What’s so special about the real Mulholland Drive?
As a teenager, I was fascinated by the mystery of Hollywood, its darker, shadowy side, as encapsulated in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive, one of my favourite films.
You always hear people saying that the real Los Angeles isn’t very glamorous, and there’s nothing to romanticise if you’ve never been there, but it possesses such a vast cinematic history that you can’t help but be intrigued by the sweeping landscapes which have seen stars, tragedies, and iconic movies come and go beneath the looming presence of the Hollywood sign.
When I first saw Mulholland Drive, a mysterious vision of LA, one informed by an obsession with Lana Del Rey and stories like that of Peg Entwistle committing suicide by jumping off the famed sign, was suddenly laid out in front of me, as I met Betty, a budding actor staying in her aunt’s apartment, a short drive from Sunset Boulevard, and amnesia-ridden femme fatale, Rita, who has stumbled into the building following a car accident on the titular road, together, attempting to figure out who the latter really is, leading to a bizarre chain of events that cave in on themselves, revealing a brutal reality where betrayal and failure abound.
We see the expanse of Los Angeles viewed from the winding roads above, and it’s here that Rita is injured, left with no choice but to walk around in a daze. The simultaneous danger and excitement of Hollywood is encapsulated in this opening scene, the glittering lights of the city setting the backdrop for it, and later in the film, once reality has overtaken Diane’s dream world, we see the image of the terrifying figure from the diner overlaid across scenes of the city and the 45-feet-high sign, it further marks the inescapable contrast between the two co-existing symbols, urging you to dig deeper to its roots.
That’s how you discover what’s so special about this seemingly long stretch of tarmac, accompanied by nearby houses and trees, which is that it’s steeped in history, something Lynch was quick to recognise when he first visited, having lived and worked just off Mulholland Drive.
He once revealed his affinity for the place, which feels alive, almost sizzling with the remembrance of bygone stars and a different time in Hollywood cinema, telling Filmmaker Magazine, “I live near it, and I drive it quite often. It’s a mysterious road. It’s rural in many places. It’s curvy, it’s two lanes, it feels old. It was built long ago, and it hasn’t changed too much. And at night, you ride on top of the world. In the daytime, you ride on top of the world too, but it’s mysterious, and there’s a hair of fear because it goes into remote areas. You feel the history of Hollywood in that road.”
Opening in 1924, the road proved to be a vital connection between the city and its more rural parts, and there are many dirt paths and hiking trails that can be found throughout the stretch, allowing people to see great views of the city below while also immersing themselves in a landscape a little more removed from the concrete jungle that informs Hollywood.
It has a long automobile history as well as a cinematic one, although it was often actors who took to the tarmac to stretch their driving muscles when they weren’t in front of the camera, making it a popular location to practice and race, with the likes of Gary Cooper, James Dean, and Steve McQueen all choosing it as a favourite road.
You can imagine these stars zooming across the road as the lights of the city below glittered in their rearview mirrors, and meanwhile, the likes of Madonna, Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, John Lennon, Faye Dunaway, Ida Lupino, Demi Moore and Bruce Willis have all called Mulholland Drive home at some point in their lives, being so closely connected to the Hollywood Hills, Laurel Canyon, and plenty of studios, which makes it no surprise that many celebrities have taken up residence here, longing to immerse themselves in a landscape that echoes with cinema history.
And you can see why it became the perfect spot for Lynch’s film, too, with the ghosts of celebrities past seemingly haunting the road, which looks down upon such a mysterious and expansive world below, there could be no better place to be utilised for his intriguing ode to Hollywood and the strange blend of glamour and darkness it has forever harnessed.
