Attachment of azobenzene moieties, substituted with alkyl chains, to a polyglutamate backbone give photochromic "hairy rod" polymers, capable of forming monolayers at an air/water interface. These monolayers can be transferred to substrates as Langmuir-Blodgett films. Irradiation and concomitant photoisomerization of the chromophore result in structural changes of the monolayers and the LB films, which give the systems interesting photoresponsive properties.