How do I know this is actually following Sunset Boulevard the whole way?
The pilot uses street maps and navigation on the helicopter's systems to track the boulevard's route.
At a glance
Length
25 min
Channel
Micah Muzio
Video from
Aug 2020
Rating
⭐⭐ Great video · 2/2
Best for
LA visitors wanting to understand the city's geography, architecture enthusiasts, and sunset-seekers.
What this video answers
How do I know this is actually following Sunset Boulevard the whole way?
What neighborhoods do we actually see from the helicopter?
Can I actually see the Playboy Mansion and other celebrity homes clearly?
Is this flight safe with another person on board?
What time of day is best for this tour?
Reads the guide aloud in your browser — free, no account.
Flying Sunset Boulevard from Downtown LA to the Pacific Coast
This helicopter tour review follows the full 20+ mile length of Sunset Boulevard from its start in Downtown Los Angeles all the way west to the Pacific Coast Highway near Will Rogers State Beach. Pilot Micah Muzio and guest YouTuber Mike Danger fly the route during golden hour, capturing the boulevard as it winds through iconic Los Angeles neighborhoods: Echo Park, Hollywood, the Sunset Strip, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood, and Pacific Palisades. The flight showcases how the landscape transforms from urban downtown through Hollywood's entertainment district into the exclusive hillside mansions of the west side, finally reaching the ocean.
This experience suits anyone curious about Los Angeles geography, architecture, and celebrity culture—or simply looking for an unforgettable aerial perspective of a legendary street. Whether you're a first-time visitor wanting to understand LA's layout, a local rediscovering your city from above, or someone fascinated by high-end real estate and the neighborhoods that define Los Angeles, this tour delivers both visual spectacle and genuine geography lessons. The sunset timing makes it especially worthwhile; the golden light transforms each neighborhood and the ocean arrival becomes genuinely memorable.
Key Moments
Standout Sights on the Sunset Boulevard Flight
Downtown Los Angeles and the start of Sunset Boulevard—seeing the street emerge from the urban core and understanding its true beginning
The Sunset Strip's legendary music venues (the Whiskey a Go Go, the Comedy Store, the Roxy) during the golden hour light
The Playboy Mansion in all its sprawling detail, including the grotto and surrounding estate grounds
Bel Air and Hollywood Hills mansions with dramatic architecture and art installations, including one estate featuring what appears to be a Jeff Koons sculpture
The Getty Villa on the Pacific Palisades coast, visible from the air as the flight approaches the ocean
Will Rogers State Beach and surfers in the water as the boulevard reaches its westernmost point at the Pacific Coast Highway
Before You Book Your Sunset Boulevard Helicopter Tour
Flight Duration: The complete route takes roughly 24 minutes of air time from Downtown LA to the ocean, though ground prep and safety briefing will add time to your total experience
Airspeed and Conditions: The helicopter maintains a ground speed around 84 miles per hour, cruising at altitudes that allow clear overhead photography of the street and surrounding landmarks
Air Traffic: Expect communication with Santa Monica air traffic control and potential encounters with other helicopter traffic, especially near busy areas like the Hollywood Bowl vicinity
Sunset Timing is Key: This route is genuinely better flown during golden hour—the light transforms every neighborhood and the ocean arrival is far more spectacular than midday flights would be
Following the Boulevard is Tricky: Even from the air, Sunset Boulevard's numerous curves and direction changes can be disorienting; the pilot will occasionally need to reorient and find the road again, which is normal
Best Views for Photography: Bring or request a camera mount; the GoPro aerial footage shows the quality depends on having stable gear mounted outside the helicopter
Common Questions About This Sunset Boulevard Aerial Tour
How do I know this is actually following Sunset Boulevard the whole way?
The pilot uses street maps and navigation on the helicopter's systems to track the boulevard's route. While the road's constant curves and meandering path make it surprisingly easy to lose sight of temporarily, the video shows the pilot actively confirming street names (Figueroa, Cesar Chavez at the start) and using visible landmarks like the Hollywood Bowl to verify position.
What neighborhoods do we actually see from the helicopter?
