How do you get to Hollywood? Luck, perseverance, a good headshot, and nailing the right audition.
How do you get through Hollywood on the night of the annual Hollywood Christmas Parade? Whatever you do, do not, under any circumstances, attempt to take Highland or Cahuenga.
Please. Honest. We mean it.
Two of the main thoroughfares for getting through a city that could be more smack dab in the middle of everything will be blocked off come the evening of Sunday, Dec. 1, for the 82nd Tinseltown tradition.
This isn't just tricky for drivers looking to wend from Hancock Park to Studio City or vice versa; it means parade viewers need to plan.
First up, the route. "Wide swath" comes to mind when looking at the handy map on the parade site. The shindig kicks off at the TCL Chinese Theatre, fa la las east along Hollywood Boulevard to Vine, turns south for a couple of blocks, and then heads west on Sunset Boulevard, wrapping at Sunset and Orange.
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Unless your name is Santa and you have reindeer in tow, you're not getting through, so go west to Laurel Canyon and east to the 5 if you've got to go from one side of the hill to the other. Sure, you can try to sneak up on Cahuenga Boulevard via Franklin, but remember the whole general Hollywood area'll be cloggy and stop-and-go with re-routings, dead-ends, and you-gotta-turn-around-nows.
Also, on- and off-ramps on the 101 freeway'll be closed at Cahuenga and Highland as of 3 p.m. on Dec. 1. You don't need to say "what the?" when you encounter this because you read it here.
Second up, parking. Parade organizers suggest three things: Grant Parking, Hollywood & Highland, and, you bet, Metro, which gives you a couple of stops along the route. (We'd come up at Vine instead of Highland, but so would you.)
Free parking probably won't be had unless you know someone with a driveway within walking distance. So pocket cash for a Metro trip or parking and the requisite cocoa or after-parade cocktail at Boardner's or Musso's, if you indeed subway'd it in.
cr: (map) Hollywood Christmas Parade
