Climbing LA: echo park

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Walk #17 - Fellowship Park

Distance: 1.5 miles
Steps:148
Difficulty: 3

"This is a short,sweet canyon walk highlighted by a tour of Fellowship Park- but it comes with a warning: In recent years, residents have tried to close this public passage to the pubilc, and have installed gates and locks. Most of the time these are open. If they're not, you may have to retrace your steps a bit, but you'll be retracing some of the city's loveliest public pathways."

Me in my Oscars garb.

What a way to spend a beautiful Sunday morning in Los Angeles! It was Oscars Sunday and I got all dressed up as you can see in the picture above. Charles, in his work, deals with the Academy and he hooked me up with my Oscars outfit. In 2008 we went to the actual ceremony and walked the red carpet but on this day we walked the asphalt streets and it was still a blast! The end of the blog is very near. Only 4 walks remain.... This walk took us to Echo Park; I've written about this neighborhood in several previous posts. In addition to the regulars (Enrique, Ines, and now Mark) was Norbert who is visiting from Germany and joined us for his 2nd stair walk. Too bad he is going home soon as he will miss the blowout picnic to be held after our last walk on April 3! We were all very surprised by this walk as it led to a very secluded green spot in the middle of the city Fellowship Park. I'm sure the neighbors will hate me for this but I just have to share this delightful part of LA.

From left: Norbert, Ines, Mark, Jessica, Enrique, Charles.

We began our walk at Echo Park Avenue and Baxter Street and soon found our first staircase (39 easy steps) which took us to Preston Avenue.

Many of the streets in this neighborhood are very steep. If you drive a car with manual transmission you had better be good at it!

A view of Downtown LA.

Very near our initial staircase appeared our 2nd one; only 39 steps, heading down to Baxter Street again.

Jessica is UCLA Class of 2010 (I'm old, UCLA Class of '89) and not a big USC fan.

Notice how steep the street is. In the background are the massive Baxter Street steps that we climbed on a previous walk.

No, it's not San Francisco!

At Donaldson Street we found our next staircase (25 steps) which led us to a surprisingly sloped walkway.

The gang walking up the steep, sloped, walkway.

At Lemoyne Street we turned right where we found the stairway pictured above; 30 steps that took us to another world. Behind the water tank lies Fellowship Park. Accroding to Secret Stairs, this hilltop enclave was founded by a religious group in the 1900s. I never saw a 'park.' What we encountered was a very hidden, verdant walkway lined with houses. At one point a man came out and told us that it's private property. We were on the path and not on his property so whatever! There is a gate at the end of the path with a lock on it and I think it's people trying to make a PUBLIC walkway into a private one.

The start of 'Fellowship Park.'

Charles being himself a kid at heart.

As we continued along this amazing path we felt as if it was a walk in the woods but occasionally we would get a glimpse of the city. In the picture above you can see the Glendale Freeway below.

Century City in the background.

The winding path.

Look closely and you'll see the Griffith Observatory with the Hollywood sign as well.

From the path we could get a glimpse of Downtown Glendale and the San Gabriel mountains dusted with SNOW!

As we walked along the path we encountered a little gopher. He was very cute and not afraid of us at all. In fact, he let Enrique pet him.

One of the houses along the path.

Thankfully the gate was not locked!

I love this view of Downtown LA. So close to Echo Park.

One steep hill going down leads to another very steep one.

UGH! That misplaced apostrophe; an epidemic these days. One of my pet peeves - it's not a possessive. It should read, "Trucks and semis." Thank you.

We ended our awesome walk with a trip to a local coffeehouse, Fix Coffee. It had great coffee and food and the outdoor patio provided great ambiance. While the Oscar telecast later that day was disappointing, this walk won Best Prize!

From left: Charles, Jessica, Mark, Norbert, Enrique, me.

Feel free to join me as I discover hidden parts of Los Angeles and tackle the remaining 4 stairwalks.

Steps walked to date: 18,980.

Follow me on Twitter: @ClimbingLA

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Walk #12 : Echo Park Lake Victorians

Distance: 3 miles
Steps: 428
Difficulty: 2.5

"This is a mostly flat walk past venerable Echo Park Lake and through Angelino Heights, home of the city's oldest Victorian and Queen Anne mansions. It includes panoramic views of Downtown and a lot of Los Angeles history." Taken from Secret Stairs by Charles Fleming.

We did this walk on January 16 and I'm a little behind on my posts due to school getting really tough with plenty of homework. We met at Echo Park in front of the statue to Jose Marti and no sooner had we congretated than we were met (more like accosted) by an anti-Castro gentleman. Everyone scattered and I was left to deal with him. He invited us to a rally in the next few weeks but I don't think I'll be able to make it. We have done several walks in Echo Park and this one is noteworthy given the high number of Victorian architecture structures in the Angelino Heights part of the neighborhood. I'm not an architecture expert but 'Victorian' includes the Queen Anne-style in addition to many others.

From left: Charles, Julie, Enrique, Ines, and Jessica.

Joining Charles and me on this beautiful, clear, and warm January day were Julie and three of my classmates from UCLA Extension: Enrique, Ines, and Jessica. We spend all day Saturday in class and it's nice to relax on Sunday by being outdoors and enjoying the sights. The Angelus Temple (pictured below) is located across the street from Echo Park and is where Amy Semple McPherson founded her Foursquare Church in the 1920s. It is one of the early 'megachurches' and draws thousands every week.

The Angelus Temple, Echo Park

We walked briefly on Glendale Blvd heading south towards Downtown and found the 'mobile home' pictured below.

We soon found our first staircase on a busy stretch of the boulevard across the street from the park.

A walkway leading to the last 12 steps.

At the top there is a walkway overlooking the street with amazing views of the park, the mountains, and nearby Downtown Los Angeles. We soon found the stairway pictured below. I'm guessing the mural (or what's left of it) was painted for the 1984 Olympics that were held here.

We crossed the street and walked through Echo Park. It's very scenic and I can't count the number of times I've seen it featured on film. Lotus flowers used to grow in a corner of the lake but they are gone. The Lotus Festival is still held there every year.

Once out of the park we found our next stairway on nearby Laguna Avenue. It had 84 steps and was not in such good shape.

This is sooo LA.

Soon we began encountering interesting houses, one after another. There is a high concentration of Queen Anne houses in this area and many of them have been kept up. I took way too many pictures to post but will include a sampling of what we came across.

Okay, not Victorian but an interesting multi-unit housing complex.

A Colonial - one of my favorite styles.

Reminds me of the house from Fantasy Island.

Straight from Psycho, the movie.

While Carroll Avenue in Angelino Heights is the more well-known street in the area, Kellam Avenue a block away is also a treat. This stretch is truly a feast for the eyes. So many architectural details (widow's walks, scalloped shingles, multicolored, etc.) to take in and they make a real impact when seen together.

Hitching post from back in the day.

This picture shows the house pre/post remodel. So much work to redo them but the results are impressive.

Hitching post #2.

A view of Downtown LA from Angelino Heights

These beautiful homes are just blocks from Echo Park and we headed in that direction but not before descending these 57 wide stairs to take us down to Wallace Avenue.