Hollywood is the largest and most populous neighborhood in College Park, Md., according to the city’s website.

Hollywood is the largest and most populous neighborhood in College Park, Md., according to the city’s website. Evy Mages/For The Washington Post

When Larry Bleau began house-hunting in 1992, he had two criteria in mind: affordability and convenience.

As a young bachelor, Bleau sought a comfortable home that fit within his tight budget. As a University of Maryland employee, he preferred a location close to campus. In the end, he decided to buy a small brick ranch-style house on a quiet street in the Hollywood neighborhood of College Park.

“I don’t drive, so this has to be something on a bus route or biking distance,” Bleau, now a 61-year-old tax preparer, said of his three-bedroom home. “And I wanted to be close to the Metro in case my job changed. I knew the Green Line was coming in here at Greenbelt Metro.”

Bleau, a longtime member of the city’s Advisory Planning Commission and the North College Park Citizens Association, said his favorite aspect of the community is its calm and quiet nature.

“You don’t have a nightlife in Hollywood,” he said of the mainly residential area. “This is where people come home and go to sleep. I like just having a normal home and a normal type of town.”





[Born in the ‘60s, Chapel Square is a still pretty cool neighborhood]

John Krouse shared a similar sentiment. The former City Council member said the neighborhood’s ease of transportation and proximity to major employment centers attract many people to the area.

Krouse said his favorite aspect of the neighborhood, however, is its “green” nature. Hollywood’s environmental landscape includes tree-lined streets, houses with both front and back yards, and two large parks — Hollywood Community Park and Duvall Field.

“I’ve had a lot of fun with my yard,” said the 54-year-old environmental engineer, who enjoys gardening and strolling through the neighborhood. “Having the kind of housing where you can have kids or pets and a little yard — I think that really is the big draw.”



Starter homes: Hollywood is College Park’s largest and most populous neighborhood, according to the city’s website. Edward Daniels, developer of the neighboring community of Daniels Park, originally planned Hollywood as a northern extension of that community in the late 1920s. But building in the area came to a standstill until developer Albert W. Turner acquired large areas of land in the northern part of the community after World War II.

Known for its place on the old trolley line to Washington and named for its collection of holly trees, Hollywood has a slew of modest ranch- and Colonial-style homes that were built mainly in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The two- or three-bedroom houses are perfect starter homes for blue-collar and professional workers looking to “get their foot in the door as far as homeownership is concerned,” said Matt Carns, a Long & Foster real estate agent who previously lived in Hollywood for 16 years.

Hollywood is dominated by detached single-family houses, with nearly no other residential real estate in the area. The community has a higher proportion of single-family than 95.7 percent of U.S. neighborhoods, according to the Neighborhood Scout website.

Bleau said the homes have a decent range of sizes and styles as well as structural materials and lot sizes, so mostly anybody can find something to their taste in the area.



The shopping experience: Today, you can drive or walk to Rhode Island Avenue for a deli sandwich, pizza or Chinese takeout. The Hollywood commercial sector is tame and unassuming, with REI and MOM’s Organic Market as its main attractions. The location has several convenience stores and mom-and-pop shops as well.

[D.C.’s Glover Park is close-in but set apart]

For the most part, Hollywood residents do their heavy shopping beyond the neighborhood’s boundaries. With big-name stores such as Shoppers Food Warehouse, Best Buy and Costco on Route 1, it is easy for residents to travel to neighboring communities for a more holistic shopping experience.



Living there: Hollywood is bordered roughly by the Capital Beltway to the north, the Greenbelt Metro and MARC rail tracks to the east, Kenesaw Street to the south, and Route 1 to the west. Rhode Island Avenue bisects the community, with the section to the west also known as the subdivision of Hollywood on the Hill.

During the past 12 months, 60 homes were sold in Hollywood with prices ranging from $125,000 for a single-family one-level rambler with two bedrooms and one bathroom to $387,500 for a six-year-old single-family Colonial with four bedrooms, three bathrooms and a two-car garage, Carns said.

There are nine homes for sale and eight under contract. The available properties are listed between $205,000 and $349,900, while the houses under contract range from $100,000 to $317,000, Carns said.

Schools: Hollywood Elementary and Al-Huda School.



Transit: In addition to the Greenbelt Metro and MARC station, the area is served by Metrobus, Shuttle UM and TheBus.



Crime: In the past 12 months, there were 12 thefts from autos, 11 residential burglaries, five robberies and three assaults in Hollywood, according to Prince George’s County police.