On the road

By Timothy Kudo
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Stretching across Los Angeles from the sparkling blue of the
Pacific Ocean to the not so sparkling blue of the L.A. River,
Sunset Boulevard encompasses just such extremes.

It’s probably best known for the glamour of the small
section known simply as “the strip,” but for those who
transcend its winding roads, a less shallow picture emerges.

Downtown, around where it turns into Cesar Chavez Avenue, Sunset
sits among some of the poorest areas of the city.

The Rampart division patrols its streets, families walk down its
sidewalk to Echo Park, and at times as you look around, the only
sign in English is the name of the street itself.

Going west and passing through the clubs, the Angelyne
billboards, the place where River Phoenix died on the sidewalk so
many years ago, you get to the other end of Los Angeles ““
Beverly Hills.

There the people who bussed down Sunset from the other side of
town work away inside the greek pillared mansions or out in yards
almost as large as the park they took their children to the weekend
before.

Drive a little further and on your left you’ll see UCLA,
where on any given night of the week the students stop their
studies, zip up their pleather pants, spray some Isaye Miyake and
head east for the night.

And then, after you’ve driven some more, down the canyon,
past Pacific Palisades, you’ll come to the Pacific Coast
Highway and a Gladstones.

As you make the turn, the end of the other road approaches
unexpectedly and Sunset Boulevard is over, as nonchalantly as it
begins, or ends depending on how you look at it.

Sunset dead-ends at the ocean in Pacific Palisades. The world-
famous Whisky A Go-Go has been the starting ground for many bands
since its opening in 1964 A man takes a break from the heat on some
steps in Silverlake. The Metro subway station entrance is open at
Sunset and Vermont. The bridge crosses the Los Angeles River
downtown, near where Sunset Boulevard turns into Cesar Chavez
Avenue.