Walk #8 : Highland Park - Highlands

Distance: 3.2 miles
Steps: 342
Difficulty: 3

"Here is a sprightly walk through some gorgeous Highland Park neighborhoods, featuring dramatic Craftsman homes, magnificent San Gabriel views and exposure to some heavy East-meets-West mysticism." Taken from Secret Stairs by Charles Fleming.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! May 2011 be a good one for you. There was no better way to start out the new year than to celebrate our thirtieth stair walk and over 15,000 steps with old friends and new friends while taking in a really great neighborhood! Only 12 more walks remain so stop making excuses if you want to be in my blog before I put it to rest upon our 42nd and final walk. Willie reappeared and it was great to see him again. He brought a friend with him (Leo) who was an enthusiastic participant whom we hope to see on future walks. Although it was a cloudy day we had lots of sunshine in the form of 3 wonderful girls who seemed to enjoy being out with a bunch of old folks. Ines brought her daughter Leah and Julie brought her girls - Vivian and Sofia. It was our most-attended walk to date and as they say, "the more the merrier." Right Charles?!

From left: Vivian, Willie, Sofia, Leo, Julie, Leah, Ines, and Charles

Vivian, Sofia, and Leah

We began our walk at Figueroa Street and Avenue 53 in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles - an old section of the city with a heavy Mexican population. This was evidenced by the many religious icons and Nativity scenes we saw on front lawns. The area we saw was chock-full of interesting sights; especially the abundance of Craftsman-style homes. The American Craftsman Style incorporated architecture, interior design, landscape, applied arts, and decorative arts. In the U.S. the movement began in the late 1890s and remained popular into the 1930s.

Leo checking out the old Presbyterian church with the broken window at top. We soon left the busy Figueroa Street and headed for the hills.

The Yellow line (seen here at Marmion way) runs from Pasadena to East Los Angeles.


Many more Craftsman homes to follow.

Christmas was definitely celebrated here!

and here!

This posting will be rich in pictures of homes that caught my eye and this one did as did so many more on this walk.

Simple yet elegant - in my opinion.

Mural on a school building. Pretty Aztec and Diego Rivera-like.

This food truck (we called them 'roach coaches' when I was growing up) was likely around way before the current food truck craze hit.

I usually photograph the staircases by themselves but little Leah jumped in front of it and I can honestly say that it looks much better with her there. 127 steps to the top.

Vivian, Sofia, Charles, and Julie happily climbing.

The Craftsman house pictured above dates to 1907 and was built by Edward Symonds. It is Los Angeles Cultural Monument No. 554 so I guess it makes it significant. It stood out no matter what landmark status it may or may not have.

The Southwest Museum in the background. It has merged with the Gene Autry Museum in Griffith Park and its hours of have been drastically reduced but I understand you can still go in one Saturday each month. It's best to check the website before visiting.

I just love this one.

Charles, Leo, Willie, and me.

One of the girls asked me why Joseph was wearing pink and I honestly don't know why! I told her it was likely a red that faded.

2 of 3 houses all in a row.

Not all the stairways are attractive. This 27-step one was marred by graffiti and neglect.

I really liked this one too. So subtle and elegant.

At Abbott Place we found a driveway that lead to the next stairway. Several landings and only 56 steps.

In the middle of the picture you can see a very steep street and immediately after that a huge stairway, both of which we climbed on a previous walk. The houses on the top of the hill are part of the Mt. Washington neighborhood.

Our final staircase was located on Avenue 50. We would retrace some our steps on this walk to reach our starting point and that is always great because you see things from another perspective and notice many things you missed the first time.

Our patient guide Charles with two of his wards: Vivian and Leah.

When 9 strange faces walk in front of your house on a Sunday morning they attract attention. As we walked by a man approached us and proceeded to tell us about a Guiness Book of World Records story relating to this tiny house and the houses on either side. Apparently, the house with the French doors (in the middle) was once a guest house for the house on the left but the lots were divided. As you can see, the properties on either side don't allow for access to the small house so the 'world's smallest easement' (one inch) was created to allow the middle property to have rights from the street. I don't know if this is true but that's what we were told! As we neared the end of the walk everything was running smoothly until Leo approached a house with several crazed Chihuahuas in the front lawn. He put his in front of one of the yelpers and BAM! One of them bit him and drew blood. He was a real sport about it though as you can see from picture below.

