Mulholland Drive is a street

Street

A street is a paved public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of dirt, but is more often paved with a hard, durable...

 and road in the eastern Santa Monica Mountains

Santa Monica Mountains

The Santa Monica Mountains are a Transverse Range in Southern California, along the coast of the Pacific Ocean in the United States.-Geography:...

 of Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

. It is named after Los Angeles pioneer civil engineer

Civil engineer

A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...

 William Mulholland

William Mulholland

William Mulholland was the head of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, in Los Angeles. He was responsible for building the water aqueducts and dams that allowed the city to grow into one of the largest in the world. His methods of obtaining water for the city led to disputes collectively...

. The western rural portion in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties is named Mulholland Highway

Mulholland Highway

Mulholland Highway is a scenic road in Los Angeles County, Southern California that runs approximately 50 miles through the western Santa Monica Mountains from the near U.S...

.
The mostly two-lane, minor arterial road

Arterial road

An arterial road, or arterial thoroughfare, is a high-capacity urban road. The primary function of an arterial road is to deliver traffic from collector roads to freeways, and between urban centres at the highest level of service possible. As such, many arteries are limited-access roads, or feature...

 loosely follows the ridgeline of the eastern Santa Monica Mountains and their Hollywood Hills

Hollywood Hills

The Hollywood Hills is an affluent and exclusive neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the southeastern Santa Monica Mountains. It is bound by Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the west, Vermont Avenue to the east, Mulholland Drive to the north, and Sunset Boulevard to the south.-Hollywood Hills...

 area, connecting two sections of U.S. Route 101, and crossing Sepulveda Boulevard

Sepulveda Boulevard

Sepulveda Boulevard is a street in Los Angeles, California, which stretches some 42.8 miles from Rinaldi Street at the north end of the San Fernando Valley to the city limits of Hermosa Beach, where it "jumps" east and continues on to Long Beach. It generally runs north-south, passing underneath...

, Beverly Glen Boulevard

Beverly Glen Boulevard

Beverly Glen Boulevard is one of three major routes that connects West Los Angeles to the San Fernando Valley ....

, Coldwater Canyon

Coldwater Canyon

Coldwater Canyon is a canyon running perpendicular to the Santa Monica Mountains in the city of Los Angeles, California. The canyon is traversed by Coldwater Canyon Drive and Coldwater Canyon Avenue , which connect the city of Beverly Hills with the community of Studio City in the San Fernando...

, Laurel Canyon Boulevard

Laurel Canyon Boulevard

Laurel Canyon Boulevard is a major street in the city of Los Angeles, California. It starts off at Polk Street in Sylmar in the northern San Fernando Valley near the junction of the San Diego and the Golden State ) freeways. Laurel Canyon Boulevard bypasses the city of San Fernando to the west,...

, Nichols Canyon Road and Outpost Drive

Outpost Estates, Los Angeles, California

Outpost Estates is a canyon neighborhood of Hollywood and the Hollywood Hills in the central region of the City of Los Angeles, California.It is located directly east of Runyon Canyon Park and centered around Outpost Drive. Developed by Charles E. Toberman, it is one of the original 1920s Hollywood...

.