Best 3pm Commute Streets Between Beverly Hills & Los Feliz (Santa Monica: schools, live in)

[soimpossiblep]

Hey all,

I work 6am-3pm in Beverly Hills (Santa Monta & Beverly) and live in Los Feliz. The commute there is empty of course, and 3pm isn't too bad either-- but what do you think the best streets to take back to Los Feliz are? 3rd/Melrose/Beverly/Santa Monica? Should I get up to the north streets fast (Hollywood, Franklin etc) and then go east, or vice versa?

Thanks!!

[TheRealAngelion]

Personally, my inclination would be Hollywood/Franklin route. Although Melrose to Vermont or Virgil might be faster.

[Delron]

Melrose can be awful. Where in Beverly Hills are you coming from? It makes a huge difference, particularly considering some of the bottlenecks on certain streets are specific to a certain stretch, usually. For example, La Cienega heading north south of Wilshire is horrendous thanks to the photo enforced light, but past that point or even better, past Beverly Drive, it moves very fast and can put you on Santa Monica or Sunset very quickly...of course, then you have to consider if you really want to be on the Sunset Strip at that particular spot or Santa Monica there in WeHo.

Santa Monica through WeHo can be bad, but is probably the best bet as you are heading at an angle/northeast, particularly depending upon where you jump on. BUT if you are coming from somewhere west of Santa Monica and Beverly Blvd., it can be painfully slow due to all the traffic lights. A really FAST route would be Fountain (staying in the right lane where possible due to potential left turners) from La Cienega all the way to Highland or more, then heading north to Hollywood or Franklin.

Beverly can either be fast or sometimes ridiculously slow, because of the lack of a left turn lane and only two lanes of traffic at many points. Thus, on a lot of the smaller streets off of Beverly between Wilton and Vermont, people get backed up by people making left turns from the left lane, which is legal as long as there isn't a No Left Turn sign/arrow...but a lot of the larger streets have those signs or signs that indicate no left turn 3-7 pm so this might be good for you.

If you are in south Beverly Hills, then I would strongly recommend Olympic, sticking to the far right lane as this moves the fastest for the most part, as long as you cut in and out to get around any buses, right turn traffic etc. Although, even Wilshire hasn't been that bad but it can get backed up at the photo enforced intersection of La Cienega and Wilshire, as well as through Museum Row/Miracle Mile where there's a light at every intersection. 6th or 3rd can also be very good for rapid crosstown movement, of course I'm talking about 6th on the east side of San Vicente, which would probably be too much of a hassle for you to get onto.

I DEFINITELY recommend heading east before heading north unless you are close enough to the northern streets like Sunset, Santa Monica, Fountain, Hollywood, Franklin etc. You will be generally heading against the flow of traffic at that time (westbound), but there will be tons of northbound traffic.

Heading north, I like Virgil/Shatto -> Virgil, Vermont, and Rossmore/Vine! Vine can be really fast moving. But you can even use Normandie, Wilton, or (God forbid) Western or Highland, which can be brutal at times.

[BRinSM]

i second fountain!!!! take beverly to la cienega, up to fountain and follow it all the way to vermont.

[LizzyNola]

Take 6th (which is fast) street or Beverly (which can be a mess) to Van Ness, Van Ness to Fountain or even to Sunset, then Western or Vermont (depending on where you live in Los Feliz), to Los Feliz Blvd.

[Cubancoffee]

I'd take 3rd Street (it's four-lane most of the way) east to Virgil north.

[soimpossiblep]

Thanks guys!! I will try all these routes. I live at Hillhurst and Franklin, and work at Santa Monica & Beverly. I find if i get out of work right at 3, Santa Monica isn't that bad and is fine after Highland. Franklin also isn't bad. Beverly was kind of rough last time I tried it. I think I will try fountain today.

Thanks again

[Delron]

You work at Santa Monica and Beverly DRIVE? Or Santa Monica and Beverly BLVD?

Either one is a bit of a "yeesh" for your traffic avoidance options. I definitely would not recommend going south to Olympic or any other route since you are already far enough north. Definitely wouldn't try to get over to 6th street since you'd have to take something like Burton Way to San Vicente south, and I don't think it's very easy cutting over to 6th that way.

Anyway, if you are working at Beverly DRIVE and Santa Monica, I say you hop onto Santa Monica Blvd heading east, a couple blocks up you will make a right onto Civic Center Drive, and this will take you onto 3rd Street. Then take 3rd Street all the way down to Virgil (left), which will eventually turn into Hillhurst.

If you are working at Beverly BLVD and Santa Monica, I say take Santa Monica all the way to Virgil/Hillhurst, OR take Santa Monica to La Cienega, make a left, then a right onto Fountain and shoot down Fountain all the way to Virgil/Hillhurst.

BUT, note I forgot to tell you, Fountain bottles up at La Brea as it goes down to 1 lane, so it could get a little backed up. You might try to jump off right before La Brea and use something else like Franklin at that point, or just push on through to Highland and beyond. You will also, if you continue on Fountain, have to go around a couple of schools at Fountain and Bronson - just go right on Bronson, left on La Mirada, and left again on Van Ness then right back onto Fountain. There are a LOT of alternate routes though at that point, once you get past a lot of slow traffic on La Brea and Highland. Sunset can be pretty awful around there and the 101 depending on the time of day.