Leo sporting his dog bite.

On the same block of crazy mini dogs were 2 hens and a rooster! The light colored one had feathers on her feet and it was really interesting.

We were soon back on the main streets and headed to one of our hangouts when we are in the area. We have eaten at Chico's at least 4 times after our walks and we always get friendly service and great food!

Feel free to join me as I discover hidden parts of Los Angeles and tackle the remaining 12 stair walks.

Steps walked to date: 15,773

Follow me on Twitter: @ClimbingLA

Walk #5 : Mt. Washington

Distance: 3.2 miles
Steps: 466
Difficulty: 4.5

We encountered the Silver Lake Walker twice during our stair walks (see walks #18 & #22) and on many other occasions where we found ourselves in that part of LA. I saw him as recently as 3 weeks ago on our Coffee Table Loop walk and included the picture below in that post. Now he is gone. He died last Wednesday under a cloud of suspicion and the facts surrounding his death and a criminal investigation into his medical practice are not clear. Whatever was going on, I will always remember him as a local icon who made an interesting neighborhood even more so.

Dr. Marc Abrams, dead at 58.

I have not hosted a walk since July 4 as I've been very busy with school and we were in Catalina last weekend. I was looking forward to walking around Mt. Washington and had all the best intentions but this walk proved to be eventful! I woke up groggy as I did not sleep well at all and to start off I forgot my camera. Luckily, Charles always has a backup but he had given me his memory card last week so that I could upload some pictures and I had not returned it. I didn't know that we were working off of the very limited memory in the camera and I was only able to get 8 pictures! I forgot my camera once before on our LA River Walk and we hopped into the car afterwards to capture the lost pictures. I don't think that'll happen on this one. It would be very confusing to navigate the streets so I apologize. What I can say is that although a rough walk, it was completely worth it.

We were joined by our good-natured regular guest: Willie. He is always upbeat and makes us laugh and is not fazed by anything. He has enjoyed the walks so much that he bought his own copy of Secret Stairs and has done some on his own since we we took a break. We had done a walk that took us to the same neighborhood (Highland Park/Southwest Museum) but this one took us to the southern part of Mt. Washington. We started at Figueroa and Avenue 45 and quickly began a steep ascent.

Marmion Way, near the Gold Line Metro stop.

These stairs led to an empty lot - not part of the walk.

The area is rich in Craftsman houses so typical of Southern California and we saw many fine examples in this neighborhood.

Willie and Charles heading uphill.

The 2 structures with arched roofs are all that remain of a funicular that used to run up the hill from Figueroa to the former Mt. Washington Hotel. The buildings used to house machinery for the railway that ran until 1920.

This short, steep street led to our first stairway - 102 of them.

The hillside is filled with unique structures.

As we climbed and climbed we found ourselves in very quiet, secluded neighborhood. The area has a real friendly vibe and every single person that we encountered greeted us! We even ran into one jogger 3 times during this walk and she was quite helpful in giving us directions. It's the kind of place where you feel the community is very active and really cares. Our suspicions were confirmed when we walked by an elementary school and saw a bulletin board full of community notices and announcements.

The former Mt. Washington hotel is now the site of the Self Realization Fellowship Center. Some of you may have visited the Pacific Palisades location. It was closed as we walked by but I know for certain that I will visit it soon. If it's anything like the other location it will be beautifully landscaped, serene, and welcoming. The area where it's located (San Rafael Avenue) is stunning. The three of us all expressed a desire to move to the area!

As I said earlier, it's really confusing to navigate the area and at least twice I took us off-track. Both times we were able to recover but I got teased mercilessly by Charles as he is usually the one who leads us down the wrong path.

From Mt. Washington you get spectacular views of El Sereno, Downtown Los Angeles, and parts of Eagle Rock and Glendale. This is one LA neighborhood definitely worth exploring!

As we did the last time we walked this area, we had lunch at Chico's Mexican Restaurant at Figueroa Avenue and Avenue 50. Again, it was no-nonsense and delicious food served in a homey setting.

Despite all the mishaps of today's walk, we got our exercise on a perfectly sunny summer day, walked a great neighborhood, hung out with friends and laughed, and ate good food. That's what these walks are all about!

Feel free to join me as I discover hidden parts of Los Angeles and tackle the remaining 28 stair walks.

Steps walked to date: 6,283

Follow me on Twitter: @ClimbingLA