Those familiar with L.A. will be happy to hear that the city is widening Santa Monica Boulevard from Westwood Boulevard to Beverly Hills. “Big Santa Monica” and “Little Santa Monica” and the median between the two streets, which had served as a jungle junkyard for the homeless, will no longer be separate entities.
Although it was an eyesore, the median was a refreshing strip of wilderness and weeds on this otherwise massively developed thoroughfare. Driving beside it early in the morning you had to watch for the occasional hung over sot to stumble from the bushes and stagger across the road. The median (to the right of the cars) has been flattened. I always felt they should have used the space for a light rail line or monorail from the west side to West Hollywood in order to ease up the traffic, but L.A. has never embraced public transportation.
It's been quite amazing to watch it evolve day after day. That wall at the right is a retaining wall holding up “Little Santa Monica” which meanders precipitously atop it. This photo is looking east toward Century City from Westholme. The planners hope to make it L.A.'s grandest boulevard.