Hollywood was founded by a Joseph Young in the 1920s who poured millions into its development. Hollywood quickly become a destination for snowbirds and grew to 2,600 by 1930 and 6,000 by 1940 helping to create a decent walkable dwtn along W. Hollywood Blvd. The City’s population really grew after WW II growing to 14K by 1950, 35K by 1960, and exploding to 106K by 1970.
West Hollywood and Harrison Streets (btwn the Circle and Dixie Hwy) form the core of Dwtn Hollywood and the best walkable and mixed- district. There are also lots of nice MF buildings along the Circle. But the urban core is actually quite extensive (for Florida standards) as West Hollywood blvd has decent urban form all the way to 1-95 and a good amount of streets with homes from the 1930-1950 with sidewalks. Like most Florida dwtn suburbs, Hollywood has good cultural and decent retail amenities. This is also one of suburban Miami’s most diverse suburbs with relatively affordable housing. There are also good schools here and well dispersed park amenities. What Central Hollywood really needs to move from a decent urban district to a good one is quality mixed-use buildings along all its business corridors, more density, more retail amenities, safer bike lanes, and better public transit.
URBAN STRENGTHS:
* Nice connectivity in Dwtn Delray Beach
* A pair of dedicated bike lanes run thru dwtn but no dedicated bike stations.
* Overall pretty good diversity especially racial and generational.
* Delay has a decent amount of affordable housing thanks to having their own Housing Authority.
* Culturally a great array of restaurants, bars, & cafes, tons of art galleries, a couple of museums, a cineplex, a performing arts center and a couple other theaters, and several live music venues.
* Also good retail amenities with tons of boutiques and brand name clothing stores, a couple drug stores, a bookstore, tons of dessert stores, a couple gyms, plenty of salons & barbers, a post office and dwtn public library .
* Good urban form along most of Atlantic Ave and ne 2nd Ave.
* Dwtn Delray is generally feels safe but has a pretty high crime rate.
* Overall pretty good modern infill with decent design and quality urban form.
URBAN WEAKNESSES:
* Density not great but pretty average for a Florida suburban dwtn.
* Not great access to Dwtns. About 30-40 min drive to dwtn West Palm Beach and Ft. Lauderdale and 1 hr. to Dwtn Miami. About 1 hr. + via train to either Dwtn.
* For sale housing is pretty expensive but some moderately priced condos. 1-bed condos sell btwn 275K-500K, 2-beds sell anywhere btwn 400K-1M, and wide variety with 3 & 4 beds selling anywhere btwn 500K- 2M.
* Rentals are even more expensive with studios leasing in the 2KS, 1-beds btwn mid 2Ks-5Ks, 2-beds btwn 3K-7K, 3-beds btwn 5K-12K.
* Parks are limited to the Old School Square (a nice centrally located park) and the small Veterans Park.
* Dwtn is missing a supermarket.
* No schools within the Dwtn area. Some private schools nearby but pretty small.
* Some historic hsg on the more SF streets but not a ton. Biz districts is all modern in-fill.
Evaluating our Urban Communities [with a focus on America] 