Things to Do Near the Hollywood Walk of Fame

If you've already done the Walk of Fame and you're looking for something to do that isn't more sidewalk star photos, the answer most locals will tell you is some version of: get off Hollywood Boulevard. The cluster of museums, wax figures, and costumed performers is fine for an hour, but the actual interesting parts of Hollywood are a few blocks south or east of the famous corridor. This page is a working list of those things, anchored around Hollywood Distillery — a fifteen-minute walk south of the Walk of Fame and one of the rare locally-owned experiences in the neighborhood.

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The plan we'd recommend: start the morning at the Walk of Fame for an hour or two of tourist mode, then walk south to Santa Monica Boulevard for the part of Hollywood that locals actually use. The distillery tour fits in the late afternoon. Dinner happens within walking distance.

A working half-day plan

Built around the Walk of Fame as the starting point and the distillery tour as the anchor:

1. Morning at the Walk of Fame. An hour, maybe ninety minutes. Find the stars you came for, grab the photos, get a coffee at one of the spots on Cahuenga.
2. Lunch in Thai Town or Larchmont. Either is a ten-minute Uber from Hollywood Boulevard — Thai Town for actual Thai food, Larchmont for sit-down American. Both vastly outclass the Hollywood-Boulevard tourist food.
3. Distillery tour at Hollywood Distillery. 4pm or 5pm tour. Sixty minutes. The first working distillery in Hollywood since Prohibition — a 1920s warehouse, a working copper still, a tasting flight at the end.
4. Dinner along Sunset or Vine. The blocks east and south of the distillery are dense with restaurants — Italian, Mexican, sushi, neighborhood-style. We can recommend a few from the booking confirmation.
5. Drinks afterward. If you want one more cocktail, several speakeasies sit within a five-minute drive — the Oasis Vodka or Nopalera Gin you tasted in the flight will likely show up on the menu.

Specific things to do near the Walk of Fame

Beyond the distillery tour, things in the surrounding blocks worth knowing about:

• The Pantages Theatre. A working Broadway-touring house at Hollywood and Vine. Worth a show if the timing works.
• Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Across the street from the distillery. Open as a cemetery during the day; in summer, the courtyard hosts the Cinespia outdoor movie series.
• The Hollywood Bowl. Twenty-minute drive north. Outdoor amphitheater, a real LA institution, summer concerts.
• Griffith Observatory. Twenty minutes east. The view of the Hollywood Sign and the LA Basin is the best free thing to do in the city.
• Larchmont Boulevard. Ten minutes south of the Walk of Fame. Quiet residential strip with bookstores, a coffee shop, a few sit-down restaurants. The opposite vibe of Hollywood Boulevard.

Why the distillery is the anchor

The Walk of Fame is fundamentally a list of names. Hollywood Distillery is fundamentally a working production facility — a real thing that makes a real thing. That difference is why the distillery tour stays with people: it's the part of the day where the city is doing something rather than displaying something.

Other reasons it works as the day's anchor:

• Walking distance. Fifteen minutes on foot from Hollywood/Vine. The walk itself is part of the experience — you peel away from the tourist density and into the working neighborhood.
• Sixty-minute commitment. Easy to slot before dinner, after the morning at the Walk of Fame.
• $30 per guest. Cheaper than most paid tourist experiences in Hollywood, and the tasting flight at the end is included.
• Locally-owned and locally-made. Almost nothing else in the area can claim either of those.

What to skip

The honest take: a few things on Hollywood Boulevard get listed everywhere but are forgettable in person. The two most-skipped:

• The wax museum. Costs as much as a tour ticket, half the experience.
• The costumed performers asking for tips. Not a tourist trap exactly, but worth keeping moving.

Skip those, save the time and the money for a real activity — the distillery tour, the Pantages, or a meal somewhere that isn't directly on the boulevard.

Plan your visit

Address: Hollywood Distillery, 5975 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90038.

Distance from the Walk of Fame: About a fifteen-minute walk south, or a five-minute Uber. From Hollywood/Vine: walk south on Vine to Santa Monica Boulevard, then west three blocks. The walk itself moves you out of the tourist density and into the working neighborhood.

Tour days: Thursday through Sunday. $30 per guest. ~60 minutes including a tasting flight of all four production spirits.

Frequently asked

Where to next

For more on what to do in Hollywood as an adult, our grown-up activities guide covers the wider neighborhood. For our specific tour info, see the visitor guide.