10,000 Steps a Day in L.A.: 57 Walking Adventures

by Paul Haddad

Overview

Updated and Expanded Second Edition Features Six New Walking Adventures! 10,000 Steps a Day in L.A. is for urban adventurers with a passion for healthy living who are also eager to explore Los Angeles—from its most legendary locations to its more hidden, unsung, and quirky sites. In this first-ever book to explore the 10,000-steps lifestyle in Los Angeles, author Paul Haddad takes readers on a journey through the city’s streets, beaches, mountains, rivers, reservoirs, and parks. He includes 10,000-step walks from throughout the Southland, from Simi Valley to the South Bay, and Pasadena to Pacific Palisades. Tread the grounds of a defunct Disney attraction called Dwarfland. Trace the extinct canals of Venice Beach. Stroll the shortest Main Street in America. Discover hidden streams, secret murals, lost cities, Hollywood haunts, houses made of stone, and parks that time forgot! The second edition of 10,000 Steps a Day in L.A. features: • 57 walks containing 10,000 steps • Detailed maps and directions • Descriptions of the terrain, walking surface, and dog-friendliness of each walk • Ideal picnic spots • Parking suggestions • Sidebars with colorful trivia and anecdotes Most importantly, 10,000 Steps a Day in L.A. offers a sense of fun and discovery about Los Angeles that makes the goal of 10,000 steps easy to attain. Readers need only bring their feet—pedometers are optional!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781595807908
Publisher:	Santa Monica Press
Publication date:	03/03/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	23 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	3 Months to 18 Years

About the Author

Paul Haddad’s books include Aramid (first place, Best YA, at the 2016 Southern California Book Festival), Skinny White Freak (winner, Best YA, at the 2017 Los Angeles Book Festival), and High Fives, Pennant Drives, and Fernandomania: A Fan’s History of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Glory Years, 1977–1981 (named one of the Best Baseball Books of 2012 by the Daily News). Born in Hollywood, California, Haddad earned his MFA from the USC film school, where he was awarded a Student Emmy for his documentary thesis film. He works in television as a writer, director, and executive producer. www.PaulHaddadBooks.com

