Melrose Hill: How This Los Angeles Neighborhood Became an Art & Design Destination

Melrose Hill is one of the smallest neighbourhoods in central Los Angeles and, over the past few years, one of the most written about. Galleries, restaurants and design studios have opened along and around Western Avenue, and the area now appears regularly in national design coverage. What gets mentioned less often is what was already here.

Western Avenue has been a furniture street for a long time. We have a particular vantage point on that, because we sell furniture from a building on it. This is our account of how Melrose Hill became a design destination, why the furniture trade is central to that story rather than incidental to it, and what the neighbourhood is actually like to visit.

Where Melrose Hill Actually Is

Melrose Hill is compact — a few blocks bounded roughly by Melrose Avenue and Western Avenue, tucked between Hollywood to the north-west and Koreatown to the south. Its scale is the point. In a city where most destinations are a drive apart, Melrose Hill is small enough to park once and walk, which is why it functions as a destination rather than simply an address.

Western Avenue's Furniture History

Long before the galleries, this stretch of Western Avenue was a working commercial corridor with a strong furniture presence. Eater LA's reporting on the neighbourhood refers directly to Western Avenue's longtime furniture corridor in its account of how the area has changed. That history is not a footnote — it explains the buildings.

Furniture makes specific demands of a space. It needs wide, uninterrupted floor area, because a dining set cannot be judged in a corridor. It needs height, because armoires and floor mirrors are tall. It needs honest daylight, because finishes and fabrics have to be assessed truthfully. And it needs to move very large objects in and out. Single-storey warehouses on a commercial avenue answered all four.

Why the Galleries Came

Wallpaper* has traced how former furniture warehouses along the street were taken on by galleries and creative businesses. Architectural Digest has since called Melrose Hill one of the city's buzziest design neighbourhoods, and the continuing redevelopment of Western and Melrose keeps adding galleries, restaurants and studios.

The reason the transition was so smooth is that a gallery's requirements are nearly identical to a furniture showroom's: clear span, height, daylight, and the ability to get a very large object through the door. The furniture trade had effectively prepared the building stock the art world went on to want.

Where the Furniture Trade Fits Now

Furniture Collection was founded in 1994 by Soroush Ben Bandary and is still family-owned. We are a Los Angeles furniture showroom rather than a gallery, but we share a street and a good deal of an audience: people who care how a thing is made and want to see it at full size before they commit to it.

Our floor runs a wider range than people expect: ornate, hand-finished statement mirrors and console tables at one end, contemporary seating and dining at the other, plus executive office furniture. There is more about the business here.

Planning a Visit

The neighbourhood rewards an unhurried afternoon: coffee, a gallery or two, lunch, and time with furniture at real scale. One scheduling quirk is worth knowing — most galleries run Tuesday to Saturday, while we are closed Saturdays and open Sundays. A weekday afternoon is the only reliable way to do both in one trip.

If you want a route, we have written a fuller guide to Melrose Hill for furniture and design lovers and a shorter half-day itinerary.

Frequently Asked Questions