Franklin Village

Some parts of Franklin Village are a little bit shifty stilll; but, overall, the area is really cool. The apartments around the Hollywood Blvd are still not that great. They're pretty old and run down and the neighborhood isn't the greatest. A lot of them are right on the 101 too, literally. You're window is looking out directly onto the freeway in some instances, which is loud and ugly. But, there are a lot of luxury buildings going up and the it's coming into it's own. The apartments on the Franklin side going into Beechwood Canyon are beautiful. And, there are a lot of little bungalow houses that are so charming. The area is really green and leafy around this area. Although, Franklin is usually packed and cars fly down this street so it's not terribly ideal if you have kids or pets: it can be dangerous.
Quick note: The Scientology Celebrity Center is on Franklin and Beechwood. It is such a beautiful building (apparently, it used to be Cedar Sinai). It looks like a castle and because there's 24 hour security, it makes the surrounding area safer than most parts of Los Angeles. But, there is definitely a creep factor to the building. Scientologists are creepy and their masked protestors are equally so.
The Gelsons is probably my favorite grocery store in the city. Yeah, it's weird to have a favorite grocery store, but I love it. And tailwaggers / tailwashers is undoubtedly the best place if you're a pet owner of all time.
There is a strip of restaurants on Franklin and Beechwood that is glorious. Prizzi's Piazza is my favorite place of all time. Their Sicilian Pizza is to die for (all of the food is though). And, Barry, the owner is so lovely. Birds and La Poubelle are wildly different from each other but they're both impossibly cool places to hang outside for a drink and food and enjoy all of the pedestrians and the weather. UCB theatre is right there so there are always a ton of people on this strip. Beourgois Pig is a tiny, hip coffee place that has great couches and internet and people obsess over this place. I've spent way too many afternoons jumping from place to place on this strip. You can't go wrong with any of them. This neighborhood is pretty tops, in my book.