The Hollywood Christmas Parade Runs in a U. Franklin Avenue Isn't on the Closure List.

On the evening of Sunday, November 29, a 3.2-mile U will run along the base of the Hollywood Hills. The 94th Hollywood Christmas Parade starts at Orange Street and Hollywood Boulevard. It travels east on Hollywood to Vine Street, turns south on Vine to Sunset Boulevard, and turns west on Sunset back to Orange, according to KTLA. Hollywood Boulevard is the top edge of the U and the part closest to the hills. The hillside streets north of Franklin sit just above it.

The parade never climbs a hillside street. Its closures still reach uphill, because the roads that bring traffic up from the flats and off the 101 run straight through the U. Franklin Avenue, the east-west street at the foot of the hills, is not on the organizer's 2026 closure list. That leaves one through street running along the hills, while the streets crossing it are cut off just south of it.

Where the Closures Reach Uphill

The organizer's 2026 street and freeway closure notice lists more than a dozen entries across Saturday and Sunday. The ones that matter most to anyone heading uphill are the north-south connectors and the freeway exits.

Highland and Vine both close from Franklin south to Santa Monica. Their segments above Franklin are outside the listed closures. Getting onto them from below is the problem, because the stretch through the U is closed. Sunset Boulevard is also closed, from La Brea to Highland starting at 1 p.m. and from Highland to Gower starting at 4 p.m., which removes the most obvious way to go around the bottom of the U.

Each Approach Has Its Own Closure Window

The closures start at different times on Sunday, so each approach to the hills gets a slightly different afternoon.

• From the 101 at Cahuenga. The Cahuenga off-ramps close in both directions at 3 p.m. and reopen at 10 p.m. They close an hour before Highland and Vine close below Franklin.
• From the 101 at Vine. The southbound Vine off-ramp closes on the same 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. schedule. Vine itself closes from Franklin to Santa Monica at 4 p.m. and reopens at 9 p.m.
• Up Highland. Highland closes from Franklin to Santa Monica at 4 p.m. and reopens around 10 p.m. Hollywood Boulevard between Orange and Highland has been closed since early Saturday.
• West of Highland. Sycamore between Franklin and Hollywood has been closed since late Friday. On Sunday, Sycamore and Orange close from Franklin to Santa Monica at 1 p.m.

Most of the Sunday street closures reopen between 9 and 10 p.m. Hollywood Boulevard between Orange and Highland stays closed until 6 a.m. Monday. The parade itself starts at 6 p.m. From 1 p.m. to 10 p.m., the Hollywood flats are effectively a staging area.

The Signs Go Up on Thanksgiving

The parking restrictions start earlier than the road closures. "No Parking" signs go up along the route on Thursday, November 26, which is Thanksgiving Day. Enforcement runs from Saturday, November 28, through Monday morning, November 30.

"Additionally, there will be no parking allowed on Sycamore between Franklin and Hollywood Blvd from Saturday, Nov. 28th throughout Sunday, Nov 29th."

That line comes from the organizer's closure notice. If guests are staying in the hills over the long weekend and parking in the flats, those spots fall under these postings. The signs will already be up when they arrive for Thanksgiving dinner, two days before enforcement begins.

For anyone heading down to watch, the organizer recommends Metro for the whole weekend. Its directions page sends visitors to the Hollywood/Vine and Hollywood/Highland stations and says both open directly onto the route. The page still calls it the Red Line, which Metro now runs as the B Line.

The View From the Bottom of the Street

For people who live a few switchbacks above Hollywood Boulevard, the parade is close enough to walk to. Free curbside viewing is available along most of the route. Reserved grandstand seats are sold through Ticketmaster. The organizer's page lists regular prices of $120 for adults and $60 for children under 16. All seats are reserved, with no refunds or exchanges. Young children can sit on a lap, but a child who needs their own seat needs a ticket.

KTLA reports the evening's schedule this way:

1. 4:00 p.m. Grandstand bleacher seats open.
2. 5:30 p.m. Pre-parade entertainment begins.
3. 6:00 p.m. The parade steps off from Orange and Hollywood.

The grandstands open at 4 p.m., the same hour Highland and Vine close below Franklin. If you're walking down from the hills, the closures don't affect you. If you're driving back up at that hour, they do.

Entertainment Tonight co-hosts Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner are the 2026 co-Grand Marshals. Erik Estrada, Laura McKenzie, Montel Williams and Elizabeth Stanton are hosting. KTLA puts the parade at 5,000 participants, including floats, character balloons, musical performances and Santa with his reindeer. The Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles appears on the organizer's 2026 performer directory. The parade supports Marine Toys for Tots. Grandstand tickets are not tax-deductible. The ticket page says the producer, Hollywood Christmas Parade Television, LLC, is a for-profit company.

Higher Up, a Different Holiday Crowd

The parade crowd stays on the boulevards. Higher up, around the Hollywood Sign, Thanksgiving weekend brings a different kind of traffic. The Los Angeles Times reported on October 28 that residents of Hollywoodland, Lake Hollywood Estates and Hollywood Knolls say crowds near the Sign get heavier around holidays.

The same article reports that Councilmember Nithya Raman's office has identified funding for a pilot plan to manage traffic around the Sign on peak visitor days and holidays, and that the plan will be tested before the 2028 Olympics. Mayor Karen Bass's office told the Times that the LAPD assigns extra units during peak congestion periods in the Lake Hollywood area.

So the hills face two holiday crowds on the same weekend. The parade's crowd has a set route, a start time and posted closures, and most of its Sunday closures lift by 10 p.m. The one around Lake Hollywood Park and the canyon streets near the Sign has no schedule and no posted closures.

Seeing It Again on Channel 5

If the off-ramp closures keep you home on the 29th, you can still watch the parade. It airs on KTLA 5 on December 18 at 8 p.m., with an encore on December 24 at 8 p.m. The organizer's press release says The CW will carry it nationally on the same dates at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The parade on screen will be the one that ran through the Hollywood flats three weeks earlier, a few blocks below Franklin.

Hillside streets bring their own logistics whenever crews, deliveries and parking have to work around a schedule someone else sets, and that's how we plan every project in these canyons. If you're thinking about a remodel or a new build in the Hollywood Hills and want access and staging worked out from the start, Steven James Design & Development can help. Schedule a consultation to discuss your project.