided: "When in doubt, take Fountain."