Starting from Downtown LA, the flight passes through or over Echo Park (including the Echoplex music venue), East Hollywood, Hollywood proper (with views of the Hollywood sign and major theaters like the Cinerama Dome), the Sunset Strip, Beverly Hills, Bel Air, Brentwood, and Pacific Palisades before reaching the coast. Each area's character is distinctly visible from above.
Can I actually see the Playboy Mansion and other celebrity homes clearly?
Yes—the helicopter slows down for specific detours, including a close pass of the Playboy Mansion where you can see the grotto and grounds. Other notable estates are visible en route, including massive Bel Air properties with unusual architecture. The pilot points out several landmarks and is willing to deviate slightly from Sunset Boulevard to show particularly interesting homes.
Is this flight safe with another person on board?
The video shows easy banter between the pilot and passenger, and both discuss air traffic, radio communications, and smooth flight conditions positively. The helicopter maintains proper altitude and follows standard procedures; the presence of a guest is treated as a normal part of the tour operation.
What time of day is best for this tour?
Sunset is specifically chosen for this flight because the golden hour light dramatically improves the visual quality of every neighborhood and makes the ocean arrival especially striking. The pilot intentionally timed the flight to arrive at the coast as the sun was setting, which would not be possible with earlier or later departures.
Do Not Miss the Playboy Mansion Detour
My tip: The pilot takes a deliberate slow-down and detour to show the Playboy Mansion and its surrounding estates—don't expect this to be a quick blur. If Bel Air architecture fascinates you, make sure you stay engaged during the 10:51 mark where the notable homes come into clearest view, as the helicopter slows specifically to let you see the details.
A major street in Los Angeles running from Downtown to the Pacific Coast, passing through multiple iconic neighborhoods and entertainment districts.
The Sunset Strip
A famous section of Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood known for music venues, nightlife, and entertainment history dating back to the Prohibition era.
Bel Air
An exclusive hillside residential neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills known for large estates and celebrity homes.
Golden Hour
The period shortly before sunset when sunlight takes on a warm, golden color and is considered ideal for photography and scenic viewing.
Ground Speed
The actual speed the helicopter is traveling relative to the ground, as opposed to airspeed through the air.
Air Traffic Control
The system of communication and coordination between aircraft and ground stations to ensure safe and organized flight operations.
This video effectively demonstrates what makes helicopter tours valuable: they reveal a city's true geography and connections in ways ground-level travel simply cannot. Watching Sunset Boulevard's evolution from downtown urban grid to hillside mansions to ocean view is genuinely educational, and the golden-hour timing proves that booking for the right time of day transforms a tour from "interesting" to "unforgettable."
The best part is watching the pilot actively navigate the boulevard's curves and occasionally lose and re-find the street—it's honest and builds real respect for both the flying skill required and the complexity of LA's street layout. If you're seriously considering a helicopter tour of Los Angeles, this one is worth booking sooner rather than later, as premium time slots like sunset fill up fast.
Years on the front lines of helicopter tour coordination — not as a travel blogger, but as the person responsible for making every guest experience go right. Managed 2,000+ cruise guests weekly as Shore Excursions staff aboard the Pride of America in Hawaii
Personally coordinated with helicopter tour operators to confirm age, weight, and safety requirements.
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Sunset Boulevard stretches from Downtown Los Angeles westward to the Pacific Ocean. A viewer suggested I fly my helicopter the length of Sunset Blvd, so that exactly what I did. From Downtown LA, past Echo Park, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Brentwood, and Pacific Palisades, over the Playboy Mansion and the Sunset strip, finally reaching the Pacific Coast Highway near Will Rogers State Beach.
Naturally, I flew the length of Sunset Blvd during one of LA’s spectacular sunsets. And to keep things interesting I brought along a friend and talented YouTuber, Mike Danger. You can find him on Instagram @yesmikedanger or on YouTube.com/yesmikedanger .
