Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles
Charles Fleming
Language: English
Pages: 240
ISBN: 1595800506
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
From strolling through the classic La Loma neighborhood in Pasadena to walking the Sunset Junction Loop in Silver Lake, to taking the Beachwood Canyon hike through “Hollywoodland” to enjoying the magnificent ocean views from the Castellammare district in Pacific Palisades, Secret Stairs takes you on a tour of the staircases all across the City of Angels.
The circular walks, rated for duration and difficulty, deliver tales of historic homes and their fascinating inhabitants, bits of unusual local trivia, and stories of the neighborhoods surrounding the stairs. That’s where William Faulkner was living when he wrote the screenplay for To Have and Have Not; that house was designed by Neutra; over there is a Schindler; that’s where Woody Guthrie lived, where Anais Nin died, and where Thelma Todd was murdered . . .
Despite the fact that one of these staircases starred in an Oscar-winning short film—Laurel and Hardy’s The Music Box, from 1932—these civic treasures have been virtually unknown to most of the city’s residents and visitors. Now, Secret Stairs puts these hidden stairways back on the map, while introducing urban hikers to exciting new “trails” all around the city of Los Angeles.
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of “stars” in the street. Note also, up ahead a block or so, Library Bar, which drinkers say is a fine place to hoist a few.) Walk a block down Hope, and turn right onto 6th St., passing The Standard hotel on your right. Cross Flower at the corner, and turn right, admiring the brightly colored staircases to nowhere in the middle of the fountain on your left in City National Plaza. Just before you reach the corner, find the staircase rising up ahead of you. These steps lift you up and over 5th
adorned with heavy chains, stylish in construction, and in dire need of a paint job. It drops down, with handrails but no lighting, 88 steps. Follow these down to Glendale Blvd. and turn right, heading south once more. At the corner of Bellevue Avenue, cross Glendale with the light, walk down into the park itself, and follow the pathway to your right, going counter-clockwise around the lake. Here, the street noise abates somewhat. Overhead is a surprising se- Echo Park 73 lection of
Place. Across Glendale, behind you, is a short set of public steps that used to connect to a pathway that ran between Cove and Earl. Now, they are just 62 steps going into someone’s front yard. Console yourself for that loss with a short walk up a steep stretch of Loma Vista, pausing at the top to appreciate the Antonio Gaudi-like wall, with its imaginative use of tile and rock, at 2384. I am told this home was designed by the “Pueblo Revival” architect Charles F. Whittlesey, who was also
Los Angeles history. Begin your walk in Hermon, near the intersection of Via Marisol and Monterey Road, perhaps with a fresh beverage from Cycleway Coffee, at 5526 Monterey. The café features wall-sized photographs of the elevated wooden cycle freeway a local entrepreneur built in the nearby arroyo, running from Pasadena’s Green Hotel into Downtown Los Angeles. The photographs are all that remains of the historic cycleway, which opened in 1890 and closed shortly after. Start walking north on