Table of Contents

Introduction 7

Central L.A. and the Eastside

Walk 1 Downtown Los Angeles: This Way to Pedways! 16

Walk 2 Chinatown / Olvera Street / Little Tokyo: Downtown's Cultural Triangle 24

Walk 3 The Arts District: Industrial Chic 30

Walk 4 Boyle Heights / Lincoln Heights: Gateway to East-and Old-LA 36

Walk 5 University Park: Degrees in History 42

Walk 6 Echo Park / Angelino Heights: Echoes of Decades Past 48

Walk 7 Elysian Park West: Treasures Lost and Found 54

Walk 8 Elysian Park Central: The Heart of L.A.'s Oldest Park 60

Walk 9 Elysian Park East: Between a Rock and a Freeway 64

Walk 10 Highland Park / Mount Washington: Houses of the Holy 70

Walk 11 Silver Lake: Walking with Sir Walter Scott 76

Walk 12 Griffith Park: A River Runs Through It 82

Walk 13 Los Feliz / Griffith Park: It's Not All Greek 88

Walk 14 Los Angeles River: Rapids Transit District 94

Walk 15 Eagle Rock: Beyond the Boulder 98

Hollywood and Mid-City

Walk 16 Hollywood: Hiding in Plain Sight 106

Walk 17 Hollywood Heights / Whitley Heights: Reaching Old Heights 114

Walk 18 Hollywood Sign: A Backstage Pass 120

Walk 19 Hollywood Hills: Hooray for Lake Hollywood 126

Walk 20 Miracle Mile: Treading Above the Goo 132

Walk 21 Wilshire Center: A Few Miracles of Its Own 140

Walk 22 Greater Hancock Park: The Platinum Square 146

Walk 23 West Hollywood: Rock Walk 152

Walk 24 Baldwin Hills: Flood-and-Fancy-Free 158

West San Gabriel Valley

Walk 25 Glendale: Whistling Through a Graveyard 166

Walk 26 La Cañada Flintridge: Throwing Shade on Suburbia 174

Walk 27 Upper Arroyo Seco: To Hell and Back 178

Walk 28 Lower Arroyo Seco: Phantom Bikers and Paradise Lost 184

Walk 29 Pasadena: The Eternal City Beautiful 190

Walk 30 Altadena: Portal to White City 196

San Fernando Valley

Walk 31 Chatsworth / Simi Valley: Rockets, Shoot-Outs, and Burnouts 204

Walk 32 Sylmar: Water on the Brain 210

Walk 33 Sepulveda Dam: The Valley's Philharmonic 216

Walk 34 Valley Glen: How Green Is Our Valley! 220

Walk 35 Studio City: Shades of Mayfield 224

Walk 36 North Hollywood: NoHo's Freeway to Nowhere 230

Walk 37 North Hollywood / Tujunga Village: From Statehood to Hollywood 236

Walk 38 Lake View Terrace: Well Hello, Hansen! 242

Walk 39 Burbank: Back in the Saddle 246

Westside

Walk 40 Malibu: A Hard Habitat to Break 254

Walk 41 Santa Monica: Footprints of the Great Bandini 260

Walk 42 Pacific Palisades: Where Past Is Present 266

Walk 43 Pacific Palisades II: A Stroll for the Soul 272

Walk 44 Venice: Channeling Abbot Kinney 276

Walk 45 Marina Del Rey: Walking by the Dock of the Bay 282

Walk 46 Playa Del Rey: A Bunch of Ballona 288

Walk 47 West Los Angeles: Freedom Walk 292

Walk 48 Culver City: Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road 298

Walk 49 Franklin Canyon: The Center of It All 304

Walk 50 Beverly Hills: 9021-Oh-Oh! 310

Walk 51 Beverly Hills II: Above and Below the Tracks 316

South Bay

Walk 52 Westchester: More Than Just a Plane View 324

Walk 53 El Segundo: A Little Nostalgia Trip 330

Walk 54 Manhattan Beach: Pleasant Strand, Gnarly Sand 336

Walk 55 Hermosa Beach / Redondo Beach: Pier to Pier 342

Walk 56 Rancho Palos Verdes: Walking in the Bluff 348

Walk 57 San Pedro: Where L.A. Goes South 354

Acknowledgments 360

Editorial Reviews

The guidebook couldn’t be better timed. Routes offer close-to-home places to explore, mixing up gritty streets with leafy open spaces. . . . Each walk includes a map, directions, bits of history and cool things to see along the way. Even if you think you know the city, Haddad surprises you with twists that sharpen the eye-level focus that walking provides. . . . Books such as his, as well as Charles Fleming’s Secret Stairs, are written by people passionate about seeing the city on foot and sharing their remarkable finds. The real treasure is making us all more well-rounded Angelenos, pandemic or not.”—Los Angeles Times

“Walking 10,000 steps a day—roughly five miles—is a popular health mantra that Paul Haddad married with the idea of exploring unfamiliar parts of the Southland in his book, 10,000 Steps a Day in L.A.”—Arin Mikailian, Glendale News-Press

“Los Angeles is the perfect place to walk and Angelenos are embracing it. Realtors tout walkability indexes. Road diets are making biking and walking easier. Pedestrians are being given priority in city planning. And finally, our weather is second to none. The book charts out 52 easy walks you can take—one for each weekend of the year.”—Nancy Cruz, KTLA-5 News

“In his book, 10,000 Steps a Day in L.A., Paul Haddad does something pretty special: he gives you 52 walking adventures and he introduces you to hidden Los Angeles—those places that you drive by, fly over, and otherwise don’t even realize they are there. You can strap on your FitBit (or other apparatus of choice) and get out and explore. . . . Going through the different tours, I found a few that I put on the top of my list of family outings.”—This Talk Ain’t Cheap blog

“Beyond burning calories, each walk is a cultural wakeup call of 52 area locations.”—Lori Corbin, ABC–7 News

“The great thing about L.A. is you haven’t seen everything, and you can go on a different adventure. That’s what I love about this book. You may not be able to get out of town for a weekend, but you can spend three hours doing an adventure in a place you’ve never been to.”—San Gabriel Valley Tribune

From the Publisher