麻豆约拍

Sunset Boulevard is one of those long, long American streets - 22 miles that tell the story of film and of Hollywood.

But Laura Barton thinks this street tells the story of America itself. She loves to stroll through Los Angeles, a city utterly devoted to driving. At foot level, you see things you'd never see in a car.

She鈥檚 now half way through her walk along Sunset Boulevard

This concluding episode, takes Laura from the glamourous, raucous Sunset Strip out to the coast, the edge of the Pacific Ocean - through the wealthy Beverly Hills neighbourhood and its manicured lawns.

She meets with professor of public policy Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, cultural historian David Ulin, soul band KING, former poet laureate Luis Rodriguez, and architect Alice Kimm, revealing the famous and the hidden stories of Sunset's artistic life.

Sunset Boulevard's cultural landmarks tell LA's story - the drought threatening a city by the sea, the mixed up sub-cultures and ethnic and racial communities that come together to make the city - this is why Laura thinks Sunset is a microcosm of today's American story.

Laura discovers how Sunset Boulevard and its artistic legacy have become a shorthand for what LA represents in our collective imagination.

Producer: Nija Dalal-Small

First broadcast on 麻豆约拍 Radio 4 in November 2016.