Thanks for flying with me! #MicahFlies
Get 10% off Flying Eyes Sunglasses like I wear! Be sure to use the coupon code MICAH to get your discount. https://flyingeyesoptics.com/?ref=micah
0:00 Introductions
1:50 Downtown Los Angeles
2:14 Sunset Blvd Begins
3:12 Echo Park
4:24 East Hollywood
6:00 Hollywood
7:20 Sunset Strip
9:15 Beverly Hills
10:51 Playboy Mansion
12:40 Bel Air
13:48 Mansion with Jeff Koons Art
15:25 Brentwood
18:37 Pacific Palisades
20:30 Pacific Coast Highway
21:08 The Getty Villa
24:21 Surfers
Special thanks to my supporters on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/micahmuzio
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▶CAMERAS◀
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▶CAMERA MOUNT◀
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▶MUSIC◀
I really do write the music for these video reviews. The songs in this video are…
https://soundcloud.com/micahmuzio/3-18-18-lufs
Video transcript for “Sunset Blvd Helicopter Tour | Downtown LA to the Ocean” Accessibility
A full written transcript of this video, provided for accessibility. Select any timestamp to jump the video to that moment.
this is a very special episode of micah flies because i have a guest with me who are you and why are you in my helicopter what's up everybody this is yes mike danger and i get to actually fly with one of my heroes what a good day now you're just saying that because you're in the helicopter with me and
your life is literally in my hands yeah and i got a lot of living to do so i want to butter you up as much as i can so what we're doing here is uh i found mike danger he reconnected on instagram and uh he makes videos on youtube and unlike most of youtube they're really good you're so good at what you do
and so i thought it'd be fun to bring mike danger along and we're gonna do a little flight along sunset boulevard we're gonna go all the way from beginning to end winding up at the ocean and we're doing it at sunset on theme like professionals pardon the interruption but making helicopter videos is not
cheap that's why i'd like to thank today's sponsor surfsharkvpn what's a vpn let's discuss with the split screen a virtual private network or vpn is a tool to protect your privacy online surfshark this video sponsor is a vpn that encrypts the data your phone or computer sends through the internet
how is that helpful well a vpn can help keep your passwords communications photos and embarrassing digital secrets nice and private and yes i know about your embarrassing digital secrets you can also use surfshark to virtually change the country you're accessing the internet from
unblocking content are you an american who'd like to stream doctor who on netflix well you can with surfshark surfshark is the only vpn that lets you use one account on an unlimited number of devices use my code mica to get 85 off plus three months free and do it quickly surfshark is changing
their pricing policy that 85 offer is departing faster than a moody cat check the link in the description below surf shark one of the things i was telling mike before we took off is that you wouldn't think so but following a road while in the sky can be weirdly confusing like like
knowing exactly where it is so i'm gonna see if i can pick up sunset boulevard i'm gonna switch over to the street maps view all right i believe this is sunset boulevard there's figueroa cesar chavez behind us sunset uh in front of us one of the fun things about this flight is that
the following sunset is not a straight line at all it really meanders so uh yeah let's let's see how this goes so it's right under the nose here and we're just going to kind of uh wing our way along
it looks completely different than on the ground this is like that's crazy and one of the things too is that when you fly the helicopter around la you get a sense of kind of how connected everything is like you kind of move seamlessly from like industrial to kind of like this area like to the
really fancy stuff that we're gonna see in just a little bit let's see if i can continue to follow you again you wouldn't think this is hard but like is that sunset i think that is sunset this is why we fly high enough that the camera can get it all yeah oh you know what yeah we just flew over
the echoplex and the uh the echo is is uh like a music venue here in l.a uh i saw my favorite band and you will notice by the trail of dead long awkward name wonderful band got some helicopter traffic over there that we're going to watch out for he's at the hollywood cemetery with over 800.
