All The Stairs In Echo Park: AM Version

Today, the Big Parade LA held a warm-up hike for the upcoming annual 2-day, 35-mile Big Parade from Downtown to Griffith Park (scheduled for May 2-3, 2015).  The route map was just the morning half of today's 12-mile hike of All the Stairs in Echo Park (& one in Silver Lake: Corralitas Public Staircase).  

I caught up with the group of about 60 urban hikers in the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract.  It was great to see a lot of familiar faces in the crowd, including Bob Inman, who grew up near Monte Sano & shared many of his father's photographs of the area with us.

Photo: Diane Edwardson, March 7, 2015.  Rosebud Ave in the Semi Tropic Spiritualists' Tract may not be the steepest street in Los Angeles, but it is among them.  

We took Rosebud under the 2 Freeway & talked about how streets were moved, hillside cut into & Corralitas Public Staircase realigned to build the 2 Freeway.  

We continued up the Corralitas Public Staircase, down the curving "C" shaped street of Corralitas Drive to the southern end of the Red Car Property.  Meanwhile, the Red Tailed Hawks were hunting on the hillside where workers were landscaping, just off the Corralitas Public Staircase. 

Photo: Diane Edwardson, Mach 7, 2015.  We paused at the southern end of the Red Car Property to talk briefly about more about how homes on Corralitas Drive lost their front yards to the 2 Freeway.  They watched countless tons of earth move from what was the former Red Car Trolley Glendale Line, to grading a giant pile of dirt for the 2 Freeway, less than 40 feet from their front doors from 1960-1962.  

We also briefly discussed status of the Red Car Property being under option to Trust for Public Land. Dan Koeppel, leader of the Big Parade LA, recommended taking Silver Lake Loop of the Big Parade LA (May 3) to learn more about the Red Car Property & see what a special place it is.  The group continued up Corralitas Walk alongside the 2 Freeway, on Allesandro Way, past the Holyland Exhibition, past Loma Vista Public Staircase & across the Oak Glen overpass to the rest of all the stairs in Echo Park.

It's been an honor to be featured in the Big Parade LA since its inception.  Learn more about the Big Parade & how to take part for both days, a few miles or even just a couple of staircases: http://bigparadela.tumblr.com/