South of the Santa Monica Freeway, the I-10, it briefly borders Culver City, and passes the La Cienega/Jefferson station of the Metro E Line.

This stretch of La Cienega passes through the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area, Baldwin Hills, the Inglewood Oil Field, and Ladera Heights.

South of Manchester Avenue, La Cienega becomes a surface street once more, running parallel to the San Diego (405) Freeway through Inglewood.

From Wilshire in Beverly Hills traveling north the best known establishments include Benihana, The Stinking Rose, Darioush, the original Lawry's the Prime Rib, Hakobe, Tokyo Table - Tokyo City Cuisine, Matsuhisa, Fogo de Chão, Gyu-Kaku, Woo Lae Oak, The Bazaar by José Andrés, and Morton's.

The Spanish phrase la ciénaga translates into English as "the swamp" and the area named "Las Ciénegas" was a continual marshland due to the course of the Los Angeles River through that area prior to a massive southerly shift in 1825 to roughly its present course.