Wilshire Blvd, Westwood

I'm not a huge fan of Wilshire. It is always so packed with cars, it seems like more of a parking lot than a street sometimes. It is has absolutely no green on any block of it. The Wilshire Corridor has a ton of giant buildings that have no personality and I wouldn't live in one of the luxury apartments if you paid me. I can't imagine having to start my day by emerging into this kind of catastrophe. The lights are too close together and people just don't move for light change after light change. And, it crosses paths with Pico and Olympic just east of the corridor which is always a nightmare.
Wilshire is pretty shady further east. The buildings are old and could be cool in the Miracle Mile area but they're run down and overpriced. And, who the hell wants to live by a bunch of museums and a massive tar pit. It's just very commercial. Actually, the entirety of Wilshire is commercial. There's nothing pretty about this street. And, it gets even worse the further east you go.
I went to UCLA, and I never took Wilshire to go anywhere. It's so much slower than Sunset and Sunset is infinitely prettier. It's too loud and dirty, too. And, just about the only restaurant worth stopping into on the entirety of Wilshire is Trader Vics -- which you can go to once in your life and be fine with.

Wilshire is one of the largest streets in LA. It spans so many neighborhoods given it a different character depending on where you intersect. But everyone will agree no matter what part of Wilshire you are on, it is noisy, not very clean, and full of traffic. One of the better parts of Wilshire is near UCLA: it’s not as dirty but still full of traffic, especially right at the 405 onramp. There’s still lots to discover with the VA cemetery there to explore, along with all that Westwood Blvd offers a couple of blocks away. You just have to plan on lots of traffic.

Ah Wilshire. I would love you more if I could get to you in under an hour. But because of your length and size you do have a little something for everyone.

It is impossible if you don't live in the surrounding areas. So go here with extreme caution should for instance you live in the Valley- any area actually not near Wilshire, and avoid peaktimes like the plague. That's not to say that taking Vine/Rossmore or Highland won't shorten your commute. It will. Or that taking the smaller streets like 3rd/6th will save you because they will. The natural history museum, LACMA are right here along with the huge PANPacific Park. And those are fun to visit, like, once a year. Unfortunately it doesn't lend itself to much exploring. It's a very crowded wide boulevard especially to the east- however at night it's practically deserted and awesome to power along should you be crossing through or up into Hollywood. It has some shops, clubs and a couple inconvenient redline stops... uh for instance, NOT near the museums... but not to say it can't be done. There are some lovely homes, and great jewish delis nearby... and should you cross over to the west more typical less urban fare will meet you- like Beverly Hills and the "Westside"... and it's worth it to travel and less a few times in your life, should you want to.