here also records [Applause] this is good to you because you're going to get a view of the hollywood sign [Music] are you originally from l.a yeah born and raised gotcha okay so because i feel like um a lot of people here are transplants one of the standard things you do when you are new to la is like you go to the
hollywood sign maybe you go to the hollywood vine and go look at like see if you can see celebrities in places where they never actually are and you know it's funny everybody that's come out here they'll see celebrities in the weirdest places when they're not looking for them so it's like
it is one of those things where just kind of do your thing and then it's going to come to you yeah i feel like eventually helicopter 5 we're about uh two southeast of the observatory west uh one thousand two hundred teleporter alpha scientology eastbound at one thousand three hundred
oh yeah there's a church of scientology [Applause] [Music] one of the things that's really fun oh i've already missed sunset boulevard oh no dang it give me a break i'm gonna go i'm gonna go get it okay let's see if we can now get ourselves aligned again this is what i'm saying you wouldn't
think it would be hard but yeah since that's a tricky one yeah it just it just turned who knew rhodes could turn like that yeah usually on drunk hollywood nights it's the same thing all right so what do we got here i've made some helpful notes ah we're gonna pass the ucb theater you ever do improv classes
no have you no i've never done improv classes but my sense is that that's one of those essential skills for uh for making content really just going on the fly and i'm hoping not because i don't know how to do it i think it's not essential all right so we're flying over little armenia that is the 101 freeway that we
just passed yeah we're getting into the uh the hollywood area here and you're right everything just kind of blends in up here and there's the hollywood sun i'm gonna pass the palladium oh and there's the cinerama dome uh the arclight theater
[Music] oh yeah you just recently well not recently but you smacked one yep i have an uncomfortable relationship with birds i don't want to be near the birds i don't want to interact with the birds and yet i think there's just something about academic the same space i don't blame
them they're just being birds but oh man i haven't checked in with you for a little bit how you doing you're good oh yeah okay good job yeah and you know what it's surprisingly good up here i thought it was going to be a lot rockier yeah you know what the uh the air is nice and smooth
oh so this is good we're coming up on the sunset strip so this is like when you think of um actually when i think of hollywood in the 80s this is what i think i think of like motley crue riding around on harley's and like uh slash playing with the boa constrictor at the viper room oh yeah so
this is like where the rocky or the roxy is the whiskey of gogo the comedy store back when i was playing in bands uh i think we played a show with the whiskey many many moons ago but this is like kind of the happening spot or at least it would be if you weren't in the midst of a global
pandemic yeah and it you know it's funny when the sunset strip first started it was like and that they actually have prohibitions so um when they were getting it all together it was a couple spots near the sunset plaza and they had uh speakeasies up there really yeah and then all of a sudden it
used to be just a uh [Applause] and it used to be a throwaway between hollywood and beverly hills then all of a sudden everybody just started partying there to be clear that's not the speakeasies you know now where it's like cool hipster stuff where you walking through a phone booth this was like
actual like illegal drinking yeah this is what uh some of the gangsters opened up and then just the police kicked in the doors started arresting people i'm gonna uh make a quick change over here ability one zero sky condition clear temperature to one celsius two point one seven celsius alpha two
[Applause] santa monica air traffic control tower suspended operations at one six zero zero local time the common traffic advisory frequency and pilot santa monica driving up 285 one mile northwest blue whale west at 1000.
all right i think we are still successfully following sunset it gets pretty crazy here uh for a little while oh oh oh and you know what i've got a slight detour that i actually i don't know how to preface this i don't want it to say like oh you're going to appreciate it because you'll know when we get there what i
will point out is that there are some crazy houses here like okay like right off the nose look at this place is that i mean it looks like um uh it looks like we're uh like parliament would be uh conducted like look at that place that's wild yeah that's crazy they have big huge columns in the front
yeah i was uh for me like the goal of the sign that you're dealing with like a real kind of swanky place is it looks like the houses from you ever played the game of life yeah like it looks like the manchester that you might be able to get and they cost a lot more money yeah yeah
they do okay so on the northwest corner of this okay we're gonna go around it we'll follow the road this is not what i'm talking about so i'm gonna slow down here a little bit so it'll be a little more maneuverable but sunset does this little jog over this way that blade slap noise is normal
