Aging water main floods Sunset Boulevard, opens giant sinkhole
A 1916-era trunk main burst near Palm Avenue and Harratt Street, flooding Sunset Boulevard, damaging vehicles and opening a sinkhole that swallowed part of the sidewalk.
A 36-inch, 1916-era trunk main burst near Palm Avenue and Harratt Street around 2:30 a.m., sending water across Sunset Boulevard and into nearby streets in West Hollywood. The flood reached Holloway Drive, damaged vehicles and pushed enough water into the area to open a large sidewalk sinkhole on Palm Avenue.
Crews from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power shut down the line and two large valves as they tried to stop the flow. By about 7 a.m., the water supply had been shut off, and by about 9 a.m. water was no longer flowing through the broken pipe. Service had been restored to nearly every affected property by then, but road closures and traffic advisories remained in place as West Hollywood officials and first responders managed the scene.
The rupture hit more than pavement. Water flooded a Metro bus yard, damaging vehicles, and two men fell into the sinkhole on Palm Avenue before escaping serious injury. The break spread through the Sunset Strip area, turning one underground failure into a morning disruption for drivers, transit operations and nearby businesses.
Anselmo Collins, LADWP’s chief operating officer, identified the broken line as a 1916 trunk main. He also said the pipe was already slated for replacement under an LADWP project, underscoring that the failure was not a surprise isolated to one block but part of a known backlog in a system built long before today’s traffic loads and water demands.
LADWP’s 2023-24 Water Infrastructure Plan says the utility maintains about 6,794 miles of mainline in Los Angeles, and more than 30% of those mains are over 80 years old. That age profile helps explain why a single rupture near Palm Avenue and Harratt Street can quickly cascade into flooding, vehicle damage, sidewalk collapse and service interruptions along Sunset Boulevard and Holloway Drive.
Mayor Karen Bass and West Hollywood Mayor John Heilman later gave updates on the response as crews worked through the morning. The break left a vivid reminder that the city’s oldest pipes are still under the streets, and when they fail, the costs arrive above ground.
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