TRAFFIC SHORTCUTS: The Laurel Canyon Loop

This shortcut already became over-used as traffic bleeds out over the too-crowded Laurel Canyon Boulevard traffic, and so they've put signs up to ease the traffic and quell the outrage of the neighbors. It is called a Loop because if you're not careful, you'll loop right back onto Mulholland, and perhaps into worse traffic.

Like the shortcut called Outpost Outback, this shortcut has signs that tell you not to turn into residential areas between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. on weekdays, or else you get a ticket. And, like on Outpost, the cops are often waiting.

Laurel Canyon can be smooth sailing getting up from Studio City and to Mulholland Drive, but it's getting into Beverly Hills or Hollywood that makes it difficult. Avoid the Cahuenga Pass, many drivers then find themselves lost in the hills, driving quickly on roads that have no sidewalks.

This is particularly dangerous because of the many hiking trails and dog parks in the area, and some schools nearby, too, with children who have no sidewalks to walk on to get to school.

Going up the hill to get out of Studio City could get backed up, and if it does, taking a left on Dona Pergita Drive and cut up to Mulholland that way, or head over to the Wrightwood Wind.

So, instead of a "no left" turn sign from Mulholland to Outpost, this time, it's a "no right" turn.

Get onto Woodrow Wilson Drive going down the hill, south, from Mulholland. Then, if you want to catch Laurel Canyon down the hill, you can take a right onto Woodstock Road. The trouble is, that's where the "No Right Turn 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Weekdays" sign is, and it's tough to go a little further and make a U-turn because the roads are rather narrow. However, that is one of the solutions if you find yourself in that situation around those times.

Woodstock can take you to Willow Glen Road, then right to Laurel Canyon again, usually well past the bottleneck.

If, instead, you're not a scofflaw and follow Woodrow Wilson Drive around, you will end up back on Mulholland Drive not far from Runyon Canyon. 

Just before you get to Mulholland, however, there's a right turn on Nichols Canyon that takes you through a very cool secret neighborhood and past some stupendous estates.

Stay on Nichols Canyon, as tempting as it is to veer off on one of the other roads. This is the only one that provides an outlet, and drops you off at Hollywood Bouelvard and Nichols Canyon becomes Gennesee Avenue after it crosses Hollywood.

Here are other TRAFFIC SHORTCUTS to get out of Studio City:

▪                The Barham By-Pass 

▪                The Outpost Outback 

▪                The Franklin Canyon Fake 

▪                The Benedict Canyon Cheat

▪                The Coldwater Sneak 

▪                The Wrightwood Wind 

But don't tell anyone!