yeah i thought we were right next to another helicopter okay so i i see it okay so we're following sunset boulevard but i'm gonna make a slight detour over here do you know what that house is that is the playboy mansion no way yep slow down and take a look you can see the grotto and you can only imagine
uh how much that needs to be cleaned oh it's drained good good that's smart that's crazy yeah there are some uh really fancy houses here i yeah i i've had no desire to go to the playboy mansion but it is sort of like an iconic spot so it's like oh is that a house or like i can't tell
if that's a house or an institution okay i'm gonna make a little quick detour over here just to see if this is like actually a house that's the thing right you see some of these places you're like there's no way like that like humans live there yeah yeah you would think why would they
need so much space i'd be scared to live in a house like that that's the thing right you wake up and it's like which of the uh 38 rooms in your home has uh has the boogie man uh climbed into look at this place look at this that's wild yeah that's a hell of a spot all right let's continue on our way
oh looks like okay yeah so the the playboy mansion is definitely undergoing some renovations probably overdue yeah they're really getting into it too you know how like they have to announce it like if somebody's been killed in a house or or something like that i feel like there's a lot of disclosures for
that home like just so you know before you buy this one uh here's all the uh the uh unsettling acts which have occurred here it's like a huge list and you'd be like oh my god i actually went to church with that guy i know him yeah see this is what i'm talking about like sunset boulevard is
like really meandering but so far i haven't lost the trail at least not yet yeah i'm surprised like i said everything blends in and it comes so fast how fast are you going right now uh ground speed is 84 miles an hour
and then uh there's our airspeed if you're curious also in miles per hour still following it and then uh we got ucla right here i learned about ucla uh in my flyer video because i don't know if you saw that video but i never went to college so uh like oh that's where that is that's what all the hubbub is about and
i spent many a million nights at ucla it's actually really really fun yeah so are you familiar with this area have you spent some time over uh in this general reach we're about to approach the 405 over here yeah um pretty much west l.a is my stomping grounds for grade school so i went to palms middle school and
university high school yeah yeah pretty much right down the street from ucla oh this is like bel air right yeah all right for me okay i gotta look at this house we got enough time with the gopros that i can take a look at this house uh i saw a house at my pasadena flyover that blew
my mind i think this is going to be that house for this trip like um look at this place this is an estate though spectacular oh my god i don't know who lives there but again good on them look at the art out front is that a coons it's like is it like i think that is you know the guy who does like the um
the uh art with the large balloon animals yeah yeah he has a he has a couple exhibits at the brew at the brood currently showing at the uh that guy's house yeah jeez i've seen i've seen the uh yeah the uh his ark and i always like it but i never thought i could buy it i wonder if he'll let me borrow that
piece from my bachelor party oh yeah that's right you're getting married soon huh yeah we had to move it up to september 5th well preliminary congrats yeah thank you big steps okay guys the guy who's been married forever i'm pro-marriage it's uh it's a good institution because you get
your closet somebody and then uh no matter who you are and how you change they still have to love you oh yeah she can't go anywhere she's trapped all right and then off the nose here is brentwood so this is like where uh where you imagine all the rich people live like yeah they do yeah because these
houses are huge like i said i can't imagine staying in a house that big and spring cleaning turns into a jungle gym i know let me quick off santa monica drive kill the couple 285 getty center south west 1 200. all right we'll dive down here a little bit
man one of the temptations when you fly along here you see all this stuff is like to get jealous it's like oh man i want that i want that but a lot yeah but then you eat like i don't know what are you envious of is there anything you covet is there anything like you man i want that honestly i would love
the open space like a good backyard yeah outside barbecue relax maybe take a dive for the pool kind of like um maybe 80 of the houses right here i would love to do that yeah yeah space little place to uh to hang yeah i
you know what i say that but then uh i don't know what that person does for a living and i bet i wouldn't want to have to do it all right we got a little a little jag here sunset's making a right kind of there's like a little uh u-shaped thing here this is kind of a tight turn oh wow
oh can you smell that you can start feeling and smelling the uh the ocean air the beautiful ocean like that's one of the things i love about flying in la is that as you start to get towards the ocean you really feel it like you know you're getting near the ocean yeah definitely i think even because we
stay in venice you can feel uh especially at nighttime the ocean there ocean breeze just comes right in through the windows yeah yeah these sunsets are something else huh yeah the lights on yeah just gonna get better and better too oh yeah we had another tight turn here i didn't fully realize just how uh curvy
