Melrose Hill is located north of Melrose Avenue, south of Santa Monica Blvd., east of Western Avenue, and west of the Hollywood Freeway. Hollywood is located to the north, and the intersection of Western Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard "splits the two neighborhoods".

Within Melrose Hill is the Melrose Hill Historic Preservation Overlay Zone (HPOZ). The HPOZ covers homes on Marathon Street (between Hobart Boulevard and Oxford Avenue), North Melrose Hill Street and West Melrose Hill Street. HPOZ signage is installed at the intersection of Hobart Boulevard and Marathon Street. The neighborhood's historic status was designated by the city in 1988. The 42 residences within the HPOZ are modest Craftsman and Colonial Revival bungalows built between 1911 and 1926.

The Melrose Hill street lamps are made from the same mold that was used at the turn of the 20th century to supply the lighting towers for New York's Central Park. The streetlights were installed in 1980 and spurred the movement for the neighborhood to seek historic status. In January 2003, Los Angeles magazine profiled the Melrose Hill HPOZ and named it one of the city's "10 Great Neighborhoods You've Never Heard Of."