In some parts of the city, mostly older parts, while out on a walk you can stumble across lovely staircases nestled between houses.
Like many things in Los Angeles, they’re hidden gems – you’ll hardly hear about them outside the city, or even much beyond the neighbourhood they’re in, and you’ll certainly never encounter them by staying in your car.
So they remain largely unknown to that majority who don’t walk – even if they live near them! Here’s a particularly lovely one, spotted while I was lost in thought on a long wander (right: click for larger view), which had lots of welcome shade on a hot day.
-cvj
Actually, that’s rather nice… thanks!
cheers,
-cvj
Speaking of walking, have you heard of Walk Score? It rates neighborhoods by “walkability” (meaning how many shops, restaurants, schools, parks, etc. you can walk to from your home). They’ve produced interesting maps of various cities, one of which I linked above.
Yes, that’s how I found your blog. Sounds like you had a great visit. Thanks.
Dear Moira,
Thanks for saying hi! so glad that you’ll check out the steps, and glad to hear that you went to Mount Wilson. I imagine you’ve seen the post I did on the May visit a group of us did…
Best,
-cvj
I recall a staircase similar to the one in the photo near my grandmother’s house on Alta Vista avenue, in South Pasadena. Your beautiful photo and post inspires me to see if it’s still there some weekend. Maybe this weekend. Thanks!
Came across your blog via a star outing at the 60″ telescope at Mt. Wilson last night, celebrating our godson’s birthday and a new moon.
As a female I see those secluded stairs as a dangerous place (hiding possible muggers or rapists) that I would avoid going to. The world looks different to a girl.
Interestingly, in the UK, I think alleys and closes are seen as being less dangerous than they are in the US. Probably because despite their narrowness, many alleys and closes are used a lot because of pubs and restaurants whose main entrances are in the them, off the main road; whereas in the US this is largely not the case.
Either way, women are vastly more likely to be raped by someone known to them in their own homes than by strangers in the street. In the UK, the risk of being the target of all categories of violent crime except sexual offences are higher for men than for women. That said, it’s definitely the case that women are taught to be more worried about violent crime and sexual violence, and to behave defensively (don’t go out alone at night, don’t wear revealing clothing, etc), and that there’s an extent to which women can’t always take their safety for granted. But at the same time the responsibility shouldn’t be on people to keep safe (especially when “keeping safe” means limiting your daily activities) — it ought to be on abusers/offenders not to commit offences.
–IP
Thanks Supernova,
You put it better than I could, given that anything I said would be neutralized by it being pointed out that I’m (perceived as) far less vulnerable for a whole bunch of reasons.
Pyracantha, I have some understanding of where your concerns come from, but I think that perception plays much more of a role here than reality, and I certainly don’t mean to make light of any specific situation that may have happened to you or anyone reading. I think that a lot of this is really just one’s outlook on the world. Some see a shady pathway and find it invites them to explore, finding the shades of light and dark quite alluring. Others imagine demons lurking in every one of those shadows. I certainly don’t think it breaks down to male vs female. In fact, I have several friends who love exploring paths and steps and walkways and so forth. There are entire movements and clubs that do this in various cities. There are several people go go walking and running on the very steps we’re talking about as part of their daily routine. (Although not as many as would be nice, frankly.)
There’s just way too much scaremongering about how dangerous so many basic human scale activities are (walking, cycling, etc). If we succumbed to them, then (a) they would become more dangerous since the streets are deserted as a result – this has happened a lot for real, and (b) we’d only go to brightly lit noisy over-populated malls. What a truly horrible situation that would be.
I apologize for the apparent diatribe/lecture, but I feel strongly about the overselling of fear and danger that goes on in our society.
Cheers,
-cvj
Hmm, I never felt that way in Berkeley, and I did quite a bit of walking both by myself and with my husband. I avoided most of the paths at night simply because they aren’t lit and would be hard to navigate. In the daytime I never felt unsafe alone. The world may indeed look different to women than to men, but I’d venture to say it also looks different to any two people, regardless of gender.
As a female I see those secluded stairs as a dangerous place (hiding possible muggers or rapists) that I would avoid going to. The world looks different to a girl.
No, I’ve never spent enough time in LA. But I have friends who live there that I visit occasionally, so we will have to do some exploring next time I’m down there!
IP:- I don’t know. Perhaps. I am not familiar enough with Edinburgh, unfortunately.
Supernovaa: – Well, I like discovering them on my own…. pleasant surprises lie in store when I’m in those neighbourhoods. I’ve found several already, and have a route or two of my own which I like. Eventually I will compare notes, but for now, I’m finding them at a pleasant rate. Found the music box steps by accident about a month ago.
Have you ever explored the ones down here?
-cvj
From that LA Times article: They lead down to former transit points for the storied Red Cars of the Pacific Electric Railway, a onetime network of rail lines and streetcars.
This is what I’ve heard about the Berkeley stairs too — that they provided people living in the hills a way to access the streetcars that once ran through the area. Doesn’t answer the question of who designed and built them, but it would suggest they are roughly contemporaneous.
Now you’ll have to try out Koeppel’s stair route!
That’s really lovely. Are these the same sort of size as some of the Edinburgh closes, or bigger?
–IP
Aha.. and looking there I found an LA Times article on the LA steps that I once had a link to, and then lost, so thanks Supernova:
Here it is.
-cvj
Oh! That’s a lovely resource. The styling of many of the steps are exactly the same as down here. I presume there’s a connection…(same movement to make public stairs… maybe even same agency actually casting the concrete?)
Excellent.
-cvj
I always loved this about the East Bay too. Here is a fun page where the Berkeley Path Wanderers Association has posted pictures of many of the paths and stairs in the area.
Berkeley paths