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

David Lynch, who wrote and directed a film named after Mulholland Drive, has said that one can feel "the history of Hollywood" on it.

[4] DeWitt Reaburn, the construction engineer responsible for the project, said while it was being built, "The Mulholland Highway is destined to be one of the heaviest traveled and one of the best known scenic roads in the United States."

This portion connects with other unpaved roads and bike trails and allows access to a decommissioned Project Nike command post that is now a Cold War memorial park.

(This portion of Mulholland Drive was open to through traffic as late as the 1990s before being permanently closed to motor vehicles so that they would no longer interfere with the natural beauty and wilderness of the area.)