Second homes: Hollywood has a new role

— -- One of the world's most famous neighborhoods, Hollywood is known for movies, celebrities and its star-studded Walk of Fame. Now, almost a century after the first movie studio opened in 1911, it might become known for second homes.

There are about 1,500 residences in the Hollywood core, but nearly double that number, or 2,736 new units, are under construction or planned for the next four years, according to the Hollywood Entertainment District, a business improvement organization created by the city of Los Angeles. Most new units are apartments, and many are "adaptive reuses," or loft conversions — among them The Lofts @ Hollywood and Vine, the W Hotel & Residences and The Broadway.

Hollywood is still mainly a primary-residence market, but the new buildings are attracting out-of-towners. Many are bicoastal people with regular work or leisure trips to Los Angeles who are buying instead of staying in increasingly pricey hotels. The area is especially attractive to East Coast urbanites because it is one of the few parts of L.A. condensed enough to appeal to walkers. It also has many of the city's hottest restaurants and nightclubs and is active at all hours.

Nearly half of the Loft buyers have been second-home owners, developers there say. At the new W, "the majority of owners have other residences, with some having several," developer Marty Collins says.

New Yorkers will be used to the high prices: Realtor Russell Roney of ZipRealty says a new apartment that might cost $300,000 in nearby downtown L.A. can run $800,000 in Hollywood.

A look at three Hollywood neighborhoods

•Hollywood. "Downtown Hollywood" is centered along Hollywood Boulevard between the LaBrea Gateway to the west and Hollywood Freeway/101 to the east. The neighborhood is mostly condos, many of them newly converted buildings. The 60 units in the Lofts @ Hollywood and Vine (theloftsathollywoodandvine.com) range from the high $300,000s to just over $1 million, and the 143 apartments at the new W fetch $800,000 to more than $9 million (whollywoodresidence.com).