Southern California - Alternative to Cahuenga?

I'd like to commute by bicycle to Vermont & Wilshire from Coldwater & Oxnard and back afternoons and evenings. The most direct route would be through the Cahuenga Pass, but I've seen Cahuenga referred to in other threads as a "death strip". I know I can just hop on the subway at Universal and ride under the pass, or go around through Griffith Park, but can anyone suggest a cycling route through or near the Cahuenga Pass?

Hello neighbor, I can't think of a good route to commute through there but Nichols Canyon goes from Mulholland down to Hollywood ,I think at Beechwood. La Grange comes up that way on their training rides in the morning.

You could also do Mulholland to Outpost.

I do a ride that is quite climb-y but fun.
I do it reverse from what you would want to do.
I climb from Franklin up Beachwood. 2 blocks past the Beachwood Market you get to a stop sign and rurn left to climb up a street. Keep left at the next intersection and keep aiming left. Eventually you will pass quite close to the hollywood sign.
There is a park below the sign. Ride past it and take a left to get to the Reservoir. Go around the Hollywood reservoir RIGHT. Eventually you get to a long straight climb, go up.
At the top turn right and descend. If you keep right this will pop you out on the valley side, very close to Warner Brothers studios.

Actually.

Maybe the easiest way to do this is take Riverside to Griffith Park and climb over the hill in Griffith? I do that every day.

I have a feeling this reply is completely un-helpful!!

oh well.

I do a ride that is quite climb-y but fun.
I do it reverse from what you would want to do.
I climb from Franklin up Beachwood. 2 blocks past the Beachwood Market you get to a stop sign and rurn left to climb up a street. Keep left at the next intersection and keep aiming left. Eventually you will pass quite close to the hollywood sign.
There is a park below the sign. Ride past it and take a left to get to the Reservoir. Go around the Hollywood reservoir RIGHT. Eventually you get to a long straight climb, go up.
At the top turn right and descend. If you keep right this will pop you out on the valley side, very close to Warner Brothers studios.

Actually.

Maybe the easiest way to do this is take Riverside to Griffith Park and climb over the hill in Griffith? I do that every day.

I have a feeling this reply is completely un-helpful!!

oh well.

No actually all the replies have been helpful. Now I have several different routes to try out. Plus whenever I map the suggestions I find that going around Griffith Park is not as out of the way as I thought it was. All very useful, thanks!

I've spent the last six months commuting that general direction and I almost always take Cahuenga, I've had close calls but take it anyways. For me the alternatives are to go up Coldwater and down Nichols, which is a decent amount of climbing and will require riding through West Hollywood/ Hollywood which isn't much better than Cahuenga. The other is riding through Griffith Park and dropping south. It adds about 1.5-2 miles (when I was riding downtown) and I never found a safe route south from Griffith in the morning. For me, anything else is much more climbing than I want to do before work.