Los Angeles Marathon

Course highlights

The race starts at Dodger Stadium, 1000 Elysian Park Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90012. The race ends on Ocean Avenue at the intersection of Ocean Ave and California Avenue in Santa Monica.  The new “Stadium to the Sea” course not only includes a net elevation drop of 430 feet, but it also incorporates many iconic landmarks for which Los Angeles is world renowned.After circulating around historic Dodger Stadium, the third oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball, the course negotiates past Chinatown and its famous Twin Dragon Towers Gateway, El Pueblo de Los Angeles State Park, the oldest section of the city, and two of the latest additions to the city’s cutting-edge architectural heritage: the Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by Frank Gehry, and the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels, designed by Rafael Moneo. 

At mile 6, the course winds through the communities of Echo Park and Silver Lake before linking up to Sunset Boulevard, where it offers runners a picturesque view of the celebrated Hollywood sign.For the next eight miles, the course guides runners past such other notable Hollywood landmarks as the Walk of Fame, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, the Comedy Store, the House of Blues Sunset Strip and Whiskey A Go Go. After leaving West Hollywood, the course winds through the heart of Beverly Hills and straight down Rodeo Drive, one of the most affluent, highest profile shopping thoroughfares in the world.From Beverly Hills, the course continues west to Century City, a commercial and residential district originally developed on land which comprised the backlot for 20th Century Fox studios. 

The “Stadium to the Sea” course includes six miles along Historic Route 66, a celebrated national highway that for decades spanned 2,451 miles from Normal, Illinois to Santa Monica, California. It also traverses through the grounds of the Veterans Administration, a sprawling facility originally founded in 1887 which now houses, among other things, the VA’s West Los Angeles Healthcare System. After leading race participants into the community of Brentwood, the course continues along San Vicente Boulevard, a popular, pedestrian-friendly street which attracts runners of all abilities 365 days a year. The final three miles of the marathon is set in Santa Monica, where the course eventually runs along scenic bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and it concludes on Ocean Avenue near the Santa Monica Pier and its stunning solar-powered Ferris wheel.