sunset was i'm gonna make a little bit of a wide turn here oh yeah there we go yeah i remember sunset was the one street as soon as i got my motorcycle me and my buddies rode on sunset and it was really really turning yeah really curvy this is a really good uh yeah right the road actually i
don't know i always i take that back because there are some like very nice roads that like are good in theory but then like uh depending on how the people drive on them they can kind of suck yeah like uh if you have like the slow oh no offense i was gonna say somebody slow in a prius
mike drives a prius it's no pretty shame i love my prius good see own it own that prius love build it up twice since the quarantine is that true yeah man can't beat that okay so uh we're gonna uh get a couple couple more curves here that we're approaching pacific palisades coming over this way man everything
seems so small from up here yeah also i mean yeah just seeing like the progression where we started long beach and then uh just how much l.a has changes over a relatively short period of distance yeah there are many many versions of los angeles and that's one of the things i love about flying out of here is that
you see so many different like ways to be so many different communities and uh yeah to be uh there's kind of nowhere like it and it's great you never would have known how many hills there were if you weren't at this altitude i know right yeah it's crazy it's funny i think grand theft auto
actually got the map right up here it looks pretty accurate good job guys i mean that is kind of a takeaway like yeah those people know how to make a video game yeah there's so much information in that game and like how do they do that off of all of this did you do me a favor and put my
sunglasses in that sunglasses case thank you it's nice to have somebody to help yeah so that's pacific palisades and then how we doing let's see if i'm following this correctly okay so we're coming down i believe it's off to the left there
okay we're coming down we're gonna go to will rogers state beach and then we're gonna head over just a little bit check out the uh the getty villa ah this is good so one of the weird things about the uh the whole coronavirus experience is uh watching the ocean not be filled with surfers when the
the surfers went away it's like something was wrong yeah so uh let's go check out the getty villa we're gonna go uh fly along pch by the way if uh you wonder why i say duh i've explained it in other videos i say five the 405. pch is the one road where we do not say that you don't say the pch
yeah that's kind of true i think only old people would be like oh yeah we're going to go onto the pch today yes the pch i don't like it i don't like it one bit okay i think this is a getty villa over here that's kind of a nice reveal of the beverly hills hotel
so i'm going to go up over this hills come back get one more view of the getty villa and then we're going to go say hi to some surfers so what's your what has been your favorite spot since you've been flying honestly flying on the 4th of july is one of my favorite things to do with
the helicopter it really is just the best la in particular has just such a knack for illegal fireworks yeah that's it's such an amazing uh thing to see so yeah i think that would be my favorite although you know what uh catalina island is also very very cool i mean it's and it's so close too ah
look at this vantage point so in fact you can see catalina out there yeah oh yeah that's nice aren't you glad you connected on the gram yeah seriously and it's funny because everything just seemed to happen so fast it's a one it's crazy how life works yeah you know so while we're wrapping up
this video uh do me a favor give them the pitch tell them who you are what you do and why they should follow you yo what's up guys this is yes mike danger i am a professional photographer outside of los angeles california you can find me on instagram yes mike danger and i just recently got my
youtube url 100 subscribers yay hey be sure to subscribe to uh to his channel oh you know what here let's go check it out we got all the surfers down here okay this is one of the other things i really like about flying is that you have these little moments with people you don't know
so you're flying along and then just like people on the on the ground will wave at you and they're kind of happy to see you it's kind of what you wish society worked how society worked where like oh i don't know you but i'm kind of happy to see you oh it's kind of a beautiful thing so it's a
i feel like the helicopter is a pretty good conversation starter and the conversation usually consists of a single wave but i love it it would be kind of cool to hear them on the ground too yeah say hi well let's uh let's head on down and see if we can see how this is actually so crazy like i wanted
to stop recording just so i could kind of take everything in because this is like crazy this is so beautiful that makes me happy you know what i want to do i want to fly with people who want to fly like that that that for me is the best yeah you guys should be afraid of flying because this is
amazing all right let's go say hi to the surfers and then uh we're gonna end this video and we're just gonna enjoy the flight home [Music]
[Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you
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