Map of Mulholland Drive (orange) and Mulholland Highway (brown) in Los Angeles County.

The mostly two-lane, minor arterial road loosely follows the ridgeline of the Santa Monica Mountains and the Hollywood Hills, connecting two sections of the U.S. Route 101, and crossing Sepulveda Boulevard, Beverly Glen Boulevard, Coldwater Canyon, Laurel Canyon Boulevard, Nichols Canyon and Outpost. It offers views of both the Los Angeles basin and the San Fernando Valley.

The eastern terminus of Mulholland Drive is at its intersection with Cahuenga Boulevard at the Cahuenga Pass over the Santa Monica Mountains (at this point Cahuenga Boulevard runs parallel to the 101). The road continues to the west offering vistas of the Hollywood Sign, downtown Los Angeles and then Burbank, Universal City and the rest of the San Fernando Valley.

A Mulholland Drive street sign in a residential neighborhood in Woodland Hills.

The road winds along the top of the mountains until a few miles west of the 405 Freeway. At this point (the intersection with Encino Hills Drive) the drive becomes an unpaved route not open to motor vehicles. It is popular with hikers, horseback riders, and mountain bikers, and offers connections to other unpaved fire roads and mountain bike trails as well as a decommissioned Project Nike command post that has been turned into a Cold War memorial park .

The paved road begins again just east of Topanga Canyon Boulevard. Shortly thereafter, Mulholland Drive splits into Mulholland Drive and Mulholland Highway. Mulholland Drive terminates at the 101 where it becomes Valley Circle Boulevard. Mulholland Highway continues to the southwest until it terminates at State Route 1 in Leo Carrillo State Park near the Pacific Ocean and the border of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.

The main portion of the road, from the Cahuenga Pass in Hollywood westward past the Sepulveda Pass was originally called Mulholland Highway and was opened in 1924. It was built by a consortium of Hollywood Hills landowners hoping to make money by bringing development to the Hollywood Hills.

Mulholland Drive in popular culture

View of Hollywood and Los Angeles from Mulholland Drive.

Movies

• ?King of the Mountain? was a fictional movie loosely based on actual Mulholland Drive racers, racing to be king of the hill. The 1981 movie include stars, Dennis Hopper, Harry Hamlin, Seymour Cassel and Dennis Haggerty.
• The films Mulholland Dr. and Mulholland Falls were named after the road.
• It is also nicknamed "Bad Boy Drive" due to its illustrious residents Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Errol Flynn and Marlon Brando.

Television

• In the 1950s TV show, "The Bob Cummings Show" (syndicated as "Love That Bob") playboy-photographer Bob frequently makes references to Mulholland Drive as the ultimate destination for himself and his date for the evening, almost always one of his many beautiful models. (For most of its history, Mulholland Drive was a notorious "parking spot" for illicit sex, due to its seclusion and scenic views of the San Fernando Valley, until the parking areas were blocked off in the early 1990s, allegedly because they constituted a fire hazard.)
• Two first-season episodes of the real-time FOX drama 24 were filmed on location and set in part on Mulholland Drive.
• Michael Knight's first ride behind the wheel of the Knight 2000 takes place along Mulholland Drive in the pilot episode of Knight Rider in 1982.

Music and Art

In music, it is mentioned in Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'," R.E.M.'s "Electrolite," Felix Da Housecat's "Everyone Is Someone in L.A.", Razorlight's "Los Angeles Waltz", Lamb of God's "Forgotten (Lost Angels)", Frank Black's "Ole Mulholland", Josh Ritter's "California," Poe's "Hey Pretty", LA Guns' "Rip and Tear", Jim's Big Ego's "Los Angeles."

Other

There is also a ride at Disneyland's California Adventure called "Mulholland Madness" (previously, "Mulholland Highway").

In the hot-rod-themed videogame Street Rod II, the player can challenge computer opponents to a mountain-side road race called Mulholland Drive, but the design of the track doesn't represent the actual road: it is randomized for each new game.

In Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (video-game) there is a town named Mulholland, and a road representing Mulholland drive which is near the Vinewood sign representing the Hollywood lettering.

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